Your memorabilia focus?

[slidekellyslide]

State what your memorabilia focus is and post a pic of your favorite pick up for the first 3.5 months of 2012. This thread includes you autograph guys too.

My focus: Lincoln minor leagues and the Nebraska Indians barnstorming team.

Favorite pickup of 2012:

This is a variation of a postcard I already owned, but had never seen this one before.



Here's the old one:

[masimen]

I collect game used bats. Yankees and HOFers. My latest is a 68-70 Clemente bat. Graded GU 9.5. This thing is a monster! Just under 40 ounces.

[slidekellyslide]

I didn't realize Clemente used such a heavy bat. Nice bat!

[Leon]

I collect all things that go with the cards and the companies that made them....Here is an M101-7 Sporting News Letter I just picked up from the BST....The "cards" are all the same size, the scans are different sizes from each other.

[brownscollector78]

Nice items guys

I collect Cleveland Browns collectibles focusing mainly on vintage pennants but also dabble in figures, statues, banners and signage and other things vintage and current Browns.

Here is the most recent vintage item I've acquired, about two weeks ago

[ethicsprof]

I collect original photographs that are the bases for vintage baseball cards----
conlon,van oeyen, thompson, burke, brace.
Recently, scott f. has put my conlon Lee Tannehill with the T206 Tannehill (no L. on front) on his website TheMonster. Craig D. has put
my conlon Paskert which is the match for the T3 Paskert on his T3turkeyred website

all the best,
barry

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by ethicsprof

I collect original photographs that are the bases for vintage baseball cards----
conlon,van oeyen, thompson, burke, brace.
Recently, scott f. has put my conlon Lee Tannehill with the T206 Tannehill (no L. on front) on his website TheMonster. Craig D. has put
my conlon Paskert which is the match for the T3 Paskert on his T3turkeyred website

all the best,
barry

Barry, are you still working on T era cigarette packs too?

[johnmh71]

I collect autographs, pre-1973 cards, ticket stubs, and anything vintage Red Sox or Yankees, particularly the dynasty periods. Or any vintage baseball item that I find interesting.

[Runscott]

Anything pre-great-war-to-end-all-wars, but mostly cabinet photos

This has been a great year for them, but this one is my favorite of 2012. Claims to be the earliest team photo with a catcher's mask, but who knows?

Originally Posted by ethicsprof

I collect original photographs that are the bases for vintage baseball cards----
conlon,van oeyen, thompson, burke, brace.
Recently, scott f. has put my conlon Lee Tannehill with the T206 Tannehill (no L. on front) on his website TheMonster. Craig D. has put
my conlon Paskert which is the match for the T3 Paskert on his T3turkeyred website

all the best,
barry

Barry, thanks for supplying that Tannehill photo. As a corollary to Barry's habit, I have started collecting (by accident, mostly), the photos used to create various football cards. So far, have a Landry, Tittle and Davey O'Brien.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Leon

I collect all things that go with the cards and the companies that made them....Here is an M101-7 Sporting News Letter I just picked up from the BST....The "cards" are all the same size, the scans are different sizes from each other.

I am sure glad I wasn't around back then to be bothered by junk mail, trying to send me free Babe Ruth pictures

[ethicsprof]

Yes, I am, Dan.
thanks for remembering!
I have 18 now, with my favorites being an unopened polar bear pouch and
an unopened Obak pack.
One other thing i've been in to lately is collecting baseball board game items--
including fan craze,polo grounds, national baseball game,and one outlier Lawson's.
all the best,
barry

[smotan_02]

I was happy to pick up this full ticket last month. It puts me at about 40% through the series with full tickets and about 60% through the series total.

Scotty

[mighty bombjack]

I loves me some HOF autographs! Trying to get as many different guys on more unique items. It's getting pricey!

Me only pickup so far this year, this Hack Wilson/Ki Ki Cuyler/Gabby Hartnett auto'd Cubs sheet music.



The REA and Heritage auctions have me drooling over several pieces, but I don't think I can afford any of them at the moment.

[WWGjohn]

My memorabilia focus is handmade 19th century bats, which make up about half of my bat collection of about 120. Below are pics of a Spline bat from about 1890 I picked up a few months ago.

John

[murphusa]

I like these,




oh and these



and also



and a couple of these are always good to have

[baseballart]

I believe my focus is on books

[Tuna82]

Single Signed HOF Baseballs.

Favorite addition this year...and yes if you saw it on eBay; I know I overpaid.

Eddie Mathews ball from the Dean & Gloria Rothstein collection

[Exhibitman]

An eclectic swath of crapola [I call it "The Festival of Bric-A-Brac"]:

--Academy Awards tickets and memorabilia:



Ticket to the Oscars for 1943 films: Best Picture Casablanca



Postcard view of the scene outside the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium before the 40th Academy Awards



A "tombstone" made of the poster for the 70th Academy Awards, given to attendees at the Board of Governors Ball after the show.

