A Review of the Evolution of the Game of Table Tennis
Part 2: The Tale told from the boxes
By Michael Thomson
Part 1 of this Review of the Evolution of Table Tennis traced the facts derived from the registration of ideas submitted for playing various forms of tennis indoors and on a table. This was supported by information found in the editorial coverage of the new game in newspapers and magazines and by advertisements placed by makers or retailers. This took the review up to 20 September 1900 when the name Ping Pong was trademarked by Hamley Brothers.
This is Part 2 which will look at the pictorial evidence drawn from the box labels and the contents of the games actually made. It will take the story forward to the late 1930s. It has been compiled for The Table Tennis History Journal. I would earnestly request readers to draw to my attention any errors of fact. Please also, through the medium of this Journal, submit your views on my interpretation and conclusions so that they can be changed if wrong.
Part 3, later, will examine the rules as published by the various makers of the new game and then the official versions issued by the two bodies which were formed to govern the sport – The Ping Pong Association and The Table Tennis Association. It will then trace the timeline of how these bodies merged to become the governing body for the new sport which ultimately led to the formation of the International Table Tennis Federation as we know it today.
| Index to Part 2 C1. Introduction and Methodology C2. The Jaques Gossima Box Label C3. The Jaques Gossima or Ping Pong Box Label C4. Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned on PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Box Label V1 C5. Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Box Label V2 C6. An Interlude – Who was the artist? C7. The Other Contenders C8. The Hamleys USA Trade Mark No. 36,854 for Ping Pong on 6 August 1901 C9. The USA Ping Pong Sets C10. The discovery of the two 1901 Ping Pong Sets by Fabio Marcotulli C11. The Hamleys Ping Pong Catalogue for The Winter Season 1901 C12. The Hamleys PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Society set C13.The Hamleys PING PONG OR GOSSIMA in a Jaques Box C14. The Jaques PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Society set C15. An aid to dating from newspapers and magazines C16. The Hamleys Ping Pong Advertisements C17. More examples of the Box Labels C18. Business Relationships |
1.Introduction and Methodology
Images of the box labels and the contents will trace the progress of the game from the innovative name of Gossima, trademarked in 1891, through to the inspired name of Ping Pong which created the craze for the game in 1900. Its huge success generated variations with rival names, such as Whiff-Waff, before Table Tennis became universally accepted as the name for the new worldwide sport. They will also record the changes in graphic design.
At first sight the wording on the early box labels looks similar but the changes are revealing. They provide visual evidence of how the game name of Gossima changed to Gossima or Ping Pong, Ping Pong or Gossima and eventually to Table Tennis. Examples will be given from the main makers of the game, but the majority will be those made by Jaques because they became the dominant manufacturer of the game from the outset through to the 1930s.
An analysis of the wording will also provide an understanding of how Jaques & Son and Hamley Brothers became “Jointly Concerned” and the role of Parker Brothers, New York.
The background to Jaques
The Jaques company was founded in 1795 primarily as wood and ivory turners. The quality of their work is exemplified by The Staunton Chessmen which they made in 1849. The design met with immediate acclaim, and it remains the world standard for chess sets to this day. The transition of the Jaques Company to becoming publishers of games began in 1861 when they created the card game of Happy Families. Its success was substantially derived from the portrayal of the grotesque characters for the four members of each family in the card game. They were drawn by the then relatively unknown Punch Magazine cartoonist, John Tenniel. His wider recognition came four years later in 1865, when he was commissioned as the illustrator for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll which was one of the most successful books ever published. This was in no small measure due to Teniell’s 92 illustrations in the book. He became famous and he was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1893. This example is given because there are elements with the birth of this game in 1861 which resonate with the creation of Gossima 30 years later.
The familiar green label on the box with the fairies and goblins which Jaques used for their Gossima set in 1891 was in tune with the Victorian era. It continued to be used for 30 years before it was replaced in 1920 with a striking Art Deco design. The family folklore of how this came about is stranger than romantic fiction.
Alice in Wonderland was written by Charles Dodgson under his pseudonym Lewis Carrol. He was the great uncle of Irene Dodgson who was born on 23 August 1884. John Jaques III’s first wife was Minnie, but she died in March 1902 giving birth to twins, one of whom died and the other survived. John Jaques III married again 15 years later on 23 May 1917 to Irene Dodgson. Their daughter Zoe, born on 23 September 1923, recorded the story of how they met. She said that it began just before the First World War when her father John Jaques was sitting beside Irene in a railway carriage in London but as strangers. He thought wistfully “how much she looked like my dear young wife who had died.” They never spoke. Irene went on to study art at London Polytechnic. Later, during the war, John Jaques & Co advertised for a graphic designer. She applied. He remembered her and she got the job.
The Jaques game of Happy Families had only 11 families and one of her first tasks was to create the twelfth family so that they could publish two half packs of six families.
As their new graphic designer, she was also responsible for rebranding the image of the whole range of games made by Jaques in a bold orange and black Art Deco style. This bright new design was used extensively for their indoor games including the example of Ping Pong or Table Tennis shown in C17.
She did this by designing the Mug the Milkman Family, shown here. It can be positively dated to 1919 because their son Philip was born on 5 April 1919 and he was her inspiration for Master Mug the Milkman’s Son depicted as a chubby new-born baby, drinking milk of course, from a bottle.
2. The Jaques GOSSIMA Box Label
It is for The New Table Game of GOSSIMA published by J. JAQUES & SON, LONDON (bottom left corner)They say that a picture is worth 1000 words, but one word is enough to describe the picture on this label – phantasmagorical.
The central feature of the gossamer-like cobweb is inspired by the name of the game Gossima, or perhaps vice versa. The rest follows – a boy sitting on the cobweb blowing bubbles, a fairy riding a black bat, an elf sitting on a snail shell and two imps under toadstools. To the right of the name, the necessary words on the label describing the game “Causing immense excitement and healthy exercise and is the nearest approach that can be made to the Game of Lawn Tennis as played indoors” is visually interpreted by three winged gnomes cavorting around as they attempt to hit the bubbles over the cobweb net.
It is as if the unnamed artist and Jaques were anticipating the frivolity and fun of the Ping Pong craze which came 10 years later. It might have happened then, were it not for the flaws in the equipment for the game, the most obvious being that the balls used were not like the light bubbles depicted in the label but instead were made of rubber, wood, or cork. Closer examination of the label reveals visual evidence of a second flaw.
The battledores held by the three gnomes on the bottom right are miniature versions of strung lawn tennis rackets as shown below. Used indoors they would propel the balls like missiles. Three other ephemeral creatures in the picture are also holding strung rackets – the one sitting on the snail’s shell and two behind the spider’s web.
