FORT BALL IN WOOD AND STEEL STRAPPING ASYSMETRICALLY SHAPED H3398 Ball fort in wood and encircled with iron over a third of its width, asymmetrical in shape. The boule de fort is a traditional boules game in the Loire Valley and on the borders of this region. The ball used has its center of gravity slightly offset (strong side) with respect to the tread (metal circle), which has the consequence that it never follows a rectilinear trajectory, while the ground with raised edges, extremely "rolling", moreover makes it slowly zigzag. The ball of fort is classified as a traditional game of the Pays de la Loire in the Inventory of the French intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture. The origin of this sport is badly known. According to the most widespread version, sailors from the Loire have gotten into the habit of playing at the bottom of their boats. This theory is considered not very credible because the barges, the large boats of the Loire, are much shorter than the set and are covered with frames, with a mast planted in the middle of the ship. Another belief traces the game back to Louis XV (or the First Empire, depending on the version5), Spanish prisoners would then have had the idea of playing with cannonballs during the construction of the levee of the Loire5 (in reality the one -ci was built by Henri II Plantagenêt from 11706). This belief is echoed when speaking of prisoners of Jeanne de Laval. The oldest known reference to a game of boules dates from 1660 with the mention in the Angevin region of a game of palm with gardens "in one of which gardens is a slate covered ball game, and a basty little house under the roof ”. Antoine Furetiere, in a text dating from 1691 quoted by Emile Joulain, refers on several occasions to the ball of fort, explaining in particular that "the fort of the ball is the place where the wood is tightest and, consequently, the heaviest. »The passion for the ball is old in Anjou. In the eighteenth century and in the nineteenth century, the "societies" where we play fort boules are very widespread. Also marginally in Indre-et-Loire, in its formerly Angevin western part, this game was mainly played by men. The woman is only present through representations, most often suggestive. In Saumur, in 1871, “mothers, wives, daughters, daughters-in-law, sister, and sister-in-law will be allowed to walk in the alley of the large garden, and to sit around the game of bowls, but they will not be admitted to no game (…). In no case should we be talking about our ladies ”. If, since the 1970s, some companies of boules de fort now accept women (there are even mixed challenges), they are still not very present in this male universe. .Do not hesitate to zoom. The photos are an integral part of the description.Dimensions: Diameter width: 12 cmThickness: 10 cmS: WJV48B7T I remain at your disposal for any questions.