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Walter Johnson estate photos: family, Babe Ruth, Presidents, etc.
1) SOLD $375 shipped. C.1915, lovely sepia studio portraits of a young Walter Johnson, his wife Hazel, and their first child, Walter Johnson, Jr., presented in an oversized (13 &1/2" x 8 &1/2") collage. Stamped "Truby A. Slattery, Coffeyville, Kan." Moderate condition with light staining at top right and all of the right side, none of it impinging on the images themselves. Scrapbook residue on the back. Initials for all three written in pencil by Johnson's daughter, Carolyn. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas, Johnson's grandson and biographer.
2) SOLD $275 shipped. Trimmed (7&1/2"x7&1/4") October, 1924, Keystone Photo Service image of Walter Johnson with famous actor Douglas Fairbanks and Babe Ruth on the set of Fairbanks's most successful movie, "Thief of Bagdad." Johnson, fresh off his victory in the World Series, and Ruth, were in Los Angeles at the same time and were tendered an invitation to visit the famous actor, who was a big sports fan. Type I photo in excellent condition other than the trimming, with newsphoto stamping on the back. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
3) SOLD $375 shipped. Terrific 8"x10" Type I photo of Walter Johnson, two weeks from his monumental victory in the World Series, pitching on October 26, 1924, for the "White King Soap Company" team (really the L.A. Angels PCL team) against the Vernon Tigers' PCL team in a charity exhibition game. With the exception of a sizeable chip at the top right, the photo is in very good condition with wonderful clarity and contrast, and with Johnson's wife Hazel inscribing "Over the Plate!" in the bottom margin before putting it in her husbands scrapbook, the residue from which covers most of the back.
4) $225 shipped. Just prior to pitching the game in (3) above, Walter Johnson received the "Key to the City by the acting mayor of Los Angeles," as inscribed by Johnson's wife Hazel in the scrapbook containing the photo. This Type I photo is in excellent condition, with great clarity and contrast, and considerable scrapbook residue on the back. Photo measures 8"x10" with another inch of scrapbook at the bottom. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
5) SOLD $225 shipped. Trimmed (7"x6") photo of Walter Johnson, President Warren Harding, and Washington manager Donie Bush at Yankee Stadium on Opening Day, April 18, 1923. The president wouldn't live out the year. Wonderful clarity and contrast on this Type I photo, with very light newsphoto stamping on the reverse. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
6) $175 shipped. Trimmed (8&1/4"x6") photo of Walter Johnson with President Herbert Hoover, date unknown. Type I photo has great clarity and contrast with "Atlantic Photos" stamping on the reverse. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
7) $225 shipped. Candid action photograph of Walter Johnson warming up on the sidelines of Griffith Stadium. The date is unknown for this Type I photo, but if I had to guess I would say late teens or early twenties. It measures 6"x10" with scrapbook residue on the reverse.
8) SOLD $275 shipped. Snapshot of Walter Johnson's famous windup as he warms up on the sidelines of Griffith Stadium. A lengthy inscription on the back appears to be explaining that it was taken just before Johnson's 100th shutout game of May23, 1924, but too much is obscured by scrapbook residue to say for sure. In any case, it's a terrific shot of Johnson in action on his home grounds, with great clarity and contrast, measuring a little more than 3"x5" on both sides. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
9) SOLD $125 shipped. This 8&1/2"x6&1/2" photo of Walter Johnson winding up is kind of a fascinating mess, with damage around the edges, some large creases, and most of the background inked out by editors. I can't even be sure it's a type I. It is stamped as having been used on Oct 11, 1924, the day after Johnson's big World Series win, but there's another stamp that appears to me to be most likely older and the original source of the picture: "The Boston Photo News Co." Based on the clarity of the fine image of the pitcher himself in the middle of all this abuse, I suspect that this might actually be a first-generation photo taken in Boston in the early teens as dated by his uniform. In any case, this is about as nice a rendering of the great pitcher in his windup as you're going to find, but beyond that there are no guarantees. Letter of provenance from Henry W. Thomas.
Note: These photos are all much clearer than they appear in my lousy taking, I think I need to buy a tripod!
Last edited by Hankphenom; 10-17-2020 at 08:50 PM.
10-17-2020, 04:13 PM
Walter Johnson estate photos: family, Babe Ruth, Presidents, etc.
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