December 2011 Pick-Ups

[CarltonHendricks]

Last Sunday I picked up the Giants pinback above at the monthly Alameda Point Antiques Fair...I researched Milton F. Kreis...turns out it was a waffle shop...smack dab in the middle of downtown San Francisco...right at Union Square...

The wording seems strange.." I like S.F. Giants in 58" "....Why did they include "in 58'"?...I speculate they may have given these pins out in anticipation of the Giants arriving from NY...I just don't know...Has anyone seen this pin before?

It was interesting to research...Milton F. Kreis had restaurants in S.F., Beverly Hills, L.A., Palm Springs, and Dayton Ohio...I beleive the one in Beverely Hills was renown...It was known as the "Milton F. Kreis drugstore and luncheonette"..and was located in the Beverley Wilshire Hotel....sounds like the kind of of lace Lana Turner was discovered.





Then researching it I came upon another interesting though quite distantly related aspect of the Milton F. Kreis San Francisco restaurant...the building it was in was the Elkan Gunst Building...The owner Mose Gunst named it after his son Elkan who died from a football injury in 1906 at the age of sixteen playing for San Mateo High....and his brother named...."Carlton" reportadley died at sixteen from the flu...

http://greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-...?msg_id=003iYP
yes, the story is true. morgan arthur gunst (my grandfather) had two brothers, Elkan and Carlton. Both of them died at age sixteen, Elkan of a football injury, Carlton of influenza (I believe). Mose Gunst had the building built in Elkan's honor. my family maintained offices in the Gunst building for many years. I believe the architect was Willis Polk.

Also, regarding the second pin that says Los Angeles...I figure that has to be a UCLA pin...the bear is the state imblem...not Los Angeles' imblem...anyone seen it before?



Also at Alameda l picked up some 70's Stanford sports posters...the best one above...on card stock....schedule poster...27x20.5 inch 1974...Guy Benjamin’s rookie year...went on the play back-up QB to Joe Montana with S.F....Bill Walsh was an assistant coach for Stanford in 74’...got that.plus three other basketall schedule posters...Everything pinbacks and posters...all for $50.00...lotta bang for the buck...Not my kind of stuff so it'll all go on eBay.

[Scott Garner]

The wording seems strange.." I like S.F. Giants in 58" "....Why did they include "in 58'"?...I speculate they may have given these pins out in anticipation of the Giants arriving from NY...I just don't know...Has anyone seen this pin before?

Carlton,
I have not seen this '58 Giants pinback before, but I would suspect that you are absolutely correct. 1958 was obviously the year that baseball and the San Francisco Giants came to northern California. Neat 1st year SF Giants pickup.

The rest of your research is pretty amazing. Cool!

[thekingofclout]

Congrats Carlton on yet another stellar pick-up!

Just got home from work and was very pleased to see that I had won this terrific 1961 Maris & Mantle Baseball Cap...

1961-MM-Baseball-Cap-1.jpg1961-MM-Baseball-Cap-2.jpg

1961-MM-Baseball-Cap-3.jpg1961-MM-Baseball-Cap-7.jpg

1961-MM-Baseball-Cap-6.jpg

[CarltonHendricks]

See post below...Leon, Snafu, please delete this post

[CarltonHendricks]

Scott and Jimmy, thanks for kind words...And Jimmy that Maris Mantle hat is really something...First one I've seen...if I saw that at at a flea market I'd knock over tables getting to it!!...just don't wear it while you're gardening...

I'm still hoping someone can supply more info on the pinbacks....I've never collected or known much about pinbacks...just that they're huge in the hobby...Although I did just recently get outbid on the Yellow Kid Harvard one below on eBay...There was also another one for Princeton listed. I never really knew much about Yellow Kid either till I looked into him for that pin...


Sold for $23.77 on eBay - 3 bids


Sold for $26.00 on eBay - 3 bids



Yellow Kid was drawn by Richard F. Outcault for New York City newspapers from about 1895 to 1900, as the main charater of "Hogan's Alley" comic strip...I guess it was the first newspaper comic strip but the style used was based on political cartoons of the day...and from what I can tell it was quite odd...the Yellow Kid was based on a poor kid from the slums of New York City....and spoke in garbled urban Englsih writtten on his shirt...strange but charming from what I can tell....and quite cleaver at poking fun of current events of the day....Yellow Kid fits right in with my interest in the newspaper business.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yellow_Kid
The Yellow Kid's head was drawn wholly shaved as if having been recently ridden of lice, a common sight among children in New York's tenement ghettos at the time. His nightshirt, a hand-me-down from an older sister, was white or pale blue in the first color strips





Back to December P/U's...I forgot to include the Henry Armstrong poster below from last Sunday's Alameda Point show...so add another $20.00 to that $50.00 I spent!...Have never seen it before. Though not as renown as Joe Louis and Jack Dempsey, Henry Armstrong was a major fighter with a huge record....The seller told me it was a newspaper stand insert poster...and that The Mirror and Daily News was a Los Angeles newspaper...After a cursory search I learned from the website above that the "The Mirror and Daily News" was only named that for about one year 1954-55...and that it had preceeding and succeeding names....So that's cool I know aprox. what year it's from....The seller said he had three total and I got the last one...I think it will look real good with a black frame....little water stain but not bad.

