No luck with vintage photos

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by obcbeatle

I wish there was a one-stop shop for original sports photo's online for the great photographers like Conlon, Brace Burke ... so I could take my time and browse thru to look and learn and maybe pick a few up.

The closest thing you are likely to find in terms of quantity is Rhys Yeakley's eBay store (prewarsports). A targeted search for several likely photographers returned over 100 matches:

http://stores.ebay.com/prewarsports/...&_sid=21472248

For comparison, the same search in my own store returned about a dozen matches (minus Burke photos, of which I have an abundance of later examples that were throwing off the search), with most of mine being the latter-era photographers:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Cats-Paja...c=1&_sid=94814

I believe Rhys may also have an announcement soon (or did I miss it already?) regarding a certain banner ad for a new auction house that I've seen popping up at the top of the page...

Disclaimer: My post here was neither prompted nor endorsed by Rhys. I doubt he'll mind a few more eyes on his wares though
Also, out of fairness, if any other eBay photo sellers would like me to run a similar search and post the link here, I would be glad to add it as well.

[71buc]

Both Lance and Rhys always seem to have beautiful images for sale. I am a bottom feeder in comparison to other collectors on this site. Because of this Prewarsports has always been a bit out of my price range. Despite my limited budget I was able to build a small collection of attractive images by spending hours upon hours searching on eBay. What I lacked in financial resources I made up for in effort. The tribune site always seemed to have a few nice photos each week sprinkled among their usual plethora of crap. I typically made 3-4 purchases from them monthly. Now even those hard earned gems seem to be far and few in between. Is it my imagination or is it getting harder to find attractive pre-1955 images at a price that a collector on a budget can afford? Suddenly Rhys prices are appearing to be very reasonable to a small time photo collector such as I.

[drcy]

Original Ruth and Gehrig photos are not rare. You WILL find some worthy of purchase if you're patient. Maybe sooner rather than later.

[repsher]

This is a tough hobby to continually get your "fix". I think if you limit yourself to just Ruth and Gehrig photos you may continue to be disappointed. I've limited myself to mostly hall of famers but I have purchased outside of that limitation if I like a shot or if the photo is from a certain photographer.

I actually do the same thing as Mike. I spend hours searching ebay and sometimes find something special. I actually think Mike and my techniques (or obsession) are too close as I've seen him post many photos that could of been in my collection if I was just a few seconds quicker.

A year ago at this time I was picking up so many photos on a weekly basis I thought I was going to go broke. Now I wish I'd bought some I passed on, as right now there are slim pickings, but I do believe things will pick up again.

The fogel/yee book is a great resource but I believe this forum is the best resource your are going to find. When I was able to find my fogel/yee book for a reasonable price ($36), I realized that I already knew a lot of what was in that book because of this forum and the great people here willing to share their knowledge. I would suggest going back and looking at old posts and especially the monthly pickup threads as you won't only see some great photos but there sometimes is some great information about them.

[drcy]

A good way to do it is to look for vintage baseball photos in general, or even sports photos. You'll find some choice examples, whether or not they Ruth and Gehrig. Plus you can eventually pick up a Ruth and Gehrig too.

[Runscott]

Agreed, David.

By the way - Rhys has plenty of nice Ruth photos. I was looking through a binder full of them at the National, but never checked any prices. I know, though, that he will give you a very fair deal.

[JoeyF1981]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Agreed, David.

By the way - Rhys has plenty of nice Ruth photos. I was looking through a binder full of them at the National, but never checked any prices. I know, though, that he will give you a very fair deal.

How do I get in touch with him?

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by drcy

Original Ruth and Gehrig photos are not rare. You WILL find some worthy of purchase if you're patient. Maybe sooner rather than later.

Can you please point me in the direction of high end single Ruth and Gehrig Conlons, Bains, Paul Thompsons, Van Oeyens, Burkes, in uniform in 1920-23, 1927 or early(rookie era-Red sox ruths/ gehrig 23-24) original photos please? 

THE BEST/TOP NOTCH IMAGES ARE VERY VERY RARE AND HARD TO FIND. IT TOOK ME 5 YEARS TO FIND A WORTHY CONLON OF BOTH.

I would agree with David in that if you want A image of these greats, it will be relatively easy to find. There are many late career, post career, street clothes images ect..that can be more affordable alternatives. But make no mistake, the best images of these greats are very rare, very pricey and don't come up very often.
I know, because I check every auction, ebay and am willing to pay top dollar( FOR MANY YEARS) and still they were/are hard to find.

They will be harder to find as more get into the photo hobby and the neophytes graduate into collecting them. They have gotten tougher to find and more expensive every year. Economics 101; suppy and demand

[Runscott]

I like Ben, but I am looking forward to his estate sale.

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by Runscott

I like Ben, but I am looking forward to his estate sale.

They will be buried with me

[repsher]

Originally Posted by Forever Young

They will be buried with me

You think that will stop us?

[obcbeatle]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

The closest thing you are likely to find in terms of quantity is Rhys Yeakley's eBay store (prewarsports). A targeted search for several likely photographers returned over 100 matches:

http://stores.ebay.com/prewarsports/...&_sid=21472248

For comparison, the same search in my own store returned about a dozen matches (minus Burke photos, of which I have an abundance of later examples that were throwing off the search), with most of mine being the latter-era photographers:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Cats-Paja...c=1&_sid=94814

I believe Rhys may also have an announcement soon (or did I miss it already?) regarding a certain banner ad for a new auction house that I've seen popping up at the top of the page...

Disclaimer: My post here was neither prompted nor endorsed by Rhys. I doubt he'll mind a few more eyes on his wares though
Also, out of fairness, if any other eBay photo sellers would like me to run a similar search and post the link here, I would be glad to add it as well.

Thanks for posting the links Lance. I've been perusing those this weekend. Nice to be able to see some Burke's, Bain and Colon's together, although the premiums paid for originals by the great photographers kind of surprised me a little, but I suppose it shouldn't. I guess I'm a "bottom feeder" too, to steal a phrase from someone else in this thread. I've really been looking hard for "great shots" or maybe I should say, photographs that *I* think have great content. I've bid on quite a few of that type photograph on eBay, but unfortunately I usually get out bid by quite a lot. So I suppose that might be a compliment or at least a guess that I am on the right track :-) Just have to be patient I suppose :-) Thanks again for everyone's help!

[drcy]

Nice photos with both sellers.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

I believe Rhys may also have an announcement soon (or did I miss it already?) regarding a certain banner ad for a new auction house that I've seen popping up at the top of the page...

There's that announcement I thought I had missed:
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=173978

Best of luck to Rhys in this new venture. From the looks of the previews, there are going to be some swooning photo collectors once the auction goes live and we see the full breadth of offerings.