--Jim Jeffries memorabilia. Jeff was a lifelong Burbank resident whose farm and boxing venue were only a few miles from my office



10.5" x 13" print of Jim Jeffries. The photographers' imprint at the bottom right is the famous Dana Studio in San Francisco. Judging from the look of the image, the imprint and Jeffries' appearance, I'd say this is a 1910 image shot of him at either the Hotel Rowardennan, near Santa Cruz CA, or Reno NV, when he was in training for the Johnson fight



PC of Jeff on the farm in Burbank



1930s snapshot of Jim Jeffries' Barn in Burbank, California, at the southwest corner of Victory and Buena Vista



7.5" x 9.5" [10" x 12" mount] mounted photo of Jim Jeffries on his farm in Burbank with his pup, with a handwritten copyright of 1906 By Jas. J. Jeffries and Jas. M. Johnson [perhaps the photographer], captioned "The Good Friends" in pencil on the mount.

--Boxing Promotional Photos: Issued by the boxers' management to promote them. I especially collect them for fighters who have no boxing cards, Jewish fighters, and fighters with interesting back stories.



1920s publicity photo of Kid Francis, who was sent to Auschwitz during WWII and killed there



George Freedom Abrams. A WWII era Jewish fighter with basically no cards (there is a postcard known). He was a top middleweight contender; Sugar Ray Robinson said Abrams was his toughest opponent.

--Groucho memorabilia:





--Big Band Leaders Signed Memorabilia



Xavier Cugat



Desi Arnaz



Cab Calloway

--Star Trek TOS

[Exhibitman]

More Bric-A-Brac:

--Exhibit Original Artwork:









--Sport Publication Art and Printing Materials:



Kid Hogan printing plate



Kid Paret printing plate



1930s publication art of Primo Carnera and Jess Willard. I suppose the suggestion was that the two were like skyscrapers. It is composed of two photos [Willard and Carnera] cut out and pasted on board with inked in details and silver ink used to remove details under Willard so it would appear he and Carnera were standing together.

--Ray Miller: my boxing cousin

[slidekellyslide]

If I collected like you Adam I'd be broke....uh...more broke than I already am.

[Runscott]

He just has a different definition of the word 'focus'

[sports-rings]

I collect Championship Rings. Here is my favorite acquisition this year, a player's Superbowl XL Ring and wood presentation box.

[mighty bombjack]

Originally Posted by baseballart

I believe my focus is on books

drool

You have such an incredible collection of books. I would LOVE to spend some time with your library, but you would have to search me when I left!

Are you going after any of the crazy nice books in REA?

[Mark]

I especially enjoy collecting pro model bats from the teens and 20's. Unintentionally, I have picked up the bats of a few of the world series "goats" from 1917 through 1925.

[bobfreedman]

I have shown this before but there a few new pieces, I would like to find a nice older baseball trophy or any nice display items

[toyman55]

just a small sample of my collection. I have been collecting since 1975 when I bought my first pm10. My prize in the collection was my Duke Snider button that I bought in 1958 at the Colosseum at the age of 9 years old. I have kept that now for 54 years.

[doug.goodman]

I have better than 3,500 of them.

I like the stories they tell, about the game, about the food that was spilled, about the pocket used to carry it, about all kinds of things.

Doug

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Runscott

He just has a different definition of the word 'focus'

Actually I'd call it "unfocus"

[jcking2722]

My collection is based on the All Century Team and I collect signed items, memorabilia, and cards of the players named to the team. I also collect some other HOF Baseball items as well such as the hat below that I picked up about a month or so ago.

1957 Brooklyn Dodgers Don Drysdale Game Used hat

[jcking2722]

Just for clarification, I am not claiming that the hat in the picture is the hat I own, just the same style. The picture is from 1957 though.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by jcking2722

My collection is based on the All Century Team and I collect signed items, memorabilia, and cards of the players named to the team. I also collect some other HOF Baseball items as well such as the hat below that I picked up about a month or so ago.

1957 Brooklyn Dodgers Don Drysdale Game Used hat

Great "Big D" hat!!

BTW, Did you ever hear that Drysdale was the designated "enforcer" on the Dodgers, especially later in his career? He subscribed to the Sal "The Barber" Maglie school of knocking players down. It was once said that Sal Maglie would knock his own mother down with a pitch if it would help him get a "W" (sic). Listening to Don Drysdale talk about this topic when he was a broadcaster for the Angels in the 1970's was always entertaining...

