Condition
4
10: New
9: Mint
8: Excellent
7: Good
6: Fair
5: Average
4: Below Average
3: Poor
|
Rarity
7
10: Impossibly rare
9: Extremely rare
8: Hard to find
7: Fairly rare
6: Uncommon
5: Common
<4: Big Seller
9: Mint
8: Excellent
7: Good
6: Fair
5: Average
4: Below Average
3: Poor
9: Extremely rare
8: Hard to find
7: Fairly rare
6: Uncommon
5: Common
<4: Big Seller
– – – – – – – – – – –
About This Racket
Wisden is a fairly obscure tennis racket because it went out of business around 1945. However there are still stories of their success! This wisden comet was used just after the war at Girton College Cambridge. They made a number of models; but outsourced most of their production to Pakistan. This model is not in the best condition, having a cracked lower head and eroded grip. However it was made in the original Kent Factory, and apparently sold in Scunthorpe (see sticker).
The Exceller
The Wonder
The Cosmos
Specifications
Measurements | Value | Performance | Score |
---|---|---|---|
Weight | 360g | Power | 19/100 |
Head Size & Length | 65sq in | 27inch | Control | 41/100 |
Balance | 5pt head heavy | Spin | 40/100 |
Grip | Perforated leather | Handling | 78/100 |
Strings | 18 x 20 | synthetic | Comfort | 89/100 |
Flexibility | RA 43 | Consistency | 59/100 |
About Wisden
John Wisden was born in 1826 and was a regular player for Sussex and the All England XI until he retired in 1863. The following year he published the first Wisden Cricketers Almanack.. From 1925 until 1944 it was also known as a manufacturer of sports equipment which had a factory in Fitzgerald Road, Mortlake. The head office of John Wisden & Co Ltd was at number 28. The company held a royal warrant as athletic outfitters to King George V. The Wisden factory or Fitzgerald Works lay behind the houses of Fitzgerald Avenue and Priests Bridge, but it did not advertise its whereabouts. Wisden manufactured and exported top quality equipment to countries throughout the world from its Mortlake factory. Most sports were catered for including badminton, basketball, lacrosse, polo, football and of course cricket. Murray notes that tennis balls were sent to Rabat and Bulawayo, squash rackets to New York, cricket balls to Cape Town, tennis and cricket equipment to Jerusalem and Aden, squash balls to Afghanistan and “too many parcels to be noted” to India. Every country in the world appears to receive parcels from Wisden! However, during the 1930s trading difficulties resulted in reduced orders and a dramatic fall in sales. The War Office offered contracts to Wisden for such items as bomb handles and camouflage netting from 1939, and the company continued to make some sports equipment for the armed forces serving abroad but on a much-reduced scale, and it struggled on through the war. The end of the Fitzgerald Works came dramatically on the night of 15 February 1944 when bombs fell on the Works and nearby houses. Eight people were killed in the houses but those men on nightshift at the Works were rescued alive from the bombed-out Wisden premises. The buildings and company records were destroyed in the fire that followed the bombing. In 1969 Brook Court was built on a part of the site