3. The Jaques GOSSIMA OR PING PONG Box Label
The name has been changed from GOSSIMA to GOSSIMA OR PING PONG. Otherwise, the label looks the same with only the addition of the words OR PING PONG.
The wording at the top right has been changed to ensure continued protection under the Trade Mark legislation.
It was “PROTECTED AND REGISTERED” on the GOSSIMA label and it is now “TITLES REGISTERED AS TRADE MARK”, with the word TITLES in the plural but TRADE MARK is singular.
It took skilled draughtsmanship to superimpose the words OR PING PONG over the three gnomes.
They continue to hold battledores or rackets with strung blades.Spoiler alert:
In the next version of the label for PING PONG OR GOSSIMA, these are changed to smooth surfaced battledores.
Another change is notable by its absence – Hamleys is not mentioned. Only J. JAQUES & SON, LONDON is given as the publisher on the bottom left. Had it been required, it would have been easy to make this change.
Jaques became a Limited Company on 16 April 1899. From this date it would have been a serious criminal offence under the 1890 Companies Act to fail to add Limited or Ltd after their name. Without it, the implication is that Jaques were making sets with the words PING PONG on the label 17 months before Hamley Bros registered their Trade Mark for Ping Pong on 20 September 1900.
This could be written off as an aberration by the Directors, but corroboration of Jaques using Ping Pong in their own name as the manufacturer and publisher comes from the Rules and Directions for Gossima or Ping Pong leaflet shown in the first of these images. The second, for Ping Pong or Gossima is Jaques and Hamleys “Jointly Concerned” as Sole Publishers.
These leaflets provide a clue to the timing of events. The GOSSIMA OR PING PONG version of the Rules and Directions has “Manufactured and Published by J. Jaques & Son Ltd”. On the near identical version for PING PONG OR GOSSIMA it becomes “Sole Publishers: J. Jaques & Son Ltd., and Hamley Bros. (Jointly Concerned)”.
The question of how, why and when Jaques and Hamleys became Jointly Concerned recurs throughout this Part 2 of the story.
4. Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Box Label V1
This label gives more prominence to Ping Pong in the name for the game by reversing the words from the previous Gossima or Ping Pong to Ping Pong or Gossima. With it comes the more significant change in the bottom left corner.
Instead of J. JAQUES & SON, LONDON, as the maker, it is now J. JAQUES & SON Ltd & HAMLEY Bros (Jointly concerned) and now described as Sole Publishers & Manufacturers which mirrors the changes made in the Rules and Directions leaflets.
The Jaques address, WHOLESALE: 102 HATTON GARDEN, LONDON, is added at the bottom right and the word REGISTERED in the centre. Along the red border at the bottom, the warning is given that:
PROCEEDINGS WILL BE IMMEDIATELY TAKEN AGAINST ANYONE INFRINGING THE REGISTERED TITLES OF THIS GAME.
The words at the top right TITLES REGISTERED AS TRADE MARKS has a minor change – TRADE MARKS is now plural, probably done as a grammatical correction.
A more difficult change was made throughout the picture – the removal of all the images of the strung rackets and replacing them with smooth faced heads. This provides graphic evidence that the change to vellum or parchment drum battledores was the key to the game’s success. They made it more fun to play and the onomatopoeic sound of the balls hitting the bats must have inspired the new name of Ping Pong.
Here are the three gnomes holding the battledores, now with smooth surfaces. The one for the gnome of the left is obscured by the letters of GOSSIMA. The battledores held by the other creatures have also been changed except for the one behind the spider’s web which is obscured by the word Ping Pong.
5. Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Box Label V2
This is identical to the previous label for PING PONG OR GOSSIMA except that the top right now reads:- UNITED STATES AMERICA TRADE MARK No. 36854 6/8/01
This refers to the Hamley Brothers successful application in 1901 for an American Trade Mark for Ping Pong. The details of this and the roles of Hamleys are provided in the following Chapters of this story.
6. An interlude – Who was the artist?
It is time for an interlude.
The name of the artist is not indicated on the Gossima label, nor is it stated on any source documents which I have found. The clues to trace him abound in the history of the Jaques company and in the information given in this Part 2 of the story. Jaques would have networked through their existing social and business circle in London to find the best artist in the field of ephemeral art. From as early as 1861 they found the yet to become famous John Tenniel to design the grotesque characters in their very successful game of Happy Families. The connection was Punch Magazine. Also, the Jaques families lived in Croydon, then a relatively small town on the outskirts of London.
Today, Mr McGoogle does the rest and mystery is solved. Just enter any combination of the words Punch Magazine Fairies Croydon London. With a little more research and analysis, the answer is that the artist was Thomas Maybank.
Thomas Maybank was born in 1869.
He became a surveyor and lived in Croydon in London close to the Jaques families.
In his spare time, he was a cartoonist for Punch Magazine before becoming a full-time book illustrator.
This Punch Magazine cartoon, entitled Elf Land, is signed Thomas Maybank at the bottom left.
It is in the same style as the Gossima Label and the content with goblins and fairies and naked children is distinctly similar. (Toronto University Library)
7. The Other Contenders
The huge success of the game under the new name of Ping Pong brought out many imitators.
Prevented from using Ping Pong by the Hamleys Trade Mark of 20 September 1900, they tried many imaginative alternatives including Pim Pam, Ding Dong, Bing Bang, and Kwish Kwash. It is not surprising that they failed to make an impact.
There was one other, Whiff-Waff, which became a serious contender. It was made by Slazenger & Son and they registered this Trade Mark on 31 December 1900. 
The generic name of Table Tennis became the main rival to Ping Pong and Whiff-Waff.
This is best seen from the 1901 promotional leaflet “Games for Winter Evenings” by the major London games supplier, Benetfink & Co, London[1].
Under their headline PING PONG! TABLE TENNIS!! WHIFF-WAFF!!!, it gives equal prominence to each with illustrations of the boxes and contents and prices. There is no mention of Hamleys’ sets because Benetfink were rival retailers and Hamleys sold Ping Pong through their own shops. The Table Tennis set is by Ayres and Whiff Waff by Slazenger. Anachronistically, the Jaques set is under the older name of Gossima or Ping Pong. The rackets depicted in the sets have smooth surfaces but, at the bottom, they give equal prominence to parchment or gut rackets.
8. The Hamleys USA Trade Mark No. 36,854 for Ping Pong on 6 August 1901
Here are the details of USA Trade Mark No. 36,854 for Ping Pong by Hamley Bros applied for on 9 July 1901 and registered on 6 August 1901.
