$18K+ for a 1915 Red Sox pin!
 

I collect vintage Red Sox items and thought I had a decent idea on the market, but was stunned by the price on this 1915 Red Sox pin with sock which sold in SCP last night.

Anyone else have thoughts on this one? Any other pins which have sold in this price range?

I think condition and rarity drove the price. The pin and the sock look absolutely pristine and it’s a pin I’ve never seen before. Have you seen other examples of the same pin? $18k is out of my price range but I’d rather have that pin than some old card!

In the olden days (15 years ago) I saw a few of these pins in auction house settings. I don't recall what they sold for, but it was probably not anywhere near 18k. Congrats to the consignor.

I've seen a couple of the same pin in the past - this one may be a bit nicer condition but same ballpark - and they have sold around $4k - $5k before. I haven't seen any of this exact one in a while though, so that could be it.

REA had a similar Red Sox Carrigan pin with a sock attached a couple of years ago (albeit in lesser condition (and it sold for $1,400). This one just stunned me at $18k - since they pop up so rarely though, hard to tell if it's a trend or anomaly. Mixed emotions for me - makes it much harder to add new items, but pretty happy about the value of the ones I have!

Hope you don't mind if I post this here.I just thought it fit well with the Red Sox theme:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/red-sox-o...022522941.html

Some items belonging to one of the Boston Red Sox's early members — when the team was known as the Boston Americans — are coming up for sale.

Third baseman Harry Lord played for the Americans and then the Red Sox, becoming one of the first captains in 1910, before he switched colors to the White Sox.

His items that go up for auction on Wednesday include a 6-foot-long panoramic photo of the Red Sox and Washington Nationals playing on Patriots Day at the Huntington Avenue Grounds in Boston in 1910, two years before Fenway Park came to be. There's also a photo of Lord and Hall of Famers like Ty Cobb, Nap Lajoie and Tris Speaker at Shibe Park, later known as Connie Mack Stadium, in Philadelphia.

Other items include baseball cards featuring the Maine native, a plaque for the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame, and other baseball memorabilia, said Troy Thibodeau from Saco River Auctions.

In his day, Lord was known for speed, among other things.

"He was considered one of the fastest men in baseball at the time," Thibodeau said. Lord was once clocked running from home plate to first base in about 3½ seconds, which is speedy even by modern standards.

Lord's playing career came to an end after he was released from the White Sox and switched to the Federal League, which later was disbanded. Lord reportedly was blacklisted by the American and National leagues.

After spending some time coaching, Lord returned to Maine where he lived in South Portland, owned a grocery store and was elected to the Maine House as a Republican, said Angela Goebel-Bain, curator of historical collections at the Maine State Museum in Augusta.

The items from Lord's estate were passed on in his family and ended up for sale when his grandson died last year in Maine, Thibodeau said.

Lord was born in Porter, in western Maine, in 1882 and played baseball and football at Bridgton Academy and at Bates College, Goebel-Bain said. He left behind a wife, son and daughter when he died in 1948. He was buried in Kezar Falls.

Common mistake. The Red Sox were never known as the "Americans."
As Boston had both National and American League teams, newspapers would refer to one as the "Boston Nationals, and the other as the "Boston Americans." But neither were team names. The Red Sox began as the Boston Pilgrims.
The same held true in NY. The NY Giants were sometimes referred as the "NY Nationals," while the Highlanders were the "NY Americans." Again, not team names.

Official team nicknames in the late 19th early 20th century are kind of tricky as many teams didn't have official nicknames. Has anyone ever seen any type of memorabilia with "Pilgrims" on it associated with Boston? Letterhead, program, advertising? Anything? I think most nicknames were given to teams by sports writers and some stuck, some didn't. The Nebraska football team was known as the Bugeaters and the Old Gold Antelopes before a Lincoln sports writer gave them the name Cornhuskers and it stuck. I'm not sure when the school officially adopted the name, but the school yearbook was known as "The Sombrero" until it was finally named "The Cornhusker" somewhere around 1905.

“Bugeaters” was great! :D