Sam Thompson value

[EddieP]

Originally Posted by joed25

The seller doesn’t know the artist or the provenance. He bought it many years ago at Brimfield. He’s a local guy I know and I don’t think he is trying to scam anyone. Thanks for all the help.

In its current condition I would value it at $250. Nice piece if it gets cleaned up.

[JustinD]

I would think the BO idea is the best idea possible for any sale. As an avid art and card collector, I certainly do not mean this insultingly to the seller but as an honest opinion. The 75k is most certainly a pipe dream with zero provenance. I see no artist signature on the front or rear, it also looks like it has been removed from the frame so assume no signature was found on the edge of the canvas. Without locating the artist info to help with dating and having it examined professionally to see if the medal was added it’s a leap of faith.

With no info and the current condition I would leap on anything that comes close to a tenth of that but fear it will even join the eBay museum at that price point. With no provenance it becomes a very limited and tiny market, but I hope it finds a great home.

[Keith H. Thompson]

loses a lot of credibility to learn that "the seller picked it up at Brimfield." That would not be impossible or even improbable, but to identify the subject as Sam Thompson is a reach. I know for certain that the painting was not among the many items that my father received from Aunt Ida's caretaker upon her death. I further believe that if the painting had anything to do with Sam and Ida, it would have been kept in the family as so many other relics were.

I have, or have access to, many contemporary portrait cabinet cards of Sam, including N173s, that reveal his attire and facial features of the moment. To me, there is nothing about the painting's subject that uniquely identifies him as Sam Thompson.

The pictorial evidence of the painting that we see, and even the provenance itself, point to a genuine 19th century artifact, but I'm going to float the idea that the subject is another player from the Detroit 1887 team?

[WillowGrove]

You might be onto something Keith. Kinda looks like manager Watkins.

[RCMcKenzie]

I think you guys got it right. Now that you mention it, the painting looks like it was made while looking at an n172 Watkins.

[EddieP]

It does look more like Watkins. But according to joed25 only 14 medals were given and Watkins did not appear to be popular among the players and the club president.

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/bill-watkins/

[insidethewrapper]

They all look alike to me, except Deacon White.