The Statement and Declaration by Francis Hamley provide an insight into the process of applying for and registering this Trade Mark which led to Parker Brothers being granted the rights to Ping Pong in America.
The legal wording in the Statement includes:
- “Our trade-mark consists of the arbitrary word Ping Pong” arranged in a manner of ways one of which is “shown in the accompanying facsimile (as shown above), in which it appears in plain block capitals printed in black” … “but other forms of type may be employed or it may be differently arranged or colored”
- “This trade-mark has been used continuously in business by us since about August, 1900”.
- “The class of merchandise in which this trade-mark is appropriated is games and toys.”
- It is to be used on boxes, wrappers, circulars and printed matter relating to the article.
The Declaration sworn by Francis Hamley before a Notary Public in London on 24 June 1901 includes: –
1. that he verily believes that the foregoing statement is true,
2. that the said firm has at this time the right to use the trade-mark therein described,
3. that no other person, firm or corporation has the right to such use, either in identical form or in any such near resemblance thereto as might be calculated to deceive,
4. that it is used in commerce by the applicants with the United States,
5. that the description and facsimile presented for record truly represents the trade mark.
These are clear and legally binding words.
9. The USA Ping Pong Sets
Based on their successful application for the USA Trade Mark for Ping Pong on 6 August 1901, Hamleys granted the sole rights to make and to sell the game in the USA to Parker Brothers, Salem, Massachusetts.
I have managed to acquire two sets and the information on the box labels helps to trace when their Ping Pong was introduced to America.
Set 1: The Parker Brothers, USA Box Label with PING PONG in plain text
This label for Set 1, has the words PING-PONG in plain capital letters using a font similar to the one used in the Hamleys USA Trade Mark No. 36,854
The Registration in the USA details are given in small print below the word PONG with an extra line for “Copyright 1902 by Parker Brothers”.
I have not seen the 1902 USA application for copyright but it is for the 4-page leaflet, “The Laws of Ping Pong” published by Parker Brothers. A copy is included with my second set. On this box, they used a new phrase to describe the game – “The Great Tennis Game for the Table” which is repeated on later Parker Brothers sets. Below their name, they add Hamley Brothers, High Holborn London, England.
Set 2: The Parker Brothers, USA Box Label for PING PONG with the Art Nouveau design
I do not have an example of the box with their earlier iteration of this label with the same Art Nouveau design but, from other peoples’ images of this set, I was able to check that the good quality black and white photograph of it in “The Laws of Ping Pong” leaflet is an accurate image of the earlier label.
Both have the same Art Nouveau design with the net on a table and the flamboyantly dressed lady about to hit a ball with a long-handled drum battledore.
From the extracts shown below, I will now compare the essential changes between the two starting with the earlier black and white one from Laws leaflet and then the colour one from my set.
Both have the words “The Great Tennis Game for the Table” and both have the same “PROTECTED IN AMERICA AND GREAT BRITAIN” text in small print which includes “U. S. Trade Mark No. 36,854” and the second line for “Copyright 1902 by Parker Brothers” which confirms they were both made in 1902.
This is from the first earlier example of the label taken from the Laws leaflet.
This is from the second later label taken from the box in my collection.
The changes between the two are that
1. On the first, below the Parker Brothers name, we have Hamley Brothers, High Holborn, London.On the second, it is changed to Hamley Brothers and J. Jaques & Son Ltd, London. “Jointly Concerned” is not mentioned.2. SOLE MAKERS has been added on the second above the Parker Brothers name.
Interpretation
The reference to the 1902 Copyright means that neither could have been made in time for the 1901 Christmas market. The first would have been made soon after the Copyright was approved in 1902. The introduction of the second set, with the addition of Sole Makers, marks the time that Parker Brothers were geared up to make their Ping Pong sets in America in their own name. The precise date is unimportant, and unless and until firmer evidence becomes available, we can take this to be 1 May 1902.
The question now becomes, who made them before that date? The answer must be Hamleys as evidenced by having their name and address on the first label. This effectively means Hamleys and Jaques because they were Jointly Concerned at that time.
10. The discovery of the two 1901 Ping Pong Sets by Fabio Marcotulli
Table Tennis Researchers were beginning to think there was no more to discover when Fabio Marcotulli bought a set on eBay in 2020 (TTH 91) and the second nearly identical set in 2021 (TTH 94) pictured here.
At the time of their discovery, they were an unresolved enigma. Now, they provide the missing link for the timing of the development of the game between Jaques, Hamleys and Parker Brothers. The problem is that the date they were made cannot be determined from the sets themselves and they cannot be the missing link without knowing it.
In Chapter 16, I establish, what others had done before[2], that the first time Jaques and Hamleys used Jointly Concerned to describe themselves was between 24th and 29th June 1901. They did so thereafter in the form shown in Chapter 4 – “Sole Publishers and Manufacturers J. JAQUES & SON Ltd & HAMLEY Bros. (Jointly Concerned)”. This is repeated in the nearly identical version (Chapter 5) which has at the top right UNITED STATES AMERICA TRADE MARK No. 36854 6/8/01. From the inclusion of Jointly Concerned on Fabio’s sets, in very small print below their names, I deduce that they were made just after 24 June 1901.
I can now examine the facts relating to the labels on Fabio’s two Ping Pong or Gossima sets.
1. The Fabio sets have only the UK names and addresses with no mention of Parker Brothers. Therefore, they must precede the American sets.
2. The name on the labels starts with PING PONG or GOSSIMA. The byline added on the right, “The Great Tennis Game for the Table”, is used here for the first time. The previous Jaques version, with the green label with the goblins and pixies, began with “The New Table Game of PING PONG OR GOSSIMA” in semi-script letters. Because the game was then new, it needed more explanation and the byline to the right was longer – “Causing immense excitement and healthy exercise and is the nearest approach that can be made to the Game of Lawn Tennis as played indoors”
3. The words PING PONG are in plain capitals, almost identical to the form used in Hamleys USA Trade Mark of 6 August 1901.
4. Both sets were bought on eBay. The first in 2020 from a UK seller. The second, in 2021, from the USA.
5. Jaques and Hamleys names are given as Sole Publishers with Jointly Concerned below in small print.
“Wholesale: 102 Hatton Garden, London E.C.”, the Jaques address, is added in the next line.
6. This Rules and Directions for Ping Pong or Gossima was included with Fabio’s second Set – the one he bought in America. It has Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned as Sole Publishers and adds “To be obtained from Hamley Bros Establishments” with addresses.
