Ancient wooden ball

[chandler]

I found this over 20 years ago in my parent's backyard. I've always wondered who or what may have made it and why. I don't know if there is any significance to the notches, but they are on opposite sides of each other.

[Mattern]

Very old Crokay ball. A nice antique chandlier. Kim

[chandler]

Thank you, Kim

[painshill]

I think this warrants some further consideration after you have provided dimensions and a bit more information. From the pictures, it appears to be around 5 inches in diameter, which I think is way too big for a croquet ball. Not too big for other potential games though. Carpet bowls springs to mind... or perhaps skittles.

If you have the means to check how uniform the diameter might be to ascertain how precisely it was made, then that that would be helpful.

Are you positive that it's wood? The appearance suggests it isn't. Looks more like some kind of synthetic material. It looks like it would be easy to flake off a small piece, so you could try holding that on the end of a pin in a lighter flame to check what odour it produces (assuming it burns or melts). How heavy is it? Does it bounce?

[chandler]

I will post some pictures of measurements, the weight and I will see if I can chip a little piece. I doubt it will bounce, but I will try it.

[clovisoid]

I was thinking the hot pin test as well.

[chandler]

I chipped like you asked and burned the chip. It lit on fire and smelled like wood. It also had residue as you see in the pictures. It feels solid and weighs about 2 pounds. It does not bounce. Please let me know what you think!

[painshill]

This would be my guess. What we call 'pub skittles', although not exclusive to pubs (played indoors with small sets, and outdoors with larger sets):

[painshill]

Sometimes the balls for these sets had depressions or grooves to help grip them. A more primitive arrangement than the holes on modern ten-pin balls:

[chandler]

Thank you! Maybe a Bocce ball?