Negro League Memorabilia

We have been avid collectors or rare Negro League memorabilia for more than 25 years. In fact, we donated a number of items from our collection to the Negro League Museum and attended the Opening Dinner.

The reason for today's post is our observation that the demand
and concomitant prices for exceptional Negro League items (advertising,
real photo cards, selected scorecards, and photos) is exceptionally strong.

Despite a gloomy economy, and a market where very few collectors were even alive during the height of the Negro League, demand is extraordinary.

Hake's display of items from the Richard Merkin collection is certainly the most impressive private collection of Negro League memorabilia we have ever seen.

Would welcome your comments on why the Negro League high end collectibles market (we do not collect autographs, balls or equipment) is
so strong

Thanks


Bruce Dorskind
bdorskind@dorskindgroup.com

America's Toughest Want List

[sbfinley]

I have always assumed the Negro League market was so strong because of the limited supply compared to demand. For example, the most recent REA auction featured some 1700+ lots and a quick "Negro League" search in the description category turned up 30 lots, only about 20 or less that could be considered true period pieces. That is barely 1% of what most consider one the largest and best major sport auctions.

P.S. Welcome back, and spare the rod if you find my answer unsatisfactory.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Please see my recent post on the subject in the main forum section.

[aljurgela]

I was drawn into the field due to stories that I heard as a child about Satchel Paige... then Josh Gibson... and then when digging deeper down to the Dick Lundy and John Donalson level... reading the stories is amazing and different and truly underappreciated...

The rarity aspect of the cards/photos cannot be underestimated to me. If you think about how many TOTAL cards of all issues of most of the NL HOFers (and other NL players for that matter)... none would surpass a T206 Wagner. When you match this against stories of Wagner himself being flattered of the his comparison to Pop Lloyd, everything could be judged relatively inexpensive.

Again, value is relative. One thing that is certain is that the supply is extremely limited. This is unlikely to change in any material way, in my opinion.

Also, a lot of the photos seen in Hake's are the only known copies and if you want to have it, you have to pay, I guess.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Looking back at old REA, Mastro, Lelands, etc. auction catalogues from the 1990's and 2000's, it seems that one by one, nearly every single key negro league piece ended up in Mr. Merkin's collection, now being auctioned off by Hake's on an ongoing basis. Mr. Merkin must have had amazing foresight to amass the staggering collection that he did along with the deep, deep pockets that would allow someone to afford to do so. At least now I have a better understanding of why none of those items ever came up for sale/auction again after thier initial appearances in the auction catalogues many years ago.

[jerseygary]

I have a very modest collection of Negro League memorabilia, many autographs I personally received while interviewing the older players back in the 1980's and early '90's.

But I also have a few original scorecards, which is a particular interest of mine. The few that I have managed to get were mislabeled or the sellers had no clue what the teams were and just wanted to get rid of them. I take a chance and buy them, hoping for the best and most of the time my hunches are correct. Other wise I would not have wanted to spend the huge premium these items usually get. They are rare as heck and I'm guessing the few surviving ones out there are already in the hands of advanced collectors.

[barrysloate]

Richard not only avidly collected Negro League and Latin American baseball artifacts, but as an artist painted many of the players. Over the last decade of his life he began to sell off parts of his collection, but nothing from these leagues unless it was a duplicate card.

As far as why the prices are strong, more research is being done in this area of baseball, more Negro league players are now in the Hall of Fame, and there appear to be a few collectors who are going after this stuff big time. I guess also that with Richard's collection now being sold the field is garnering more interest.

It appears to be a combination of factors working at the same time.

Through the years ,going back to the mid 1980's we secured a number of important Negro pieces from the Merkin collection. In fact, if the offer was strong enough, Richard was a seller.

Because the items are not catalogued and the history and provenance can be sketchy The Negro League material has attracted a small, highly sophisticated, well educated and wealthy group of elite collectors.

We would guess that there are less than 25 collectors (excluding uniforms andautographs) whose Negro League collections are worth in excess of $100,000.

It would be great if someone could through all the auction catalogs dating back to 1990 and publish a picture of item and prices realized for each Negro League item (historical not modern) that realized $500 or more.

What do you think?


Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

[jboosted92]

I just picked this up. This is the first time i have seen one of these. It was from a Ticket collection in Chicago

have you guys seen this before?