7. This is the “Rules and Directions for Ping Pong or Gossima” shown in S3 with Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned as Sole Publishers. The earlier version for Gossima or Ping Pong had “Manufactured and Published by” Jaques only, with no mention of Hamleys.
8. The image of the label shown above is from Fabio’s second set. Here is an extract from his first set, the one he bought in the UK. The only difference is that it has the over-sticker applied at the bottom. The wording is indistinct but it reads WHOLESALE AT HAMLEY’S 86 & 87 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON W.C.
9. The contents of Fabio’s Sets adds to the mystery.
The parchment battledores are as you would expect. The net and the posts are not. The high net and the wooden posts, connected under the table, were used for the original 1891 game of Gossima and occasionally for Gossima or Ping Pong but not otherwise.
10. The final find from Fabio’s boxes are these two rare balls – from set 1, a Hamley’s Ping Ball and, from set 2, a Globe Metal Polish Ball which was advertised extensively with the Globe Metal Polish Cards.
Interpretation and Inference
1. The first set was bought in the UK and the second in America. The main interpretation from this is that they were published by Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned for sale in the home trade in Britain and for export to America.
2. Why were the original Gossima style wooden posts used with Fabio’s sets?
Answer: They were made before Jaques and Hamleys used metal clamps which can be dated. On 12 July 1901, John Jaques & Son Ld registered the design of their first, a telescopic metal clamp. I have an example in my Hamleys Society Set shown in Chapter 2 below. There is a picture of it in the Hamleys “Catalogue for the Winter Season” 1901 shown in the next Chapter. Ergo, the Fabio sets were made before 12 July 1901 and most likely just after 24 June 1901.
As a wider aid to dating. In their Registered Design application, Jaques used Ld after their name which they did for a short period as an abbreviation for Limited after they became a Limited Company on 16 April 1899. So they were still using Ld 2 years later. They also used it on the brass label of Jaques Society Set in my collection shown in Chapter 14.
3.There is a striking similarity between Fabio’s sets and the Parker Brothers Set 1.
Parker Brothers Set 1 taken from Chapter 9
Fabio’s set as above
They are both text-only with no picture. Both have the phrase “The Great Tennis Game for the Table.”
The font used for PING PONG is very similar on both. They mirror the way the words are used in the Hamleys USA Trade Mark application dated to 24 June 1901 when Francis Hamley signed his Declaration. This provides further support that they were made just after 24 June 1901.
4. The Parker Brothers set is dated to 1902. So, the Fabio sets are earlier.
5. The conclusion is that the Fabio sets are the missing link. Jaques and Hamleys were the Sole Publishers of them just after 24 June 1901 and they were for the UK and the export market.
We can now try to establish how the game developed in the UK and the sequence of events which resulted in Parker Brothers becoming Sole Makers in the USA.
11. The Hamleys Ping Pong Catalogue for The Winter Season 1901
The Hamleys 4-page Catalogue “Ping-Pong for the Winter Season” provides comprehensive details of everything needed to play the new game of Ping Pong. These are the images (previously shown in TTC 52).
The Winter Season can only relate to Winter 1901 because the image on the front page of the man and the woman playing the game, in very formal late Victorian attire, is taken from the article entitled PING PONG by Stanley White which was published in the April 1901 edition of The Royal Magazine. It begins with a review of the existing indoor games and concludes that Ping Pong or Table Tennis is “The latest and undeniable the greatest of the new games.”
This catalogue was issued by Hamley Brothers to promote the new game and to help to sell their Ping Pong sets and accessories. It reveals more about the development of the game. In pride of place at the top right of the front page, it acknowledges that the Sole Publishers are Hamleys and Jaques Jointly Concerned. How the Ping Pong boom began in 1900 has been recorded as news items in newspapers and magazines. Here, in this Catalogue, we have the authentic version given by Hamleys themselves.
The most revealing is that, in the inset page 2 headed PING-PONG SETS, they tell us how the game started and they credit Jaques as the original introducers of Ping Pong. Its provenance can be relied upon because these are Hamleys own words.
The accessories, which would have been made by Jaques, “are up to date in every particular”. It continues: “Each appliance has been carefully thought out by ourselves who are, in conjunction with Messrs Jaques and Son, the original introducers of the game of Ping Pong in its present perfect form.” The mention of “its present perfect form” is sufficient reference to its previous form as Gossima with all its flaws.
“In conjunction” with Jaques is a close synonym for “Jointly Concerned”. Their frankness in stating that Jaques were “original introducers of the game of Ping Pong” shows that it was a mutual relationship with benefits to both parties.
The contents of this leaflet provide a cornucopia of information. Some parts will be referred to with the continuation of the interpretation of the boxes and the contents, but there is much more for study which is outwith the scope of this Chapter including providing details of:
- The five Hamleys addresses in London and a reference to Paris and Nuremburg.
- Their ten qualities of sets ranging from 2/6 (12.5p) to the Society Set at 2 Guineas (£2.20)
- Pictures of two battledores on the patent table which are seen to be strung rackets.
- Only one of the four Ping Pong Bats were made of Real Vellum, the other 3 are strung rackets, strange when the success of the game came from the sound of the balls hitting the vellum.
- A full page of “accessories”, some of which feature in this the Part 2 of the story as told by the boxes. It includes the balls, posts and clamps, nets and ball holders, and ball picker-ups.
- The three pictures from the Royal Magazine article by Stanley White and a quotation from it.
12. The Hamleys PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Society set
The Hamleys PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Society Set in a mahogany box
The name is the same as in the Fabio sets – simply PING PONG OR GOSSIMA without the prefix of “The New Table Game” as in the Jaques sets. It is the top-quality set in the Hamleys Catalogue for the Winter Season 1901 selling for 2 Guineas or £2.10.
The brass label shows several distinguishing features.
In the name of Hamleys and Jaques, it does not mention them as Sole Makers nor is there the addition of Jointly Concerned.
The LTD, on the Jaques address, is printed on a separate line below their name. It gives three of the Hamleys addresses in London and none for Jaques.
It contains an enlarged version of the RULES AND DIRECTIONS OF PING PONG OR GOSSIMA with a green cover by Jaques and Hamleys, Jointly Concerned. It has 5 pages of Directions and Rules and 12 pages, including the cover, with descriptions and illustrations of Jaques equipment for Ping Pong and other games. It is stated to be COPYRIGHT ENTERED AT STATIONER’S HALL. No such entry has been traced for PING PONG OR GOSSIMA but there is a later copyright entry, found by Alan Duke, for the Laws of Ping Pong recorded on 19 December 1901 by Jaques and Hamleys for the Ping Pong Association.
