Ping-Pong Ball
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1969
name: label: user
content: Toye, Robert
label: lender
content: Roche, Francis D.
label: user
content: Roche, Francis D.
label: maker
content: Windsor Star
notes: label: Description
content: At the end of the 19th century, when ping-pong was coming into its own, the ball was generally made of string, rubber, or sometimes even a used champagne cork. It wasn’t until 1901, that James Gibb, an Englishman, discovered celluloid balls in the United States and found them “perfect for the play of ping-pong.” The name of the sport is attributed to the sound the ball makes when it is hit back and forth on the table. The ball itself is 40 mm in diameter, hollow, and made from celluloid. This particular ball was used by the donor, Frank Roche, while a freshman at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1969. He and his roommate bought the ball to play ping-pong for recreation.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United Kingdom: Grand Bretagne
label: place made
content: United Kingdom
topic: label: name of sport
content: Ping Pong
label: level of sport
content: recreational
label: web subject
content: Sports
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
label: See more items in
content: Artifact Walls exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Francis D. Roche
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1992.0087.02
label: catalog number
content: 1992.0087.02
label: accession number
content: 1992.0087
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ball, ping pong
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in; x 3.81 cm