Posted By:
MWFrom The Biographical Encyclopedia of the Negro Baseball Leagues, 1994:
"Born in Georgia, the eldest of three children, Josh completed five years of elementary school before moving North to Pittsburgh, where his father had secured employment as a laborer with Carnegie-Illinois Steel. After arriving in Pittsburgh, he enrolled at Allegheny Prevocational School to study to be an electrician. After the ninth grade he dropped out to become an apprentice in an air-brake factory. In 1927 he also began playing baseball with the Pleasant Valley Red Sox, a Pittsburgh sandlot team, before joining the Pittsburgh Crawfords (at that time a semipro boys' team) later in the season."
My note: the article goes on to state that Josh Gibson played for the semipro Crawfords until late in the 1930 season when he began catching for the Homestead Grays.
The time period seems to fit -- the pictures from the auction could very well be from this time period: 1927-1930. It is also conceivable that the photos of the Crawfords might precede this era but I am uncertain how much earlier the Crawfords began to play.