Jim Rowe Postcards

[jdmeltz]

I'm not sure if Mary Brace's story is correct. It was my understanding that Jim Rowe purchased many of George Burke's negatives. Brace also worked with Burke and had many of his negatives as well.

Both would sell postcards to a collectors in the 70's and 80's. I bought hundreds if not thousands of postcards from Jim Rowe back then. I think I paid about 50 cents each. The ones from the original negatives were beautiful. I would mail them out to the old timers to get them autographed, and on several occasions the players would write me and ask where they could purchase copies of the photos. Once a former Yankee who played a few games in the 40's showed up at my house after getting a letter from me with a few photos from his playing days!

Rowe would sell 2 types of photos, those from original negatives and those that were copied from other photos. The copied photos weren't nearly as nice.

By the way...here is a quote from a 2006 SABR newsletter:

"JIM ROWE COLLECTION BEING AUCTIONED OFF

Sports Collectors Digest reports that the Lelands auction house is featuring 8,000 original George Burke negatives as well as both photos and negatives from Jim Rowe’s personal collection. The George Burke negatives are being sold in one lot. Rowe’s collection is being broken up into eight lots, with the most significant lot containing 25,000+ negatives. We can only hope that these two collections of negatives end up with buyers who will eventually make these historical items available to future researchers, but the odds probably aren’t great on that happening. Those who want to visit the Lelands website should go to http://www.lelands.com/ The auction on the Burke and Rowe items ends on December 14th."

[slidekellyslide]

There is some bitterness there between the families..I could tell that from her email, but I won't post her email word for word on the forum. We may never know exactly what the circumstances are as both Rowe and Burke are now gone...I think what is most important to know is that these items were made in the 1960's to early 80's time period. The Rowe postcards are confusing to many collectors who run across them for the first time because the Kodak backed postcard paper he used dated back to the late 1940s.

[abrahamrudy]

Originally Posted by jdmeltz

Once a former Yankee who played a few games in the 40's showed up at my house after getting a letter from me with a few photos from his playing days!

That is INCREDIBLY cool. Why does that never happen to me?

So does anybody know how Rowe produced the cards? Were they based on orders he received? Or did he publish a catalog of what was available? Because if there is a catalog, then there is a comprehensive list. But if he just printed them to meet orders, the negatives are the only list.

[JLange]

Found this ad in a 1974 copy of a collector mag, Sports Scoops. I am sure he advertised in other mags of the period as well. I didn't realize that Jim Rowe was the source for the T200 Fatima reprint Postcards. I bought the Cleveland T200 PC a few years back and only now figured it out!

The ad mentions that he had a free 6-page list of PCs and a free sample!

[HRBAKER]

Great ad. I believe the mystery photo is the 'Ol Lefthander, Joe Nuxhall.

[scgaynor]

Definitely Joe Nuxhall.

Scott

[abrahamrudy]

That is super-cool. The Fatima negatives, if they're really the originals, are probably worth a boatload. Now I get why the Braces are ticket off. I would be too.

[scgaynor]

They were not original. I looked through that lot, there were very few quality original negatives. Most were absolutely horrible. Some were like 3rd generation copy negs of copy negs. There were copy negs of newspaper articles that happened to picture a player. That lot sold for about what it was worth.

Scott

[maddy62]

Thank you jdmeltz. I think you are more on the right track in saying that Mary Brace's story may not be exactly accurate. I happen to know that Mr. Rowe did not disappear off to Florida. He lived in his same home for many many years and in fact attended Mr Brace's funeral, and gave Mrs. Brace condolences and probably attended the after reception. Rest assured the negatives are most likely in the hands of the rightful owners.

[Exhibitman]

I think I have a couple; really liked both images. Same backs and same handwriting:

[bcbgcbrcb]

Especially like the Robin Roberts image, very nice.

[jdmeltz]

Most of the Rowe postcards were borderless, but that does look like his handwriting.

[Vintagecatcher]

Here is my Rowe John "Red" Kleinow Postcard.


Patrick

[Wite3]

I own about 20 Phillies with the same handwritten notations of the players on the back...some are more common than others but they pop up on ebay fairly often (although not always identified as Rowe postcards).

Joshua

[Mungo Hungo]

Originally Posted by maddy62

Thank you jdmeltz. I think you are more on the right track in saying that Mary Brace's story may not be exactly accurate. I happen to know that Mr. Rowe did not disappear off to Florida. He lived in his same home for many many years and in fact attended Mr Brace's funeral, and gave Mrs. Brace condolences and probably attended the after reception. Rest assured the negatives are most likely in the hands of the rightful owners.

Someone named BBC Emporium is now selling off the Jim Rowe negatives on eBay. Typing in "Medium Frame Negative - Jim Rowe Archive," you'll get "10,000+ results."

This seems like a great source for cataloguing the Rowe releases, but it would be a tough task, as there are no dates associated with the negatives.

[lumberjack]

Jim Rowe and Brace made a deal with the HOF to copy photos from the Hall's library. I have no idea what the terms were. Anyway, they loaded up the car with a copy stand and film and drove to Cooperstown from Chicago. You have to remember, Cooperstown is mostly inaccessible to the rest of Earth.

When they arrived, the guy from the museum said, "Oh, we have been trying to contact you. We don't care to do this deal."

This was really lame.

Anyway, Brace said to Rowe, "Well, as long as we are here, want to look around the museum?"

Rowe, furious, said, "Hell no." And they got in the car and returned home.

This is a true story Rowe told me back in the late seventies.

[Bignoff]

Mr. Rowe was a great guy. I remember buying tons of Cardinals players photos in the early 80s He not only would take photos of major league players , but he also had tons of minor league players. The problems began after both gentlemen were deceased and the others family members wanted a piece of the pie.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Mungo Hungo

Someone named BBC Emporium is now selling off the Jim Rowe negatives on eBay. Typing in "Medium Frame Negative - Jim Rowe Archive," you'll get "10,000+ results."

This seems like a great source for cataloguing the Rowe releases, but it would be a tough task, as there are no dates associated with the negatives.

I am not affiliated with, nor have I done any business with :

https://www.ebay.com/str/bbcemporium