AUCTION ENDS: JUNE 18, 2009 www.collect.com/auctions • phone: 888-463-3063 Supplement to Sports Collectors Digest e-mail: [email protected] CoverSpread.indd 3 5/19/09 10:58:52 AM Now offering Now accepting consignments for our August 27 auction! % Consignment deadline: July 11, 2009 0consignment rate on graded cards! Why consign with Collect.com Auctions? Ī COMPANY HISTORY: Ī MARKETING POWER: F +W Media has been in business More than 92,000 collectors see our since 1921 and currently has 700+ products every day. We serve 10 unique Steve Bloedow employees in the US and UK. collectible markets, publish 15 print titles Director of Auctions and manage 13 collectible websites. [email protected] Ī CUSTOMER SERVICE: Ī EXPOSURE: We’ve got a knowledgeable staff We reach 92,000+ collectors every day that will respond to your auction though websites, emails, magazines and questions within 24 hours. other venues. We’ll reach bidders no other auction house can. Bob Lemke Ī SECURITY: Ī EXPERTISE: Consignment Director Your treasured collectibles are We’ve got some of the most [email protected] securely locked away in a 20-x- knowledgeable experts in the hobby 20 walk-in vault that would make working with us to make sure every item most banks jealous. is described and marketed to its fullest, which means higher prices. Accepting the following items: Ī QUICK CONSIGNOR Ī EASE OF PAYMENT: Vintage Cards, PAYMENTS: Tired of having to pay with a check, Autographs, We have an 89-year track record money order or cash? Sure, we’ll accept Tickets, of always paying on time…without those, but you can also pay with major Game-Used Equipment, exception. credit cards and Paypal. Publications, Trophies/Awards, Modern Cards, Ī INTEGRITY: Ī FRESH OUTLOOK: Artwork, We will exceed your expectations Our company manages more than 80 Vintage Photos, Advertising Pieces, in all aspects of the auction different websites and offers a fresh take More experience. on internet marketing. Collect.com Auctions will reach bidders nobody else can. GET MORE EXPOSURE. GET BETTER PRICES. 888-463-3063 www.collect.com/auctions CCA_pp2.indd 2 5/19/09 3:26:48 PM BID NOW! www.collect.com/auctions or 888-463-3063 Leading Off Lot # 1 1898-99 National Copper Plate Co. Portraits Complete Set of 50 with Original Book This set may well be the sole surviving complete set of 1898-99 was available in any other manner. The cover appears to be a heavily National Copper Plate Co. player pictures in existence. Once in a shellacked burlap, imprinted in black. On the front is a rampart lion great while, a single picture shows up at auction and it’s usually in between lines of type that read: “VOL. 1. / Portfolio of / Prominent lower grade. This complete set arrives looking very similar to the Ball Players” and “ISSUED BY / The Sporting News, / ST. LOUIS, issued condition 110 years ago and even includes the original binder MO.” The back cover pictures a catcher’s mitt and a fi elder’s glove in which the cards were issued and which preserved their uniformly and is imprinted with advertising that reads, “The Ball Players Whose superior state of preservation. With the unfortunate exception of the Pictures are in this Volume Use Reach Mitts and Gloves.” It carries the Cap Anson portrait on which the paper to the left of the original string- imprint of the A.J. Reach Co., Philadelphia.” binding holes has been torn away, the singles in this set have only The majority of the pictures have on their fronts a head-and-shoulders those original two pinholes in the left border to detract from otherwise portrait of a National League player, either in street clothes or in uniformly Near-Mint or better display quality. uniform; fi ve of the pictures have full-length portrayals of uniformed The NCP Portraits were produced at the end of the 19th century players. The dual dates with which the set is traditionally identifi ed in Grand Rapids, Mich. National Copper Plate Co. (NCP) appears refl ects the fact that many of the pictures carry either an 1898 or an to have been a specialty engraver producing illustrative plates for 1899 date along with the player name, position and team on front. periodical and book publishers in an era when photo illustrations in For more than half of the players on the checklist, this appearance the print media were uncommon. is their fi rst, if not their only, appearance on a collectible. This is the With the opening of the 1898 baseball season, NCP began offering earliest memorabilia depiction of Jimmy Collins, Elmer Flick, Willie what it advertised as its “Art Gallery