The polished brass net post and clamp
As a further example of good collaboration between Jaques and Hamleys, Jaques hold a Design Registration for the net post and clamp included with this set. It is the one referred to above in Chapter 10 about the Fabio sets, and Chapter 11, the Hamleys Catalogue for the Winter Season 1901. It is the one illustrated on the back page of the Hamleys Catalogue, all as seen from the following table.
13. The Hamleys PING PONG OR GOSSIMA in a Jaques Box
This is the Hamleys version of the Ping Pong of Gossima set with the green label.
It has the Jointly Concerned details at the bottom left and “TITLES REGISTERED AS TRADE MARKS” at the top right. It is the same as Version 1 (S3) and the one before Version 2 which has the 6 August 1901 USA Trade Mark appendage.
The main difference is that the wording to the right of the name is now “To be obtained at HAMLEY Bros. Toy Warehouses …. etc.” with their Oxford Street, Regent Street and High Holborn addresses.
These sets have simplified easier to use metal clamps with wooden poles to attach the net. With minor differences, they have been used with all my other Ping Pong or Gossima sets.
Of the 9 Ping Pong or Gossima sets in my collection, 2 are embossed with HAMLEY’S PING PONG. 6 have the full PING PONG Regd by JAQUES or very similar and 1 has the metal telescopic clamp.
14. The Jaques PING PONG OR GOSSIMA Society set
I purchased this set from a friend in Edinburgh almost 30 years ago. It was my first Jaques item. You can see why I became interested!
This is the Jaques Society set for The Game of Ping Pong or Gossima in a mahogany box
The set is listed in the Rules booklet that came with the Hamleys set. It is their top-quality set described as “forming an excellent and novel Xmas gift”.
It too is the highest priced set selling for 2 Guineas.
The shape of the brass label is identical to the Hamleys version. The name here is THE GAME OF PING PONG OR GOSSIMA.
Only the Jaques name and address is given as J. JAQUES & SON, Ld., Hatton Garden, London.
The Ld. for Limited, was the early abbreviation they used for a short period.
15. An aid to dating from newspapers and magazines
A selection of media references will be given to try to clarify the timescale of the development of the game and the makers. The magazines include The Royal Magazine, and the Graphic.
The Royal Magazine Article: April 1901
This most detailed early article about the new game appeared in the April 1901 issue of The Royal Magazine by Stanley White. These are the first two pages.
It is a five-page article starting with title picture with the name PING PONG imbedded. The pictures on page 2 show the game in play and there are three others on the subsequent pages.
Some extracts from the article tell us about the impact made by the new game, its origins and where it can be obtained:
- “The latest and undoubtedly the greatest of the new games is the one rejoicing in the euphonious title of Ping Pong or Table Tennis”. It adds that the game originated some years back and that “it is only within the last few months that the general public have come to recognise its merits”.
- The essential elements are the net, and the balls “airy as bubbles made of xylonite better known as celluloid”.
- The crucial point that, “the musical sound made by striking the balls on the parchment surface of the racquet inspired the title, Ping Pong”.
- The maker – “We have it on no less authority than the manufacturers, Messrs Hamley of Oxford Street that the aristocracy are delighted with it”. There is no mention of Jaques.
- The prices – “5s 6p for a very good set” rising “in easy stages up to 12s 6p” (27.5p to 62.5p). This was when the article was printed in April 1901. The prices were unchanged in the Hamleys Catalogue for the Winter Season 1901, but the range had been extended to include The Society Set at 2 Guineas.
The Pall Mall Gazette: 22 September 1900
The Trade Mark for Ping Pong was granted to Hamleys on 20 September 1900 and, only two days later, on 22 September 1900, The Pall Mall Gazette, London, published an article headed A NEW ENGLISH INDOOR GAME[3]. The opening sentence was “The euphonious name “Ping Pong” is at present familiar to a few but it is probable that by Christmas time it will be the by-word at every suburban road.”
It described every aspect of the game and included that Ping Pong Balls could be obtained from Hamleys. Several other papers picked up on the story.
The Daily Mail: 18 December 1900
With mock humour, the words of this article demonstrated how successful the game had become.
“The deadly Ping Pong malady is upon us. With frightful rapidity, with an intensity of ferocity unparalleled in the sporting history of this and any other country, the awful scourge sweeps pinging through our drawing rooms and the flower of society writhes in its pongy gripe”.
It continues in a more sober tone:
“Ping Pong, Gossima, or table tennis, is not the growth of a season. During seven long years brooding in the dim fastnesses of toy merchants’ warehouses” it matured to what “we now see around us”.
It then describes everything about the game and indicates that it was so successful that “demand exceeded supply and thousands of people were turned away at Christmas empty handed”.
The article concludes with the kind of precise comment about the timing I have not found anywhere else: “It only began about six weeks ago said Messrs Jaques manager to a Daily Mail representative yesterday”.
So we know that Ping Pong phenomena really started on Monday 5 November 1900, six weeks before the date of the interview on 17 December 1900.
This is unique early confirmation of the role played by Jaques. Thousands were being turned away, implies that the demand was for thousands and that Jaques had been making many of them for Christmas 1900.
The Graphic Magazine 1898
| As already shown in Part 1 of the story, this image of Gossima being played is taken from an advertisement in The Graphic Magazine in 1898. It shows all the essential elements of the game – the high net, on an ordinary dining table, with the man and woman hitting a ball with battledores. |
The Ludgate Illustrated Magazine 1894
Although Gossima was not the huge success Jaques hoped for, it was for tennis played on a table and it may have contributed to the use of the words Table Tennis in English which was used for this game mentioned in Florence Mary Gardiner’s 1894 article in The Ludgate Illustrated Magazine.
The greater interest in this article is the reference to the use of xylonite or celluloid balls. But this game had little resemblance to the one which became Ping Pong or Table Tennis. It is very much smaller with a “miniature net” 3 inches high and “tiny rackets”. Maybe that is why it never succeeded.
16.The Hamleys Ping Pong Advertisements
Another mystery is that, although Hamley Bros advertised and promoted their game of Ping Pong, no boxed set in Hamleys name has been found. Two of my Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned sets for Ping Pong or Gossima with the Jaques label do have the Hamleys name and addresses replacing the Jaques descriptive wording for the game on the right-hand side of the label and my mahogany Society Set is similar. They also promoted their sets in other ways. There are several references to their leaflets and price lists being available and their 4-page Catalogue Ping Pong for the Winter Season 1901, shows their extensive range.