Preceding Titles:
Daily news. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1941-1954
The mirror. (Los Angeles, Calif.) 1948-1954
Succeeding Titles:
Mirror news. (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1955-1960

21 1/4" x 13 1/2"

[batsballsbases]

Hi Carlton,
Your pin is known as a welcome pin and you are right its about the Giants moving from New York to San Fran. It is listed in Pauls book and it does say that Milton F Kreis was a drug store on Powell and Geary Streets. Listed as pin C-5 has a value at between 75-150.

[batsballsbases]

Jimmy,
Love that mantle maris cap. I cant ever remember seeing that one. Nice to see the 1961 copyright. Here is a pin I picked up which I never saw before also. 3 1/4 inch in size. From the shell oil co. Very happy to get this one Jimmy1

[andypcl]

Nice pickup Carlton. There were a handful of businesses that participated in the welcoming with buttons in the same style. Here's another. There's a Lefty O'Doul's one that I just missed out on at a show once that I'd like to have.

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

Hi Carlton,
Your pin is known as a welcome pin and you are right its about the Giants moving from New York to San Fran. It is listed in Pauls book and it does say that Milton F Kreis was a drug store on Powell and Geary Streets. Listed as pin C-5 has a value at between 75-150.

Al, Thanks for digging that out...you nailed that one....Those price guides always seem soft so that's a good thing. I emailed the honorable Mark Macrea and he didn't recall it so I knew for sure when Mark hadn't seen it it was rare. That Blast'um Bombers is great...This pinback has opened up another world for me...I've tradionally been into bigger stuff...posters, signs, statues etc.

Andy, thanks for posting another example...It doesn't get any earlier than before they got there...I like it when the date is right on something...a trophy, a poster, a pinback or what ever...it's huge.

[mjkm90]

I've been after one of these Connie Mack banks for a long time. This one is in fantastic condition. I had no idea they are as large as they are. I placed one of the common banks we have all seen many times as a size reference.


I was happy to add some new pinbacks as well. The Briggs Stadium pin is a tough one to find.

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by CarltonHendricks

I'm still hoping someone can supply more info on the pinbacks....I've never collected or known much about pinbacks...just that they're huge in the hobby...Although I did just recently get outbid on the Yellow Kid Harvard one below on eBay...There was also another one for Princeton listed. I never really knew much about Yellow Kid either till I looked into him for that pin...


Sold for $23.77 on eBay - 3 bids


Sold for $26.00 on eBay - 3 bids

Yellow Kid is indeed widely considered to be the first "comic character" though his "strips" were typically single-panel gags. He was also one of the first characters to be licensed for product advertising, and you'll see his image in lots more places than just newspapers and buttons of the period. The buttons you saw on eBay look to be from a numbered series of 155 Yellow Kid buttons produced in 1896-98, though I can't make out the numbers in the photos due to the bad discoloration. The buttons are listed in Ted Hake's button books, and you could probably match them up to better-looking exemplars if you dig enough in the Hake's Americana completed auction listings. Most of the other buttons in the series have country flags or generic sayings, so ones referencing a specific university would likely carry a premium.

[ksfarmboy]

Awesome Dan, great find!

[CarltonHendricks]

Originally Posted by thecatspajamas

Yellow Kid is indeed widely considered to be the first "comic character" though his "strips" were typically single-panel gags. He was also one of the first characters to be licensed for product advertising, and you'll see his image in lots more places than just newspapers and buttons of the period. The buttons you saw on eBay look to be from a numbered series of 155 Yellow Kid buttons produced in 1896-98, though I can't make out the numbers in the photos due to the bad discoloration. The buttons are listed in Ted Hake's button books, and you could probably match them up to better-looking exemplars if you dig enough in the Hake's Americana completed auction listings. Most of the other buttons in the series have country flags or generic sayings, so ones referencing a specific university would likely carry a premium.

Lance, Thanks for the info on Yellow Kid pins...good to know...Today I went out antique'n...didn't find much but my eyes are now tracking pinbacks as I comb the show....



http://www.ebay.com/itm/180773070828...84.m1555.l2649
By the way....plug plug...that 58' Giants welcome pin is now on eBay, link above...currently has 8 days left.

[Scott Garner]

From The Sporting News photo archive- 1938.
I purchased this from net54 member Rhys Yeakley.
Nice late 2011 pickup!