of Prominent Base Ball Players Keeler, Bobby Wallace, Vic Willis and, most signifi cantly, Honus of America.” The pictures were initially issued in series of about six Wagner. The backs contain within a box at center a career summary each and sold for 10 cents per series. The NCP pictures were black- of the player. The write-up summarizes the player’s amateur and pro and-white photomechanical prints on semi-gloss paper in a size of career and often includes such personal data as hometown, physical 8-3/4-by-11 inches. description and career highlights. The original cover with which this set was discovered makes it clear The full checklist and more photos are available online. that this is the portfolio that was offered as a subscription premium to The Sporting News. It is not currently known whether this collection MIN BID $25,000 Review additional lots at www.collect.com/auctions Auction closes at 10 p.m. (EST) June 18, 2009 | 3 CCA_pp3-19.indd 3 5/19/09 10:40:55 AM BID NOW! www.collect.com/auctions or 888-463-3063 Lot # 2 1920s Ty Cobb Stall and Dean Advertising Display Piece The greatest player of his generation turns up here in a spectacular advertising piece from the 1920s, a multicolor, sturdy cardboard Leading Off countertop display that is among the rarest of the period. In a die-cut piece measuring 153/4 inches in height and 10 inches wide, a leaping Cobb is shown catching a line drive in an iconic fi elding pose that will be instantly recognizable to serious students of the game. Cobb’s leap is set against a backdrop of an enormous ball and glove bearing the Stall and Dean company name. The “Ty Cobb Gloves” type surrounds a facsimile Cobb signature on the glove, which in turn is set off by a brown checkerboard background. This highly coveted piece probably hits the auction block once or twice a decade; a specimen only slightly superior in terms of surface wear and presentation approached $20,000 at the famed Barry Halper Collection Auction at Sotheby’s in September of 1999. The presented piece is in excellent condition, save only for the surface wear in the lower-left corner and some fading running about four inches up in the same location. The easel back is intact and complete. MIN BID $4,000 Lot # 3 Jack Johnson Signed Sepia Photograph - Beautiful Autograph One of the most dominant boxers of all time, Johnson held the title from 1908-1915 and remains one of boxing’s most sought-after signatures. This sepia-toned photo is inscribed “Best Wishes - To My Best Friend Harry E. Ringsly - From Jack Johnson” on the lower border. The signature, written in black ink with a steel tip pen, is dark and bold, with a 9-10 strength. The “Gus Wilsons Training Camp” stamp on the right side most likely dates the photo to 1911, which is when he married Lucille Cameron and drew the ire of Southern ministers. The photo has undergone some professional restoration and displays in EX condition with small fi ssures and creases confi ned mainly to the periphery, as well as sections of paper loss on the reverse. The signature is authenticated by JSA. MIN BID $4,000 4 | Auction closes at 10 p.m. (EST) June 18, 2009 Review additional lots at www.collect.com/auctions CCA_pp3-19.indd 4 5/19/09 10:50:31 AM BID NOW! www.collect.com/auctions or 888-463-3063 Lot # 4 Leading Off Al Simmons 1939-40 H&B Side-Written and Double Vault-Marked Game-Used Bat Presented is an impeccable example of baseball history and an item that belongs in the uppermost echelon of baseball collectibles based upon value, condition and rarity. This 38-inch, 35-ounce signature model (predating model numbers) was used by Al Simmons during the late 1930s, then later returned by him to the H&B factory, a fact clearly indicated by the side-written notations which still clearly read “35 oz. Al Simmons 5-1-40 Phila. Amer.” The vault mark “S28” is stamped on both the knob and the end of the barrel. Also written on the reverse are numerous factory notations regarding the bat’s specifi cations and measurements. If you were teaching a class on game-used bats, this would be the perfect exemplar. The bat is composed of top-quality white ash, is uncracked and displays deep and pronounced manufacturer’s stamping throughout. It also displays heavy game use in the form of ball and stitch marks, cleat marks and grain checking along the reverse of the barrel that has been tamped down by 13 tiny “bat boy” nails. Side-written bats are among the most desirable of all collectibles of any game-used item since they are essentially a letter of authenticity from the player himself.