Bizarre collectible related to the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Paper fan encased in a bakelite hinged baseball bat emblazoned with "1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates" on the barrel. Inside the housing are "blades" containing images of each player and coach of the team which can be fanned out (for lack of a better term) to create a fan. Our research indicates that these were sold at the stadium and are very rare today. Aesthetically very interesting one of the fan "blades" has become detached but is included with the piece. Aside from some light staining and areas of wear the piece is in excellent condition. A mystery we cannot seem to solve lies within the blades themselves. Underneath each player's image is a letter or a number. For instance under Dick Groat's image is the number 9. Under Roberto Clemente's image is a lower case c. Under Smoky Burgess' image is an upper case L. The blades are double-sided with player images on both sides - the reverse sides contain no such letters or numbers. What's more interesting is that when the blades are fanned out the letters and numbers do not spell anything - it's just gibberish. Clearly though the letters and numbers served a purpose. As such we are appealing to our customer base who are the most knowledgeable collectors in the world. Does anybody know what these are for? Please contact us if you know! PLEASE NOTE: Two collectors independently reached out to us to let us know that the "blades " when fanned out properly actually read "WORLD 1960 CHAMPS." Fanning this out and putting the detached blade in the right place makes this clear however it should also be noted that the blade with the letter "P" is missing (initially our fanning out of the blades made it read "WRLD1960COHMS " which made it more difficult to understand). As we are now clear that there is a missing blade from the piece we are sending out an errata email to our bidders to give them a 24-hour window in which to cancel their bids on this lot if they choose. In order to cancel please email us at [email protected] by 12 midnight on March 17 2018.