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1920s Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney Souvenir Gloves
Boxing in the Roaring Twenties was summed up by two words -- "Dempey" and "Tunney." The rivalry between the Manassa Mauler and the Fighting Marine dominated the ring then. Though they only met twice, in '26 and '27, with Tunney winning both (aided in the latter by the infamous "long count" that saved him from a sure Dempsey knockout), when they weren't fighting, people would be talking about them fighting. Given the boxing gate records they set -- 102,000 fans paid their way into Soldier Field for the rematch, spawning a gate of $2.6 million, <i>huge</i> money back then -- promoters attempted to come up with ways to market their images. One of the most logical was slapping their images onto these boxing gloves, which have Tunney on the right one, Dempsey on the left. Sold as a pair as a souvenir item at either the 1st or 2nd fight, this is the first we've ever seen of these, which are as rare as can be. Gloves are made of canvas and have illustrations of the fighters screened in black on the fist portion along with their last names in block letters. Palm side and wrist panel is mock leather with red piping and brown laces. They are amazingly free of damage save for a few soil marks unaffecting the images. VG-EX with the canvas still pliable. The perfect artifact of Dempsey and Tunney, whose fists no doubt had imagined images of the other one on them when the leather started flying. .
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