Kelly Pool Peas

[Mr. Bond]

An archaeologist has recovered some little round numbered ceramic balls from the site of an extinct toy factory in Ohio, dated to the early 1890s.

As many of you may know, this is about the same time that Kelly pool first began being played. (out of Chicago) So it seems reasonable to think that the little ceramic balls could be pool peas.

But, the little ceramic balls that were found also included a ball clearly marked "18".

Has anyone ever seen an American set with numbers higher than 16?
If so, how high do the numbers go? And how old are they?

 

[book collector]

Baseball Pocket Billiards was being played around that time and they actually had a tournament in Columbus Ohio where it was one of the games with 1500 contestants and 20 thousand spectators in 1922.
If the balls are not about the same size as the balls today they are probably from a set used on a miniature table.
They went to number 21.
The game I believe was invented by Brunswick about 1912.
This does not correspond to the early 1890s time frame but it's the only game I know of with an 18 ball. Just an educated guess.

 

[Mr. Bond]

This has been one of those good opportunities for me to answer my own question...

It appears that since the peas werent just used for Kelly Pool, there were sets of bottles and peas prior to the 1890s with numbers into the twenties and possibly even higher.

"Pin Pool" would be a good example of a game played much prior to 1890, that involved pea sets that may or may not have included only 1-15.

 

[timothysklugh]

Being an enthusiast of billiard history, I find Kelly pool peas an absolutely fascinating part of the sport. I wonder if the billiard game Baseball was inspired from informal games that preceded it.

Thank you for sharing the information about the archeologist discovering the set of peas. I love learning about billiards.

I have some Kelly pool pea sets in my collection. I have shared some images of them.

 

[book collector]

Being an enthusiast of billiard history, I find Kelly pool peas an absolutely fascinating part of the sport. I wonder if the billiard game Baseball was inspired from informal games that preceded it.

Thank you for sharing the information about the archeologist discovering the set of peas. I love learning about billiards.

I have some Kelly pool pea sets in my collection. I have shared some images of them.

Nice collection.