Another fine piece about stolen baseball memorabilia from the Prime Minister

[judsonhamlin]

I agree that it looks very suspicious - one item, fine. But this isn't the first time I've seen the link between Halper's collection and items that might have been "appropriated" from other, legitimate sources. I always did wonder how he found all his treasures.

[slidekellyslide]

I think he found all his treasures by being in the limelight. By the 1980s he was certainly the most well known memorabilia collector. It also helped that he was a minority owner of the Yankees, had droolworthy contacts, and hung out with Joe DiMaggio. He was collecting this stuff before anyone even thought about collecting it.

[judsonhamlin]

I would agree that the publicity he generated and enjoyed would have given him a significant edge in accumulating items. There were, if I remember correctly, several government documents (Cartwright doc marked "Archives of Hawaii" and a Joe Jackson) that left me scratching my head as to how they might have left the government's care and custody and wound up in Halper's basement. YOU try walking out of a State's Archives with something like that...

[Exhibitman]

1. Anyone else amazed that Goldfadden is still alive?

2. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on something like this? Some of this stuff was stolen 30+ years ago and has gone through multiple hands. Does the right to retrieve it ever end?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

1. Anyone else amazed that Goldfadden is still alive?

2. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on something like this? Some of this stuff was stolen 30+ years ago and has gone through multiple hands. Does the right to retrieve it ever end?

1. I am surprised he is still around.

2. Can there ever be clear title to stolen goods, while still not in the original owners (stolen from) hands?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Leon

2. Can there ever be clear title to stolen goods, while still not in the original owners (stolen from) hands?

I would think it's still considered stolen goods no matter how many hands something has been through. Imagine if the Mona Lisa was stolen 50 years ago and is missing all that time and gone through numerous hands...it still would belong to the Louvre.

[Leon]

Well, I am far from being a lawyer but I have to guess there is a statute of limitations for prosecution but maybe not for clean title?

I think we have all seen where the Nazi stolen Jewish art from WWII has been retrieved and returned to the rightful owners families.

[benjulmag]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I think he found all his treasures by being in the limelight.

Wouldn't surprise me if there is a lot more to it than this.

We knew Barry Halper quite well. Through the years we made six or seven trades. Among the items we swapped were Babe Ruth' s St, Mary's yearbook, one of two known 1924 Negro League World series programs. several K Bat
team cards and an advertising piece.

Barry certainly was a legendary collector. Our sense was he bought everything he liked and never asked about provence.

A number of his uniforms were pulled from the sotheby's auction because they were not authentic.

In 37 years of collecting we have seen more than two dozen pieces that werefrom the Spalding collection. It is too bad- because, properly displayed it would be a great experience for any collector. We first visited the collection in 1976 and most recently in 2002. At least 15% of the items disappeared during that time.

Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List

[oldjudge]

I heard a story years ago that a hobby expert presented him with evidence that a piece he had was stolen. According to this expert, his response was that everything has to come from somewhere. Personally, I hope he didn't know.

[mark evans]

I think Leon is right on the law, at least as a general proposition.

Hope to see all in Baltimore.

Mark

[judsonhamlin]

Got my latest SABRGraph email and Haul of Shame has another article confirming that the Cartwright letter Halper owned, and that was sold by Sotheby's in '99 with the "Archives of Hawaii" stamp was, in fact, stolen from the Archives. Not looking any better for Halper's legacy...

[bigtrain]

Based upon his previous exploits, the Prime Minister should be impeached. Still, a very informative article. Good work by Mr. Nash. I understand all his investigative work will be detailed in his new book coming out next year. Hope he profits enough to pay off Rob Lifson and the rest of his creditors.