December Pickups

[Michael B]

Over Thanksgiving weekend I picked up a lot of items saved by a 1904 Olympic gold medalist. All of the items in the group are from his participation in the 1906 Olympic Games in Athens also called the intercalated games. There are 36 signatures all signed on the back of his business/calling cards. It includes every U.S. gold medalist, every U.S. medalist except one and 27 of the 38 U.S. team members. Also includes two James Sullivan signatures; a card and TLS. The Sullivan Award, top U.S. amateur athlete, is named after him. There are also the signatures of the King of Greece and his three sons. One of his sons, Andrew, is the father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinborough, husband of Queen Elizabeth.

Here are a few signatures:

Martin Sheridan (1881-1918) – 5 gold and 9 total Olympic medals. Three-peat in the discus (1904, 1906, 1908 gold). In the top three in rarity for U.S. gold medalists for the sports that people collect. He is on all want lists for serious Olympic collectors. This is the first one I have seen that I recall. For baseball collectors think Rube Wadell. Unfortunately not as valuable, still a low 4 figure signature.

Myer Prinstein (1878-1925) – 4 gold and 1 silver medal, 1900, 1904, 1906, all in the long jump and triple jump. Top 5 in rarity of U.S. gold medalist for the sports that people collect. Also on everyone’s want list. This is the only one I have ever seen. All records give his first name as ‘Meyer’. This signature actually corrects that mistake.

Ray Ewry (1873-1937) – The ultimate Olympic champion. He competed in 10 events in the 1900, 1904, 1906 and 1908 Olympic Games and won a gold medal in every event. This includes 2 4-peats. Some people do not count the 1906 games since they do not follow the quadrennial rule, but many real historians treat them as such as they fulfill all other requirements. Including the 1906 games, only Michael Phelps has won more gold medals. Excluding the 1906 games he still has 8 golds without any other medal. The only active athlete who could tie or pass him is Usain Bolt with 6 gold medals.

Hugo Friend (1882-1966) – Bronze medal in the long jump at the 1906 Olympics. He became a lawyer and was then appointed a judge. He is well known to baseball collectors as the judge for the 1919 Chicago Black Sox trial. He lived a long time, but this is his signature as a young man about 15 years before the trial.

Lastly, the jersey patch worn by the athlete. Any pre-WWI 'games used' item is very rare.