Thoughts on best auction house for vintage memorabilia (Jackie etc)
 

I was hoping to get some advice from people here.

I am considering sending two items to auction houses:

• 1938 Pasadena Junior High Yearbook signed by Jackie Robinson 4x
• 1945 Owners contract with Commissioner Happy Chandler signed by a representative of each team (Yankees copy)

I had 2 questions:

• The binding on the Jackie Yearbook is a little bit damaged which hurts the aesthetics (the binding is still tight). I was wondering if it made sense to have it professionally restored before sending to an auction house (or if there are any auction houses that handle this kind of thing for items that are sent in)
• Which auction house would your recommend for these? Goldin seems to be the 'hottest' auction house these days, but it is mostly focused on modern cards. Thinking of possibly going Heritage or REA, or a smaller house like Love of the Game and would love thoughts.

Jeff, if I had your 2 items, I'd consign them to LOTG because I feel that Al C. does a great job with memorabilia. My second choice would be REA.

IMHO, REA is not the place for something like like. As a “memorabilia guy,” their catalogs always seem to be 99% pre-war/turn of the century stuff; mostly cards. I agree, LOTG might be a good place.

I would get the spine repaired. If not by a profe$$ional, at least by a bit of Elmer’s. :p

Agree. Some of the cult board members here respond REA to every comment inquiring about any item of any kind . . . .Al at LOTG would be a far better place. He sells tons of memorabilia in every auction.

Thanks! I've worked with Al in the past and met him at a number of shows, and I'm definitely considering using LOTG.


Thanks!

On the repair, I assume the Elmer's is a joke, but wanted to check whether the repair would likely enhance the value or hurt it? I know for cards any alteration is a big no-no, and am not familiar enough with this kind of market.

Thanks!



Thanks!

For your items I agree Love of the Game would be best.

REA is great auction house but for your type of items I think LOTG is better

Not entirely….it would enhance the aesthetics and I personally don’t see the harm in a little dab of glue. The whole “enhancement” topic can be tricky, I guess, but I do my own “restorations” all the time. Others will no doubt disagree and I respect that. My “restorations” are on my own stuff that is never leaving my collection.

If you restore, you must disclose. Only fair to the new owner...

I think restoration is warranted in this case. It looks pretty sloppy as-is, and I believe that vintage book restoration is an accepted practice. Restoration of the binding would not deter me as a bidder, as long as the signatures are in no way impacted. I'd probably bid higher if the piece had a cleaner look.

Probably best to consult Al for his opinion, if you indeed choose LOTG (who I think would be an excellent choice for this piece). Al is a straight shooter who will provide you stellar advice.

Nobody has mentioned this as a possibility, so I will throw it out: taking the yearbook apart to create four separate pages with beautiful early Jackie Robinson autographs for auction bidders to fight over. I'm not the biggest autograph expert, but I'm not sure this wouldn't be the way to maximize the return on your piece(s). Otherwise, you will have a beat-up or restored version of this yearbook, with four Jackie autos hidden inside in this case, to put up on a bookshelf. If those buying the separated pages want to have a nice copy of the yearbook to show the complete original source thereof, that wouldn't be too great a challenge at too great a price. Just my two cents, and something I would at least consider if this was my piece.

I have to agree with Hank if you want to maximize the dollars for the 4 autographs. You won't have to spend any money to repair the binding and you can likely expect to get $2000 or possibly more for each autograph. No way in my opinion that the intact book with 4 autos inside will bring near that total. However, I would hate to see it separated as it is a piece of history as is. I had one of these about 5 years ago with only (3) autographs and sold it intact for $3000 to a collector. It is obviously better in today's environment but probably only $5-6K since it is not really displayable.

You can't really go wrong with any of the well established auction houses but you have an item that is not likely to have a duplicate in any auction so I would go with one of the most widely recognized ones. Heritage, REA, Hunt, and Memory Lane are all good options in my opinion.

Normally, I, too, would cringe at the destruction of a piece like this just to maximize your return, but it's quite likely the winning bidder would be a dealer who would turn around and do exactly that anyway. In addition, this is not a one-of-a-kind, these yearbooks are around, and I like the idea that the individual pages would get framed to make four wonderful display pieces as opposed to being hidden inside a book residing on a shelf. Lots to consider here, and you win whatever choices you make!

I too agree that the way to maximize your earnings would be to seperate the autographs. Unless as is sometimes the case that the signatures are front to back on the same page. Even then it is close. In my opinion the football page will sell very well with either Lotg or Heritage. GLWS
Jonathan

Hunt Auctions sold a single autographed football page from UCLA book that had multiple team member photos for $8500 in their 2022 Super Bowl Auction.

Jonathan, Randy and Hank, I appreciate the responses.

Separating them out was a thought, but the pricing for the individual pages does not seem to be all that great. It seems that outside of people specifically looking for early Jackie items (who may favor the whole yearbook), people prefer the "Jackie Robinson" signatures over "Jack Robinson." I wonder if they would get $2000 each if sold separately.

A Pasadena yearbook signed three times recently sold for $7100 ($8760 with BP). Not sure whether that represented the height of the market, but I don't know that the individual ones would sell for more separately.

Randy - I think in general a UCLA items goes for more than Pasadena. Even though Pasadena is earlier, UCLA has a much larger following, and the signed UCLA items are rarer than Pasadena (where he appears to have signed for many others).

Good luck with it. Let us know who you go with.

I really appreciate it! I've been in touch with Al from LOTG about the Jackie and Chandler. At this point I'm still up in the air on the best approach for the Jackie, so leaning towards sending the Chandler now and giving the Jackie more thought.

