March Pickups

[CarltonHendricks]

Alameda Point got rained out so they had a roll over show last Sunday...I hit it and like most roll over shows it was weak...but I did find this Tom Hyer vs Yankee Sullivan boxing print. Though the mat looked newer the frame seemed c1930 and I sensed it was real. The fight took place in 1849 but the print was a supplement of the New York Illustrated Times for February 9, 1884...Today I finally got time to take it out of the frame to find out if it was original...Yes it is original...but trimmed...so hurts value...It's actually an important work in that the fight was considered the first American Championship Fight...and took place in Maryland...Plus it's got other cool aspects in that some of the faces in the crowd are numbered and there is are legends flanking the title giving the names...The layout of the title and other text underneath are classic and it's a great example of an early American sporting print...which were pretty much all inspired by the English sporting prints. My favorite things about this print that had me was that it's American...and the advertising text inside the art work that states "Presented by the New York Illustrated Times the leading and best Sporting Journal in America 15 Murray Street New York"...So it falls within the advertising genera...

The whole print thing is so full of nuances that unless you're a print specialist and know what you're doing you can easily get burned...which I'm not but I took a chance and came out ok...I'll keep it till I get one that's not trimmed...

Feeling like I was missing out on the Sacramento fair I finished up Alameda and peeled out for the hour and forty five miles to Sacramento...stopping on the way for a quick run thru the Concord flea...and some street food a torta Cubana and corn bowl...







...Got to the Sac flea around 1:00PM which is ridiculous...nevertheless I made another little find...a c1950's Lucky Lager advertising sign with golfers...missing the easel on the back so I know it wasn't a trolley car sign...So not a bad day...