Help Identifying a Pool Table from the 1890s
5/1/2020 7:17:32 AM
Help Identifying a Pool Table from the 1890s
I need some help identifying a pool table which, I am told, is probably from the 1890s. It is a 9' oak pool table with rosewood rails, and has a three-piece slate.
I purchased the pool table and had it professionally restored about 28 years ago. It was disassembled and had been painted white before I bought it. The company installed an old Brunswick name plate to fill the name plate void but did not believe it was a Brunswick pool table. They did tell me it was probably from the late 1890s or about the turn of the century.
Someone once suggested it may of come from a company in New York state but that is all I have.
Hopefully, the attached photos will help you determine what brand it is or who the manufacturer would have been.
Help Identifying a Pool Table from the 1890s
Replies & Comments
Harvey Rutledge on 5/2/2020 12:51:32 PM
Your table is most likely a Wenco pool table. The pocket irons are a giveaway.
Wenco developed their own pocket iron design that allows you to take the pockets off without removing the cushion assemblies.
The pocket iron is the skeleton of the leather pocket unit.
Adopted originally by Brunswick and changed a few times, Brunswick's "Number Six" pocket iron was the standard from about the beginning of the 1900s. These made use of round holes being drilled in the ends of the rails (cushion assembly) to accommodate a round steel pin protruding from each side of the pocket iron. This method bound the irons with the rails, which in turn took lots of time to remove the pockets for repair.
The majority of competing companies copied Brunswick, but Wendt designed their own pocket iron.
Wendt's pocket irons used the "flat bolt ears" that we know today. Wenco pocket irons used square pins that could slide into square chiseled slots.
Both styles have bolts that secure the pocket iron in place but with Wendt pocket irons, all you need to do is remover two bolts and pull the pocket out of the rails. You can see these pins just under the rail cap.
Hope this makes sense.
mjo on 5/2/2020 1:07:49 PM
Thanks so much. I would appreciate anything else you can share.
Where were they located and when?
billiardsforum on 5/12/2020 3:31:38 PM@Harvey Rutledge - Thank you for the catalog pages you sent me. I do have a few Wenco catalogs but didn't have this one.
The "Wenco" company Harv is referring to was more formally known as the Wendt Billiard Manufacturing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Though they are formally known as the Wendt Billiard Manufacturing Company, their catalogs often had the name "Wenco". The company was founded and run by Charles A. Wendt, and was originally located at 2220 Libson Ave and later moved to 13th st.
But - He didn't start his company until 1916 - which is at odds with the era which @mjo estimates in the original question.
I have a few Wendt/Wenco catalogs and I don't see your model at all (but that doesn't mean anything).
Help Identifying a Pool Table from the 1890s
- Title: Help Identifying a Pool Table from the 1890s
- Author: mjo (Martin Okun)
- Published: 5/1/2020 7:17:32 AM
- Last Updated: 5/12/2020 2:01:53 PM
- Last Updated By: billiardsforum (Billiards Forum)