A study of the advertisements they placed will help to unravel the puzzle and give us an understanding of why they became associated with Jaques leading to them becoming Jointly Concerned. First, these two:-
When I bought these two examples of their advertisements on eBay some 10 years ago, I did not know the significance of the publication dates and was fortunate that the first, from The Graphic on 15 June 1901, and the second, from The Illustrated London News 29 June 1901, spans the critical period.
It was on 24 June 1901, right in between these dates, that Francis Hamley made his Declaration in support of the Hamley Bros USA Trade Mark application for Ping Pong which was granted on 6 August 1901. The details are fully provided in Chapter 8. Francis Hamley includes the unambiguous statements that Hamley Bros “has at this time the right to use the trade-mark (for Ping Pong)” and “that no other person, firm or corporation has the right to such use, either in identical form in any such near resemblance.”
He could not have done this unless an agreement had been reached with Jaques on, or shortly before, 24 June 1901. It would have had to have been a formal legal agreement. The full terms are not known but the outcome is that it was the beginning of Jaques and Hamleys describing themselves as “Jointly Concerned”.
These advertisements became part of a series made by Hamleys from the Summer of 1901 and the rest of 1901. They continued, with less frequency, in 1902 and 1903 through to 1904 when Ping Pong was “relegated to a much lower profile in the company’s continuing series of advertisements on Country Life[4]”.
In the Summer of 1901, they were for Ping Pong for the Garden, an alien concept which goes against the raison d’etre of the new and hugely successful game of Ping Pong designed to be played indoors on a table.
Alan Duke has traced the origin of the series to this their first appearance in Country Life Illustrated on 25 May 1901 (TTHJ 88) and repeated on 1 and 8 June 1901. Under the bold headline PING PONG FOR THE GARDEN, it shows a picture of the man and woman in formal attire playing on a dining room table on a lawn of a large country house.
In the inset they add “FOR GARDEN PARTIES” whereby “six games can be played at the same time on moderately sized lawns”.
They do call it HAMLEY’S GREAT GAME OF PING PONG but the images of the Ping Pong Bats on offer indicate that they have not quite grasped the importance of the sound of the ball hitting the battledore. Only one of the four shown is drumstick and marked REAL VELLUM. The other three are strung gut rackets – smaller versions of the lawn tennis racket. These were not just for summer in the garden. The same image of four bats was used later by Hamleys in their Catalogue for the Winter Season 1901 (C 11).
The series continued with The Graphic on 1 June 1901 which had an image of the Vellum racket described on 15 June 1901 as HAMLEY’S PING PONG TOURNAMENT BAT.
In July, they changed to this new picture of a Garden Party in action with four tables being used on a large lawn. It was in the Illustrated London News on 27 July and again on 10 August 1901 with the sub- heading “For the Garden”, “For Country Houses” and “For the Seaside”. The inclusion of Jaques Croquet provides tangible evidence that Hamleys were selling and promoting other Jaques products.
There were a few other earlier advertisements in 1901.
This one from Country Life on 6 April 1901 announced that Hamleys had a large stock of their great game of Ping Pong and gave details of prices of complete sets and accessories. The battledore in the picture has a smooth surface but the image of the one to the right is strung. It is marked PING PONG and clearly the one they are promoting.
The earliest mentions of Hamley’s Ping Pong
Hamleys were involved with their Ping Pong from the time they registered the Trade Mark for Ping Pong on 20 September 1900. Two days later, on 22 September 1900, The Pall Mall Gazette announced Ping Pong as the “New English Game” and that Ping Pong balls could be obtained from Hamleys. The same story was repeated in other newspapers. It is stating the obvious that Hamleys must have fed them with the information by what we would today call a Press Release.
The small print of this advertisement confirms that Hamleys were making Ping Pong well before September 1900. “All our leading sportsmen, football players have taken it up”. Complete sets at four prices from 2/6 to 12/6 were in their shops – and all accessories.
It is less obvious that they had pre-empted the success of their Ping Pong Trade Mark application.
For the balls and sets to be in the Hamleys shops, they must have already been making the game prior to the Trade Mark application on the 22nd September 1900.
This conclusion is reinforced by this, Hamley’s first full-scale advertisement in Country Life, on 29 September 1900 with a picture of a man and woman in evening dress playing on a table. The table has legs like a dining room table but has a polished surface which might be an overlay. It has HAMLEY’S, 512 OXFORD STREET on the side. The long-handled rackets are seen to be smooth surfaced drum battledores.
It is a puzzle that the ball is black implying that it is made of rubber. It would be white if they wanted it to look like celluloid as in later versions. PING PONG OR TABLE TENNIS is their title. To include Table Tennis would just have been descriptive before their rivals began using it as the name of the game.
This advertisement was followed by two smaller versions on 10 November and 15 December 1900 with the same picture, the same prices and similar wording. They show the removal of the words Table Tennis. The title on 10 November is the same as it was on 29 September – PING PONG OR TABLE TENNIS. By 15 December 1900, they had realised the need to remove the words Table Tennis. Why did they change it to GOSSIMA OR PING-PONG? This was the short-lived name for the game before the change to PING PONG OR GOSSIMA – the first version which had the appendage Jaques and Hamleys Jointly concerned. Either way, Hamleys are acknowledging the use of the Jaques original name of Gossima for the game. Given that there is no evidence that Hamleys themselves made a game with Gossima in the name, it is likely that this related to the Ping Pong or Gossima set with the green Jaques label as depicted in Chapter 4.
This makes an indirect reference to the relationship between Hamleys and Jaques, but it does not change the deduction that the Jointly Concerned epithet was first used after 24 June but before 29 June 1901.
Infringement of Copyright March 1901
Jaques and Hamleys were however working together before these dates. Proof comes from the sales activity of the well-established Cricket and Lawn Tennis Outfitter J. Davenport of 20 Eldon Street, London. On 25 March 1901, wanting to expand his business, he listed THE NEW GAME OF PING PONG OR TABLE TENNIS in his new Trade Catalogue. Action for infringement of Trade Mark was swiftly taken by the solicitors for Hamleys and Jaques forcing this public notice to be printed in The Times newspaper on 16 April 1901. Dated 13 April 1901, it was a fulsome apology by J. Davenport to John Jaques and Son Ltd and Hamley Brothers for using “the word Ping Pong in relation to the game of Table Tennis” saying that it was done by him “inadvertently and without my knowing that Ping Pong was the subject of a registered Trade Mark”.
17. More examples of the Box Labels
In this, the penultimate Chapter, I will show more box labels taking us up to the early 1940s.
17.1. The Great Game of Table Tennis by Jaques
This is the first. Please pause and draw up your own thoughts before you read on. I will only add that I bought it from a seller in San Diego in America.
