The real measure of baseball's popularity and its place in the quilt of Americana is the effect it had on people's lives in their own environment, far from the crowds and noise at big league parks. This was the heartland baseball that Norman Rockwell imbued in his paintings, and it is the baseball that one sees in the incredibly unique and intricate hand-painted folk art on this circa 1915 violin case depicting a scene from a game. Though the artist is unknown, attention likely mattered less to him than the game. Putting these images on the violin case, which is small enough to have perhaps been his child's, must have been a labor of love. Because of the curved surface, the perspective seems to rise and fall, almost 3-D like. The case itself is in excellent condition, meaning that people through the years have taken care to preserve it. We've never come across such a special example of folk art honoring the national pastime. One can almost feel the passion for the game that went into it, and the pleasure it provided for its owner.