Posted By:
CarltonHendrickshttp://www.sportsantiques.com/Hunt7_14&15_08/Hunt7_14&15_08.htm
Please know I've posted my top 32 picks with photos, for the Hunt July 14-15 auction on my site SportsAntiques.com, see link above. Below, please see my overview.
Thanks -Carlton
P.S., Thank you Leon for permission to post this!
Auction Overview
By Carlton Hendricks
Some might consider my top pick for this auction to be unusual, Lot 833, a terra cotta architectural ornament of a catchers mask that once graced the front of Yankee Stadium (estimate $4,500-$6,500.00). Particularly in light of Lot 80, the Babe Ruth Yankees cap (estimate $150,000.00-$200,000.00), and Lot 860 the Lou Gehrig Yankees warm up jacket (estimate so high you have to request it). But my likes are based on practicality. That is, your average bear won’t be bidding on the later two. If you like antique baseball decoration, where do you go from there? Say you get it and hang it in your living room. Friends come over and ask about it…you tell them…oh yeah, that came off the front of Yankee Stadium. That’ll generate a good 10 seconds of silence before they continue….awesome piece! Presumably there‘s another one out there somewhere, based on the photo of the front of Yankee Stadium Hunt posted with listing.
I wouldn’t say it’s David’s strongest auction for display pieces, but it’s got some horsepower. The three statue lots, 146, 148, and 153, are certainly formidable. Antique sports statues seem to be growing in popularity. If you take a look at my coverage of the Hunt booth in my 2003 National Sports Collectors Convention story you’ll see Lot 153 is the same example David had back then. You can see it’s got the same scratches on the wood base, and the little flattened area on the front of the metal base. Which means nothing in relation to it’s importance, which is very high.
Lot 73, the Gehrig leather satchel is fantastic. It looks like the same one offered in the Leland’s August 2006 auction. Actually it was my top pick for that auction. Lot 145 is great, one of the neatest baseball shaving mugs I’ve seen. I think that may be part of a c1900 set of baseball themed porcelain, of which I have a large plate/charger that I got lat summer in at the Adamstown Antique gallery during my pre convention wanderings. Mark Steinberg has a beverage pitcher from the set.
I know there is a strong contingent of pennant collectors on Net54, so I included seven pennant lots, which they may not really appreciate actually! At any rate, it’s a good auction, good luck bidding. -Carlton