It is for The Great Game of Table Tennis manufactured by John Jaques & Son Ltd with their address at 102 Hatton Garden, London, England.
It must have been humiliating for Jaques to do this, but it would have been their attempt to get a share of the lucrative American market after Parker Brothers had assumed the sole rights to make and sell Ping Pong. This set would have been made by them in 1902, or later, after Parker Brothers became Sole Makers.
The timing is corroborated by the mention of the Rules of Table Tennis
They were copyrighted by The Table Tennis Association on 19 December 1901 – two days before the Ping Pong Association copyrighted their version.
17.2. Jaques PING PONG OR GOSSIMA 1914
This looks just like the first version with Jaques and Hamleys Jointly Concerned but this time with their 20/21 Kirby Street address which they first used on 27 October 1914.
It is still for Ping Pong or Gossima with the smooth faced battledores on the label but, at the top right, they have removed the reference to the August 1901 USA Trade Mark and reverted to the older version of TITLES REGISTERED AS TRADE MARKS.
The metal net posts which came with this set are embossed with the full details – PING PONG Regd JAQUES & SON Ltd, LONDON.
17.3. Jaques PING PONG, The Game of Table Tennis with 1920s label
This is the label as redesigned by Irene Dodgson Jaques for the 1920s.
17.4. JAQUES TABLE TENNIS PING PONG, 1930s
This version is by Jaques as manufacturers with their address at Whiteheather Works, 36 Whitehorse Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey which they moved to after their factory at Hatton Garden was bombed in 1941.
They used earlier versions in the 1930s with slight variations.
17.5. The Windsor, SLAZENGERS’ TABLE TENNIS
Not dated but probably c1910.
17.6 Two European Ping Pong sets (Dutch and German)
18. Business Relationships
Here are some background observations which will help us to find the Solution.
18.1 The origins of Hamleys and Jaques
Hamleys
The Hamley website records that William Hamley came from Cornwall to London to set up a toy shop in 1760 but no early records have survived. Alan Duke found an entry in an 1830 London Directory for W. Hamley, Toy Warehouse, 231 High Holborn, London. He augmented this by adding that “William Hamley (1803-1874) born Cripplegate, London, son of carpenter John Hamley William Hamley”. I have traced that William married Suzannah Ward on 30th June 1842 and the Marriage Certificate supports this – that he was a Toy Warehouseman, living at 231 High Holborn and that his father, John Hamley, was a carpenter.
An advertisement was published in the Kentish Gazette on 21 May 1872 for Hamley’s Noah’s Ark shop which includes “Established 1760” – the earliest traced mention of their founding year. The firm expanded and, by 1901, they had added shops in London in Oxford Street, Regent Street and New Oxford Street. Their warehouse and head office was at 86 & 87 High Holborn and they had outlets in Paris and Nuremburg.
Jaques
The Jaques business was founded in 1795 by Thomas Jaques, the father of John Jaques I. They were primarily wood and ivory turners, but they made almost anything from these materials.
The Jaques Pattern Book
| Their premises at Hatton Garden were bombed in 1941 and all they we able to save was their Pattern Book which was kept in a fireproof safe. Used by their representatives to show customers what they were selling, it has full colour drawings of their complete range in 1880 when it was compiled. This Parlour Croquet is an example. The green tabs show selling prices and their cost prices, in code. |
The variety of items they made as shown in the Pattern Book is astounding – all kinds of kitchenware from spoons to bread boards and wooden ornaments but mainly games or accessories for games. They include chess pieces, draughts, dominoes, dice, bowling greens bowls, spinning tops, jigsaw, and items not made of wood or ivory like footballs and the growing side of their business, card games.
The Jaques Trade Cards and Advertisement 1800 to 1836
A few other documents were salvaged from the fire. Thomas Jaques’ first business card from c1800 describes their business as manufacturers of billiard balls and bowling green bowls for wholesale in Great Britain and for exportation. An 1814 example of this card provides a fuller list of what they made including Ivory Chessmen, Billiard Balls, Draftsmen, Pope Joan, Back Gammon, Loto, Bagatelle, Cribbage, Chess Boards. Two years later in 1816, another for T. & J. Jaques, when Thomas Jaques Jnr and his brother John were partners, was very similar with the addition that they were then selling “games of every description”.
The Staunton Chessmen
Their eminence in the field of wood and ivory turning and carving led to their collaboration in 1849 with Nathaniel Cooke, the editor of the Illustrated London News, to make the Staunton Chessmen. Every piece is illustrated in the Jaques 1880 Pattern Book.
18.2 My business experience
My family company was in the drink business and we became the largest distributors of whisky and wines and spirits in Scotland. This gives me an insight into what it is to be a buyer or a seller. Primarily it is about building up contacts which develop into mutual trust and friendships. In our case, as the sellers, our role was more Hamleys than Jaques.
I can give three examples. The gin market was dominated by one brand, Gordons. The aspiring brand was Beefeater. The Beefeater Company wanted to do better in Scotland and made it worth our while by offering higher than normal commission. We tried for better. They could not improve on price but, in the days when credit of 30 days was the norm, they offered 90 days. Easy for them, a large company, beneficial to us by providing much needed capital funding. We quadrupled their sales in Scotland.
The second example was with a brand of sherry which, although little-known worldwide, was the biggest seller in Scotland – Bertola Cream. The owners were having business problems and had a huge quantity of bottled stock, kept in expensive warehouses, equivalent to over one year’s sales. In return for the exclusive selling rights in Scotland, we bought the whole stock for £280,000, but payable over 2 ½ years by bills of exchange. Again, a good deal for both. It was high risk and might have gone wrong. They discounted the bills of exchange meaning that our liability was now to an unknown third party. But the owner of Bertola was Jose Maria Ruiz Mateos, the richest man in Spain with income of over 2% of Spain’s GDP. What could go wrong? Luckily, nothing did in our time, but 10 years later he went spectacularly bankrupt.
We had also become very close friends with the owners of Macallan Malt Whisky Distillery. In the 1970s the interest in Malt Whisky was in its infancy. They were embarking on an ambitious programme to make Macallan a worldwide brand. Their sales in Scotland were only 1,000 cases of 12 bottles a year. They offered us commission of £24 per case sold when £2 to £5 was the norm. The result could not have been predicted. After 5 years, we increased the sales in Scotland to 10,000 cases. They did the arithmetic and worked out that, for £240,000 a year, they could employ their own sales force selling only their own range of malt whiskies. To their embarrassment, they sacked us. As a brand, they succeeded. Today they are rated the finest Scotch Malt Whisky with a single cask selling recently for over £1m.
