1889 boston americans photo
 

1889 Boston Americans Pro Cambridge Mass team. Black "Moses"
earliest Boston Black SOX H.O.F.. Another pick up today. Any one can help me with it's value? Thanks again

"Boston Americans" is the name given to the Boston American League team prior to their adoption of the Red Sox name in 1908, but this clearly is not that team. I can find no reference to the "Boston Black Sox". An African-American named Moses Fleetwood Walker played for the University of Michigan, Toledo in the American Association, and several minor league teams during the 1880's, but he is not in this photo. The absence of collars on the uniforms and the absence of mustaches on the men suggest a later date than 1889, perhaps the second decade of the 20th Century.

Scanning and posting the back of the photo may be helpful, if there is anything written or printed there.

that appears to be a 1910 to 15 photo according to the uniforms

agree later, likely much later than 1889. not boston americans. assume you think cambridge due to the "c". suggest it could be a college team. not sure what you mean concerning the moses reference.

So you are buying 'big' items on a daily basis, and have no idea what their value is?

:eek:

I've been wondering the same thing -- great pieces, but if you don't know the value, how are you and the sellers coming up with a price?
And shouldn't these be going in the July pickups thread, instead of starting a new thread for every individual pickup?

Greg

I think they should go in the B/S/T area, with the prices that we assign to them. I'm going to put $49.99 on this latest item.

Sidd Finch is third from the left, you can tell by the ears

The OP (hi Michael) and I had a nice long conversation on the phone this morning. Great guy, trust me. He is a retired person (around our age plus a few years, Scott) that is doing "picking" for his living. He has an interest in this stuff but more so he does it for business. I asked him to tone it down a little and he was more than hospitable, gracious and apologetic. So much so that he said he might not post for a few days or a week. I just feel a polite post about his situation will help enlighten our members. This gentleman is very nice just a little overwhelmed at the moment... I also asked him not to blatantly sell stuff on this main page and he said he won't. That being said he is going through a big, old and original collection of a ton of stuff and will still be soliciting some opinions from us. Hey, it's not like we are overrun with new threads every day. Carry on.....

He posted that the 1909 Pittsburg composite had sold at auction in the last 7-8 years. Unless there are two of them (no one here had seen it before he posted) then the collection isn't entirely old and original. No big deal, but we were just commenting because he should have an idea as to value, as I'm sure the seller does and that the prices were at least in the ballpark.

But I get it - he's excited.

Most of the items are from that big collection, is my understanding. Maybe that original collection person got it there? I don't know. But, I said the same thing as for going gangbusters with stuff he seemingly knows little about. The term I used was "reckless abandon". He knows his niche well, I believe, but not this particular stuff. I am led to believe he is much more of an autograph guy....(yikes) ...I wish this was the biggest issue facing the board :)....

Well, next time you talk to him please tell him not to stop posting. It's very cool stuff and seems to be unique as well.

There's nothing wrong with posting a photo and asking about it. That's part of what this board is about and it's nice seeing new photos. There's nothing wrong with posting multiple photos of stuff. But if you have a lot of stuff, it's prudent to make consolidate the photos into few posts. An explanation of what the post is about is good too.

Not criticizing, as he is new, the rules are unwritten, and there was nothing wrong with any individual post.. He's of course welcome to post more stuff. No need to apologize for that-- just a bit of change in format. As I said, posting and talking about about old baseball memorabilia is what this board is about.

With unwritten rules no one tells you about, the only way to learn them is to break them. Due allowances given to someone new to the board, and no real reason to apologize for breaking a rule that isn't posted and with no malicious intent involved.

I went to my first ever Hanukkah dinner at Jewish neighbors house and was paranoid I was going to break some religious rule and bring shame to my family and non-Jewish kind (Forget to take off shoes? Wear the wrong color tie? Greet the wrong person first? Eat the wrong food the wrong way? Think the Rabbi is the waiter?), but it all went smoothly. The woman next to me was Irish Catholic and it was her first time too.

I love seeing the stuff, however, I think placing a value on it needs to come only after the item has been clearly identified. While I do not remember all the items listed so far, several did not appear to me to be as titled, or described,e.g. the belt and 1889 boston americans. I can't wait to see more.

Thanks for the update Leon. So much great stuff -- I wish I was picking where he's picking!

Greg