1899 ENAMALINE OIL BASKETBALL CARDS
1899 Enamaline Oil Basketball Girl
Movie of a Group of 1899 Enamaline Sporting Girls
A promotional card given out by Enamaline Oil. These cards are actually three-dimensional. It is actually two pieces of cardboard having the same shape where the two pieces are attached at the top of the head. Therefore, you could form a tepee out of the two pieces to create a standing doll. This card was from a set of I think 8 dolls. Each doll is dedicated to a particular sport. There has been some argument as to if this card is in fact a basketball card. The consensus is there is a 90% chance that this is a basketball girl. In favor are the facts that all of the other similar sports are already depicted on the dolls. Mainly, football is already depicted. The football of the football girl has a ball that is stitched more like a football. Another favorable fact is that every sport is only depicted with one girl. The only other sport I can think of is rugby. The basketball on the basketball girl is stitched similar to a basketball of the era. The major fact going against the doll is that the outfit is not, as far as I know, a basketball outfit of the era. Particularly, the pants are off. The pants are the same pants as shown in the football doll. However, the balls on both dolls are very different (i.e., one resembles a basketball and one resembles a football). My theory is that it is a basketball girl (or a rugby girl) and the artists just copied the football girl and put a basketball in her hand (and changed the uniform color and the college). They may have done this to complete the job faster, but I think it may be because we are talking about 1899 and that they wanted a completely G rated doll (but then again back in the day girls used to wear baggy pants). If anyone out there has a comment, please let me know.
Enamaline put out some other girl dolls during this period. I have a few from a set of different spring dresses.
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