18.3 The relationship between Jaques and Hamleys
Today there is sparse supporting evidence of the nature of the relationship between Hamleys and Jaques. But that does not mean that they did not have mutually beneficial trading arrangements.
Both companies were well established in the early 19th Century. Many of the Jaques games, tables and boards and accessories included in their 1800 and 1816 trade cards and in the 1836 advertisement would have been a perfect fit for Hamleys to sell and even more so the increased range in their 1880 Pattern Book. By this time, Hamleys were the largest toy shop in the world and Jaques were almost certainly the largest maker and supplier of games. It follows that Hamleys would have been Jaques’ best customer and, vice versa, Jaques would have been their biggest supplier. Hamleys would certainly have stocked the Jaques Staunton Chessmen from 1849, Happy Families, Snap and croquet from the 1860, Tiddledy Winks from 1889 and many more of their 200 other games.
I tried to find proof but the best I could trace was that Hamleys included Jaques Croquet in their Ping Pong advertisement in the Illustrated London News on 27 July 1901.
| As a second example, Steve Grant has traced this Hamley 3 August 1901 advertisement for HAMLEY’S GREAT GAME OF PING-PONG which gives more or less equal prominence to JAQUES’S Croquet. |
This is sufficient evidence to show that Hamleys were buying games from Jaques and promoting and selling them in their shops. But I wanted more and earlier examples. Then I found it in my collection – a Jaques game of Tiddledy Winks from 1889 with a Hamleys stamp.
This is only one but it makes the point.
To conclude this Chapter, I think I have solved why no Hamleys Ping Pong boxed sets have ever been found.
| Here is an example from my collection, bought on eBay UK in 2003. You can see why I was dismissive about the box. It is made of hardboard with a wooden frame with no label. I bought it for the contents which included the net posts with the rare metal clamp embossed HAMLEY’S PING PONG. The only other examples I have of these are in the familiar green Jaques boxes with the Hamley overprint. I now deduce that they made this box to avoid using the Jaques version. It has the roman numerals VIII on the wooden frame, surely for Hamleys Set 8, their Society set. Whether that is right or not, it is the only box set found for Hamleys Ping Pong without the Jaques label. |
19. The Denouement
We can now move on to the burning question of why they became Jointly Concerned shortly after 24 June 1901, and what happened next, and indeed what happened before that date. This includes the easy to answer, like ascertaining the timescale for making Ping Pong sets in the USA and, the more complex, like what were the mutual benefits. I have introduced my own business experiences in this to help me, and you, get into the mindsets of Jaques and Hamleys.
I can now provide a solution which I consider is the answer to everything, but it will be for you the reader to decide.
The Jointly Concerned
I begin with the conclusion that becoming Jointly Concerned was not just something which happened in late 24 June 1901 but rather it was part of the continuum in the relationship between Jaques and Hamleys. I will now go over the factors which lead logically to this conclusion.
The most fully documented is Francis Hamley’s Declaration in relation to Hamley’s Ping Pong Trade Mark Application for the USA granted on 6 August 1901. From Chapter 8, it was for the arbitrary words Ping Pong in a variety of ways and for games and toys. In his declaration, Francis Hamley avers that it had been used continuously in business by them since about August 1900 and that no other person, firm or corporation had the right to such use.
This must have been valid when he made his declaration on 24 June 1901.
It means that there could not have been a prior agreement with Parker Brothers. More difficult to understand, it also excludes Jaques from any involvement with Ping Pong before 24 June 1901.
How could this be when the Gossima or Ping Pong set shown in Chapter 3 has only the name of J. Jaques & Son as the maker? There are also the published Rules & Directions for Gossima or Ping Pong marked Manufactured and Published by J. Jaques & Son Ltd, followed by a similar version of Ping Pong or Gossima with “Sole Publishers: J. Jaques & Son Ltd., and Hamley Bros. (Jointly Concerned)”.
Even more convincing evidence of Jaques’ involvement with Ping Pong comes from the Hamleys own Catalogue “PING PONG For the Winter Season” 1901. Under their heading PING PONG, Hamleys are condemned by their own words “Each appliance has been carefully thought out by ourselves who are, in conjunction with Messrs Jaques and Son, the original introducers of the game of Ping Pong in its present perfect form.” Ipso facto, Jaques were involved.
The explanation
When two conflicting facts are irrefutable, there has to be an explanation.
In this case, it must be that just before 24 June 1901 Jaques had relinquished all rights to Ping Pong both past and present. This would not have been a simple process. Given the unequivocal nature of Hamleys declaration, sworn before a Notary Public, the relinquishment would have had to be drawn up in binding legal format. No such agreement has been found but it must have existed.
Less obvious, but none the less a certainty, Jaques could not have been coerced. For them to cede the rights to the game offering the biggest potential in their history, they must have considered the arrangement to be worth their while and they would have agreed amicably. This is where my understanding of buyer/seller relationships comes in. After working together for almost a century, they would have known each other very well. What Jaques got in return is open to conjecture. It would most certainly have included a continuing agreement with Hamleys to buy Jaques games. It is likely that it also involved granting Jaques the right to manufacture the game. This would give Jaques a share in the success of Ping Pong without the cost of selling it. All this would be tied up as part of the legal agreement.
What happened before?
As I have said, all this is part of a continuum. For Hamleys to proceed with the application for the USA Trade Mark, the stating of Jointly Concerned on Ping Pong or Gossima sets after June 1901 would have been required. Before that such a visible statement on Ping Pong boxes would not have been deemed necessary.
Hamleys were granted the Trade Mark for the UK on 20 September 1900. The procedure in the UK is rigorous. A Trade Mark is only granted if it has elements of uniqueness and it has not been used before. Jaques were very well acquainted with the various legal methods of protecting their interests including Design Registration (for the Staunton Chessmen); Trade Marks as for Gossima; and patents and copyright for several devices or publications. They would have known that, had they claimed prior use of the words Ping Pong, the Hamleys Trade Mark application of 20th September 1900 would have been refused.
The Amicable Conclusion
Why did they not? For the same reason as for the USA Trade Mark application made almost a year later. It would have been consensual for both, as part of their trading arrangements cementing a harmonious relationship stretching back to almost 100 years. There is no indication that it was done unwillingly. Quite the reverse. How could they continue together if Hamleys had forced through the issue of such magnitude as the ownership of the Trade Mark for Ping Pong?
So, as with every good story, the conclusion is that they lived happily ever after.
Their legacy to the world was Ping Pong and Table Tennis.
End
[1] TTC 65
[2] Jorge Arango in TTC 58 and 59
[3] Alan Duke TTC 85
[4] Quote from Alan Duke in TTHJ 88.