Title: Bowling Trophy
Artist: Unknown
Date: 1987-88
Geography/Culture: Italy to Upstate New York
Medium: Marble, plastic, sheet metal
Dimensions: H: 10" x Width: 5" x Depth: 2 1/2"
Classification: Plastic Sculpture
Source: Cardboard box outside my building
This is a plastic bowling trophy dating back to 1987. Mid City Lanes located in Kingston, New York, was opened in 1960, and has been permanently closed since Mid-2014. The object was kept as memorabilia to celebrate a victorious day for a bowler in the Arch Bowling League. I chose this object because it represents an accomplishment someone held on to for 27 years. The cardboard box I found this in, along with several other bowling trophies, was meant to be taken by a garbage truck, never to be seen again. I took the smallest trophy because I didn't want to inconvenience the owner if he were to change his mind. This trophy holds value to me because it will always remind me of my life in New York after I move across the country. In John Cotton Dana's The Gloom of the Museum, he states, "What has already given distinction to their owners in France, Italy, England and Germany is seen at once to be peculiarly well-suited to give a like distinction here. Hence the products of our own people are definitely held in no esteem as honorific possessions." On the back side of the marble, there is a green sticker that says "Fine Marble Base Made in Italy." I noticed the sticker when I first found the object, but didn't give it much thought at the time. After reading selections from Dana's article, it occurred to me that ordinary objects are still created in other countries because their origins are thought to be superior to America.
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