Page 8 - Layout 1

Page 8:Layout 1 10/03/2016 16:25 Page 1

KNOW YOUR BOWLS AND MARKINGS
8 KNOW YOUR BOWLS AND MARKINGS
Depending on the age of your bowls, there are a variety of markings.
CURRENT BOWLS STAMP The current “lozenge” mark is an oval but was previously one with “di-
amond” ends. The “A” on the left indicates the bowls manufacturer or
tester. “A” is Thomas Taylor and the other current and former letters
are listed below. The Manufacturing date of the bowls is 10 years be-
fore the date stamp on the bowls (13 on the example) i.e. Bowls
stamped '22' were manufactured in 2012. Each bowl in a set should
carry an identical serial number.
WORLD BOWLS
BOARD I do not intend to got though the rules on re-
stamping as it is not required in Short Mat bowls but
Manufacturer I have included some details on the wear and tear on
or testers letter 10 = Registered bowls that happens on outdoor greens.
As to the “Lozenge”, the WB stands for World
Expiry date 10 = 2010 bowls Ltd. Previous letters have been WBB for the
The last date for this stamp World Bowls Board and before that IBB with the “I” in

the middle and somewhat taller, was the International
Bowling Board. You may also spot BIBC, British Isles Bowling
Council. The “R” in a circle will be the same as any of these
Expiry lozenges as it indicates it is a Registered Trademark.
date 2000 As to bowls testing, the Date April 1st 2002 marked a new
era in the sport. It’s the day that saw the official launch of the new
standardised tables for the testing of bowls, along with the intro-
duction of a new Working Reference Bowl (formerly the Master
Bowl) and a brand new World Bowl Stamp, as featured on the top
of the page. The 'Master Bowl' is a working reference bowl that all
manufacturers and testers use to determine the legality of new and
existing models via a table test.
In a nutshell, it means the current testers will be testing bowls
on an identical running surface and using the same specially con-
structed battery operated chute. Prior to this standardisation, chutes
were operated manually and the type of rubber table sur-
face used varied from centre to centre, hence marked dis-
crepancies in test results, which has caused considerable
controversy in the past. It is envisaged that this move will
eliminate the problems. there had been cases of deliber-
ate doctoring of bowls in some areas of the world.
All those bowls manufactured after April 1st 2002 will
bear the new oval World Bowls stamp, which replaces the
World Bowls Board stamp introduced in 1993.
Thankfully I would stress that bowls testing and stamping
is irrelevant to
Short Mat Bowls and our centre block protects us as
everyone has to go around it.
The main reason that outdoor bowls have to be
tested is due to wear and tear. Wear on a bowl will put a
flat on the running sole of a bowl, so while is turning on
an outdoor green it will have a tendency to run on this
flat, thus negating the bias. Obviously, the time frame of
this effect will depend on how often you play, the surface
you play on and the position you play.