The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Dan Bretta</b><p>Barry, what can you tell us about that sale? Was it highly publicized? Did the books go cheap? Was it only baseball books or was it antique books in general? Did you get anything good?

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Dan<br /><br />I've sent you a pdf of the listings Barry most graciously sent me. <br /><br />I'm going to go through the list and take a look at the prices. Sales of certain titles were much higher than what can be found today on ebay or the auction houses. <br /><br />There are some titles in there I have not seen before. (I am waiting for someone to post an image of June Rankin's 1888 Sketches of New York and Brooklyn Baseball Clubs)<br /><br />Max

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Dan Bretta</b><p>Thanks Max. Looks like that was one heck of a sale.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>There were many interesting aspects of the DuMouchelles sale, and it has become part of hobby folklore. First, when the owner of the collection died, the family was left to sell it, and it seemed apparent they knew nothing about it at all. Just their choice of auction house was odd, because DuMouchelles specializes in gaudy furniture and miscellaneous household knickknacks. And it is clear by the catalog that they knew nothing about the material either. There were no lot descriptions whatsoever, and an estimate could be ten times the value or 1/20 of the value. They were clueless.<br /><br />And there was more than just books. There was an incredible 1858 display scorecard between the Tri-Mountain BBC and Portland, plus autographed pieces, and various other memorabilia. The cover had a picture of a T206 Wagner that was a blatant fake and the auction house had no idea. There were also quite a few books signed by Henry Chadwick, so clearly the original owner bought part of his library.<br /><br />The sale was poorly publicized and people only knew about it by word of mouth. But in the end all the big players were there. Mark Rucker and I bought together, and he travelled to Detroit and did the bidding. That was actually the time when I was just getting serious about baseball books, so I didn't necessarily bid on the right ones. I don't even remember what I bought, but I did pretty well. And there weren't a ton of bargains. Most lots reached reasonable levels despite the poor quality catalog.<br /><br />And to this day we still have no idea who the original owner was. But the depth and quality of the books has never even been approached since.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Jimmy Leiderman</b><p>Lipset covered the Du Muchelle auction in the July '91 issue of The Old Judge (#39).<br />

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>Max- when I got the Steve Cummings collection I split it between Rob Lifson's and Jerry Smolin's auctions (I was a free agent at that time). I gave the Rankin book to Jerry, and it was in his June 8, 2000 auction, lot #27. It has an engraved portrait of Jim Mutrie on the cover. That may be the only copy I've ever seen.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Barry<br /><br />Did Steve have the Rankin book? I must have missed seeing it when I looked at his collection. I believe he did have the Ballplayer's Chronicles, and the Baseball Magazine bound set, which were truly spectacular.<br /><br />Max

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Hi Jimmy<br /><br />Do you have the issue or could you send me a pdf of the Dumouchelles article?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Max

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Jimmy Leiderman</b><p>Hi Max, will make some scans today.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Jimmy Leiderman</b><p>Max, check your email.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>barrysloate</b><p>Max- Steve did have the Rankin book, but not the Ball Player's Chronicles. When Corey and I made 25 reprint sets in the mid-90's, Steve purchased one of those sets.

The DuMouchelles sale
 

Posted By: <b>Max Weder</b><p>Barry<br /><br />It must be getting bad for me. First of all, I can never tell that all those Honus Wagners found in attics are reprints, and now I find out I couldn't even tell a baseball book was a reprint <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br /><br />Thanks to Jimmy for the scan of the OJ article. Lew pointed out that the skinned Honus Wagner in the auction was a reprint.