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[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Here's brother Jim Coburn in his later years, seconding forgotten 4th brother Charlie in an underground fight.

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

CyberBoxingZone was the most I could find on him from a web search. Much of the site is broken and it appears it hasn't been updated in many years. I hope it doesn't go offline, it's a great general resource for the old days. I like cards of new guys I don't have one of, as it's an excuse to go research the less big names of the period.

[wicker56]

Speaking of lesser known boxers. I recently acquired this Jack Taylor card, which I’m assuming is an Italian issued card. I found I have two other Jack Taylor cards a Comet and a Ammatller, both of which are chocolate cards. I looked online and Boxrec had a bit of info and Taylor actually beat Max Schmeling early in his career. I’m confused by the info on the card due to what I found online stated Taylor was from Nebraska. Was Taylor originally from Cuba or was he actually a champion in Cuba.

[wicker56]

Ok. I may have answered my own question. It looks like Taylor fought in Cuba and won Six fights, then he lost his last two fights. If he was a Cuban champion it had to be just for a couple of months. These cards normally date from the 20’s or 30’s and he was fighting in Cuba in 1914.

[G1911]

Just looked him up, Taylor seems like a guy who led a crazy life. Decent enough to fight Sam Langford to some draws (impressive even when Langford was old), lived much of his life in the Netherlands too where his Boxrec bio says he was imprisoned by the Nazi's.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

Seriously now, it's amazing how well some of the old video has been preserved and improved with time. It's a ton of fun to put on some of the old video when sorting through a stack of T or N cards while seeing these guys in action. Baseball and boxing have the best and longest histories of the sports, but unlike baseball, boxing mostly forgets its past. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock are about all that get mentioned before Ali.

[G1911]

Today was a good day. 22 of the 23 fragments are now reunited back together, the last remaining is the torn Choyinski in another board members collection. Thank you to the private collector who worked a deal with me!

Thought the odds of doing this were near 0 after the original seller finally clued on, happy to get this close to restoring it.

[wicker56]

Originally Posted by G1911

Today was a good day. 22 of the 23 fragments are now reunited back together, the last remaining is the torn Choyinski in another board members collection. Thank you to the private collector who worked a deal with me!

Thought the odds of doing this were near 0 after the original seller finally clued on, happy to get this close to restoring it.

Greg,

I can’t believe the condition of these panels. It’s really impressive.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by wicker56

Greg,

I can’t believe the condition of these panels. It’s really impressive.

They are f'ing great!

[G1911]

IBRO sounds right up my alley, I will look into them. Thank you

"F'ing great" and "can't believe" is how I think of them. I'm almost out of excuses to keep posting panels now . Amazing they survived at all. There's a partial sheet of 1908 Ogdens and the 4 N310 Mayo strips, I don't know of other uncut boxing material pre-WWI. Can't wait to see what we uncover next, there's always more out there.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

Seriously now, it's amazing how well some of the old video has been preserved and improved with time. It's a ton of fun to put on some of the old video when sorting through a stack of T or N cards while seeing these guys in action. Baseball and boxing have the best and longest histories of the sports, but unlike baseball, boxing mostly forgets its past. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock are about all that get mentioned before Ali.

Greg, you'd be a good candidate for IBRO (International Boxing Research Organization). Basically SABR, but for boxing. I let my membership lapse a few years ago (for no good reason really), but they have a tooooooon of stuff behind their paywall, and they love contributions to their monthly publication, which can be 100+ pages thick sometimes.