Auction wins (LOTG/SCP/Goldin)

[scooter729]

Not my normal cup of tea, but I thought this 3-page handwritten Walter Johnson letter from ca. 1910 was too cool to pass up! Great baseball content about a potential barnstorming tour in the offseason.

[The Nasty Nati]

I was amazed that the 1991 Desert Shield set went for $106k. It's the #1 set in the registry, but wow.

http://www.milehighcardco.com/1991_T...-LOT55378.aspx

[RedsFan1941]

Originally Posted by The Nasty Nati

I was amazed that the 1991 Desert Shield set went for $106k. It's the #1 set in the registry, but wow.

http://www.milehighcardco.com/1991_T...-LOT55378.aspx

i am not a registry guy. how can a set have a rating higher than 10? (this one has a 10.93.)

[The Nasty Nati]

I was happy to win this. I've been looking for a centered example with nice registration for a quite while.

[Dewey]

Black Sox photo = Insanely awesome. Wow.

[BeanTown]

One of the items was this pin. One of two known from what I can find online.

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by scooter729

Not my normal cup of tea, but I thought this 3-page handwritten Walter Johnson letter from ca. 1910 was too cool to pass up! Great baseball content about a potential barnstorming tour in the offseason.

Glad someone here won it. Sold for quite a bit less than I was hoping for (Johnson signed items seem to have softened across the board).

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Glad someone here won it. Sold for quite a bit less than I was hoping for (Johnson signed items seem to have softened across the board).

Sorry it didn't work out as well for you as the consignor. I expected to wake up to an outbid notification since it was such a great item - I'll certainly enjoy it!

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Glad someone here won it. Sold for quite a bit less than I was hoping for (Johnson signed items seem to have softened across the board).

Do you have any examples of that? Since it's the one thing I pay attention to in autographs, I have to say I haven't seen it. IMHO, your letter, as cool as it was, hit in the middle of what I would have expected, $1,500-$2,000. I don't think I've ever seen a WaJo letter hit 2 grand, and I would say the average of some length goes for around $1,200. If it were my item, like you I would have been hoping for more (don't we always!) considering it's an early one with baseball content, but honestly I think you did OK.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Do you have any examples of that? Since it's the one thing I pay attention to in autographs, I have to say I haven't seen it. IMHO, your letter, as cool as it was, hit in the middle of what I would have expected, $1,500-$2,000. I don't think I've ever seen a WaJo letter hit 2 grand, and I would say the average of some length goes for around $1,200. If it were my item, like you I would have been hoping for more (don't we always!) considering it's an early one with baseball content, but honestly I think you did OK.

Highest sale price I saw (with some nice baseball content) was this one from Heritage for $4,800. Most others seem to be in Hank's range (no surprise, as he would be the expert on this topic!). I especially enjoyed the length and early date for the one I picked up though!

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by scooter729

Highest sale price I saw (with some nice baseball content) was this one from Heritage for $4,800. Most others seem to be in Hank's range (no surprise, as he would be the expert on this topic!). I especially enjoyed the length and early date for the one I picked up though!

That Heritage letter is off the charts for content, but still a hefty price for a WaJo letter. Yours has a lot going for it, too, with baseball content, great insight into his personality, length, a terrific early signature, and even a beautiful shade of blue ink! I congratulate you on a terrific pickup and sympathize with the consignor, with whom I share the experience of wondering after an auction "where were all the Johnson collectors? I know they're out there, why weren't they bidding on these great items?" Of course, we tend to focus on the disappointments and take the successes for granted.

[Bicem]

Congrats on the wins, some really cool items.

I thought the Wajo letter was going to go for more as well being early career. It was one of my favorite things in the auction.

Huggins did sell it more recently than Christie's....

http://may17.hugginsandscott.com/cgi...l?itemid=16375

But still should have gone higher in my opinion.

[pencil1974]

But it's a good one...

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Bicem

Congrats on the wins, some really cool items.

I thought the Wajo letter was going to go for more as well being early career. It was one of my favorite things in the auction.

Huggins did sell it more recently than Christie's....

http://may17.hugginsandscott.com/cgi...l?itemid=16375

But still should have gone higher in my opinion.

Boy, that letter sure looked a lot better in your auction! Did you do anything to it, or is it just the photography? I'd guess the staining appears to be reduced by about 2/3 in your picture compared to H & S:

http://loveofthegameauctions.com/Out...-LOT14799.aspx

http://may17.hugginsandscott.com/cgi...l?itemid=16375

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Do you have any examples of that? Since it's the one thing I pay attention to in autographs, I have to say I haven't seen it. IMHO, your letter, as cool as it was, hit in the middle of what I would have expected, $1,500-$2,000. I don't think I've ever seen a WaJo letter hit 2 grand, and I would say the average of some length goes for around $1,200. If it were my item, like you I would have been hoping for more (don't we always!) considering it's an early one with baseball content, but honestly I think you did OK.

This exact letter sold at Hunt for $2500 iirc a couple of years back. I don’t track sales on these items specifically but for early letters I definitely seem to think prices were higher. I could be remembering wrong though.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

This exact letter sold at Hunt for $2500 iirc a couple of years back. I don’t track sales on these items specifically but for early letters I definitely seem to think prices were higher. I could be remembering wrong though.

It wasn't Hunt, but Christie's where it sold - $2,500 is correct.

Christies sale link

[darwinbulldog]

I picked up this Dooin OP.

[Leon]

off the beaten path....1938 Durham Black Sox 8 x 10. sorry for the large scan but if you are on a computer it looks great...

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

This exact letter sold at Hunt for $2500 iirc a couple of years back. I don’t track sales on these items specifically but for early letters I definitely seem to think prices were higher. I could be remembering wrong though.

I can see where you would be disappointed with that falloff from the previous sale, but of course it was you and the underbidder taking it to that level then. This time you're out, so it drops down to the next two, or two completely different bidders. As we've all found out, auctions can disappoint sometimes, and those are the ones that seem to stick with us! I don't make a study of it or anything, just pay attention to WaJo items whenever I see them, but overall I would say his autographs in most formats have held steady the past few years, or at least if it's changed, it hasn't been enough for me to notice. One of the recent auctions had a nice check go for $1,600, which is right where they've been since the big run-up about ten years ago and subsequent crash with the financial crisis. For a couple years before that, those checks got up to 3 grand or so.

[Griffins]

I won a couple of N162’s, right about what I figured I’d pay
Anyone got any more for sale?

[Joe_G.]

Congrats to all!

Happy to add the following cabinets of Jake Virtue from his own collection. I have a number of Detroit Wolverine NL items (1881-1888) but very few International Association items (minor league club would retain the same name, some of the same players/manager, and play at same park as the NL team after it disbanded at the close of 1888). This is my first picture of IA player in proper uniform which will now join a ticket book and several letters discussing player signings to kick off the 1889 season. I do have nearly all the 1889 IA Detroit Old Judges but they are all team change cards (not shown in actual Detroit uniform). As a bonus, the lot also includes a June 2, 1940 newspaper article of an elder Jake holding these very cabinets.

Edited to add, all these Detroit International Association guys were teammates of Jake Virtue and would have worn the uniform above (except Kid Baldwin, that is an error card, didn't actually play for Detroit).

[detroitbaseball]

Joe_G..... awesome Detroit cabinets. I was just down in that area (Woodward Avenue & Larned) last night for dinner.