Thanks!

I think it would not be good to separate them.
But perhaps reach out to the auction house like Al at Love of the Game and ask their advise

The fact of the matter is that nobody really wants the book. Everyone wants the auto's. I think that separating the auto's will bring you the most cash. Frank

I'm curious what this is based on? Have you seen individuals pages like these sell? I've been collecting and following these for many years and don't believe that there is any evidence that this is the case.

This is the single page that made $8500 in Hunt Auction this year. You say there are Four signatures. Can you please post the other two. I only see the football and track photos. And I think the Football signature is outstanding.

The Hunt description stated that this photo was from the UCLA yearbook but it is not. It is from the 1939 Pasadena Jr. College Campus yearbook.

However, it does not have any other autographs or inscriptions from other players so it displays perfectly.

I posted a recent similar photo that bought as much as recent sale of same book. ( yes a single auto is preferred but yours is first year with larger photo etc.) But as I only see 2 of the 4 signatures it is tough to estimate what they would make at auction. So please post the other 2 signatures. The other benifit is if 3 pictures will sell for mare than the book as a whole then you could decide to sell the 3 and keep one for your PC.
Regards
J

Here are the four photos. I'm not sure that there is an any argument that a yearbook signed once would sell for more than a yearbook signed 4 times, so curious why you think that might be (it has not been the case historically for these), unless I am misunderstanding what you mean.

Jonathan appears to be referring only to your football autograph page which has been signed by another player in addition to Jackie and is comparing it to the single signed page from the Hunt auction that had only Jackie's inscription/signature from a value standpoint.

I'm sure he will clarify his post but this was the way I interpreted it.

Having seen all 4 autographs and the pages involved, I would repair the binding and leave the book intact. The individual cuts will not be that attractive as most would be irregular cuts unless you just leave the individual pages intact and the other inscriptions/signatures detract from Robinson if you do that. The track signature has poor contrast on his last name and would not bring a premium IMO.

It is a piece of history as it is with the other signatures an important part of it.

Randy,

I appreciate that clarification. Once you mention it, I definitely see that that was what Jonathan intended, and I'm sure there is truth to that.

I do think on this one that there is something to the fact that Jackie famously lettered in 4 sports, and this has him signing all 4, so that's an argument for keeping them together.

Agreed on the track autograph as well. It might show a bit better in person, but it's definitely not the best.

Thanks!

I hadn't thought about that, but the problem is that once you put it into an auction, you've lost control over it and that history might not matter to the winner. The market will determine which is more valuable, keeping it together or splitting it up, so it seems that any restoration work on your part is a gamble. Might as well just put it in as is and let what will be, be. At any rate, the big auction guys will give you the best advice you're going to get, including from here.

There are collectors who want signed custom cards, so another option would be to cut each autograph/picture up as a custom card and have PSA/DNA slab each. Not sure I would do that, but it is a possibility.

Not an autograph guy, but I think you're right in that they should all be auctioned together at the same time for the reason you state. However, maybe you maximize by having 4 separate pages, 4 separate lots, so if someone wants all 4, they'll have to win each.

I sold a Jr college yearbook with 3 autographs and one of his brother. Didn't do as well as expected. This was a few years ago. I hate people cutting something like this up (I have a few great autograph albums I wont sell as do not want them cut up) but cutting up would give you the best price

Thank you for posting all four signatures. My opinion is that they will sell for more as four seperate pages and four seperate lots. Each of the Four display nicely. But The Football and the Baseball are both very nice. I understand that extra signatures detract from value and they might not sell as well as the Hunt photo. But I do belive the 4 lots would far surpass the number you would get for the book. Just one mans opinion and based on $$ alone. I would be interested in AH opinion on weather the Baseball page from your book would surpass the football page from hunt. I think it is the best of the four.

Prices have definitely jumped recently. It seems like this is true of other Jackie items pre-Integration. I believe hi UCLA football tickets are selling for a lot more than they were a couple of years back as well.

I had not realized that that listing was simply for 1 page. That is honestly a shocking sale, as I was assuming that the entire yearbook with the 4 signed photos would be in that range.

First although I do collect autographs most of my collection is made up of Memorabilia ( signs Scorecards and programs) and cards. When I do venture into Autographed items the most important factor is authenticity. The photos in your yearbook match favorably to known exemplars. The fact that they exist in a yearbook from a year Jackie attended add to the provenance. So the fact that your four signatures are at the top of the authenticity pile means alot.
So automatically there is a very large market for each of the signatures. Couple that with how nice each page displays with early Photos of Jackie and the demand side of the equation increases.
Conversely if they stay inside the book they become harder to display and you only get one sale vs four.
I own and actively collect signed programs. One because they are among the best / most likely authentic examples and second they tend to be more affordable. My personal preference is for a signed period photo. But they tend to be the highest priced examples of desired signatures.
So your four examples seperated from the book offer the best of both worlds. Great provenance and great display. That is my reasoning if it even matters.
Best of luck with sale
Jonathan

I really appreciate you sharing your perspective. I'm a bit torn on breaking it, but also have gotten mixed messages (here and elsewhere including one major auction house) on the value of restoring the spine.

If I do separate them, would you recommend selling them framed or as is? They are already each authenticated with their own full page LOA so that wouldn't require any more work.

Leave the framing to the winning bidders.

Thanks!

Agree for 2 reasons.
1- The new owners will want to choose their own display.
2- Framed items are difficult and more expensive to ship.
If the glass breaks it could damage the page so it is better all around to keep pages out of frames.
J