MISCELLANEOUS, Tournament Statue. An extremely rare statue given to participants in the National Marbles Tournament in Atlantic City New Jersey in 1925. The statue is copper clad plaster. The original sculpture was created in 1925 by Pietro Ghiloni, an Italian who emigrated to the United States in 1892 and worked in New York City. The statue depicts a boy kneeling down and shooting a marble. He is on a plinth with text embossed on three of the four sides. The two long sides read "The Marble Shooter at Atlantic City". The front reads "Presented to Armand T. Nichols by the City of Atlantic City". The name is engraved. The sculptors name is embossed on the top of the plinth. The final short side is textured. These were presented to the sixty-four participants in the tournament. It weighs 26.5 pounds. Armand T. Nichols was the Director of the Miss America Pageant from 1923-1927, so he was likely involved with running the marble tournament in Atlantic City during that time. The marble tournament was held in Atlantic City from 1923 through 1928. It is known that these statues were given out at the 1925 and 1927 tournaments, and then at the 1929 tournament held in Ocean City New Jersey. It is not known if these were given out in 1926 and 1928, but presumably so. Very few of these have survived. At this time only about 12 are known to exist. Because they are quite heavy, being plaster, and only clad in a thin layer of copper, they tend to damage quite easily. At least two are known to exist where the heads have broken off (if you pick it up by the head, the neck will break due to the weight of the entire statue). These are exceptionally rare. This example appears to have been cleaned and does not have the dark patina we have seen on other examples. A very rare opportunity to own a very rare item. 13"x 11-1/2" x 6-1/2". Mint(-). Due to the weight of this item, it will be shipped in a small wood crate This item was pictured in the book Marble Mania on page 203, upper left corner.