Briancon's lozenges/the first blob?

[Roark]

My friend Larry just called. He reads the old mags line

by line, and files just about everything. He asked if the

name Briancon meant anything to me; it did not, so he

mentioned S&H Jan 1940, an article on Apollon by Norman

Miller, wherein is mentioned Briancon as a pupil of Prof.

Desbonnet:

"Desbonnet had a pupil named Briancon, who kept at

the gym his own special made bar bell which weighed

202 pounds. The handle weighed 22 pounds and at each

and was a round disk weighing 90 pounds. The disks were

three inches thick at the edges, and slightly thicker at

the center. They resembled lozenges and in the gym they

always referred to the bell as 'Briancon's Lozenges'."

Briancon decided to give up lifting and gifted the bell to

Victorius, and wrote to Desbonnet asking him to dismantle

the bell and ship it to Victorius.

In walks Apollon and asks 'What are those things?' to

which the Prof said that they were Briancon's lozenges.

"Apollon lapsed into silence and gravely watched the

assistant as he picked picked up the first disk in both

hands and laboriously carried it the length of the room.

When the assistant returned for the second disk,

Apollon pushed him aside saying, 'I will carry this one'.

Grasping the disk by the edge he extended his arm

straight in front of him, knuckles of the hand upward,

carried it across the room, and gravely handed it to

Desbonnet saying, 'Have a lozenge !'  Batta and Desbonnet

say they would not have believed it if they had not

seen it with their own eyes. Batta tried in vain with

both hands to lift the disk by the edge and thereafter

regarded Apollon almost with veneration.'

[RiotGrip]

Roark, your knowledge of the oldtime irongame is amazing.  I don't doubt for second that appolon was capable of such a feat.  However, I'd love to see pictures of these "lozenges", if they are available.

[Roark]

RiotGrip,

Don't have any photos of the bell unfortunately.

Don't know where the bell was shipped to Victorius,

who by the way was born in 1871, but I don't have

a death date for him.

Cause of death no doubt was a cold caused by

the unavailability of the proper lozenge...

The oldtimers had class, personality, and presentation,

and are an absolute joy to study. Their excesses

consisted of too many steaks and too many beers,

but what wondrous stories that lived and left for us.

If you have never visited the York Barbell Hall of Fame

in Pennsylvania, it would be a chance to see some of the

classic weights (Cyr, Shaffron, Rolandow, Travis). If

you ever go, say hi to Jan Dellinger who works there,

and who continues to prove that fine people are still

around in our sport.

[RiotGrip]

Thanks Roark, I do live in PA, and I've been to the factory.  Unfortunately I didn't have time to see the museum, hopefully next time though.