I seem to recall reading that Sandy Koufax never liked to hit opposing batters on purpose because he was afraid he might injure them or end a career. He asked Big D to take care of business as his proxy.

Drysdale would write the name of opposing players that he was suppose to hit inside his game hats and would refer to the lists frequently so that he would leave no stone unturned. You have to admire someone that is so passionate about their trade!

[jcking2722]

Thanks for sharing, anecdotes about players are always fun to hear. Gotta love that he kept a list in his hat! LOL Wish my hat had some names written in it!

[perezfan]

Big D was a great hitting pitcher, too. I recall a lot of Dodger games in which they actually used him to pinch hit. Different game back then, but it's a neat memory...

A tough guy - but then there was his guest appearance on The Brady Bunch

[Bugsy]

I collect St. Paul Saints memorabilia, especially from the 1920s. I know I have posted this one before, but it's one of my favorites. It is their 1920 Championship Trophy.

[Bugsy]

Part of my Saints collection is game used bats (or at least game model bats), particularly from their 1920s teams. This one was my most recent pickup, Braggo Roth. He was one of the players the White Sox traded to Cleveland for Joe Jackson and he was also on the 1921 Yankees team.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Big D was a great hitting pitcher, too. I recall a lot of Dodger games in which they actually used him to pinch hit. Different game back then, but it's a neat memory...

A tough guy - but then there was his guest appearance on The Brady Bunch

Sandy Koufax was on Dennis the Menace...

[perezfan]

Leo Durocher was on the Munsters (best episode EVER!)

[mr2686]

How about Leo Durocher on The Munsters

[mr2686]

Oops, ya beat me. For football, Namath and Deacon Jones were both on the Brady Bunch

[CarltonHendricks]

One of my focus is antique sports sculpture. Below is a c1900 silver plate statue of an oarsman holding a wreath in victory standing by a scull. I spotted it on eBay about 4:30AM 8 hours before it closed. It's a monster at 22 inch wide. I had a snipe bid about 4 times what I got it for! I had never seen the complete statue but saw just the athlete laying on a table at an antique street fair in Pleasanton Ca in May 2009...I didn't know what sport he was for so passed because it was a little pricey.





I got it for such a bargain I bid and won the wooden model below of a double scull from the same seller...which closed an hour after the statue...always wanted one those models.....they don't come up too often. For the price I got the statue for it was like a freebie! They're essentially folk art. It was listed as 19th century but it seems like c1900...and was represented to have had restoration....they did a perfect job...the oars are clearly not original to the boat but they're not too bad...for the price of $305.00...I think I've seen damaged ones go for double that...The seller did a great pack job on both pieces....the model came in a length of PVC pipe so was indestructible

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by mr2686

How about Leo Durocher on The Munsters

Nolan Ryan on the soap opera Ryan's Hope! He really stepped out of his comfort zone in this episode. He played a major league pitcher that injured his arm and had to have surgery on it.

Somewhere I have a Type I photo of him in a wheelchair on set reading the Ryan's Hope script for the episode. Too funny!

[perezfan]

That one really is a stretch... sure wish I saw Ryan in that episode!

Another stretch is the number of celebreties the Brady Bunch got to meet. In addition to those listed above, you can add Wes Parker and Davy Jones (RIP) to the list. And probably more that I'm forgetting. I think the writers figured on a celebrety encounter happening in one of every 6 episodes.

[Mark]

Originally Posted by perezfan

That one really is a stretch... sure wish I saw Ryan in that episode!

Another stretch is the number of celebreties the Brady Bunch got to meet. In addition to those listed above, you can add Wes Parker and Davy Jones (RIP) to the list. And probably more that I'm forgetting. I think the writers figured on a celebrety encounter happening in one of every 6 episodes.

They probably lived in Hollywood.

[travrosty]

Cassius Clay was on Different Strokes.

[71buc]

Originally Posted by perezfan

Big D was a great hitting pitcher, too. I recall a lot of Dodger games in which they actually used him to pinch hit. Different game back then, but it's a neat memory...

A tough guy - but then there was his guest appearance on The Brady Bunch

He was on the Donna Reed show and Leave it to Beaver as well.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by 71buc

He was on the Donna Reed show and Leave it to Beaver as well.

Awesome! You know what ironic about this great photo?
Drysdale used to take extra glee in knocking Willie down every chance he got.
Both Don and Willie were all smiles in this photo shoot. I wonder if they were all that cordial behind the scenes? Hmmm...

Here is a exerpt from Nolan Ryan's great book entitled "Kings of the Hill" with Mickey Herskowitz:

"It is part of baseball lore that Willie Mays came to dread hitting against Don Drysdale. As a measure of respect for Willie's power and consistency. Don threw at him a good deal and seemed to take great pleasure in doing so. The cleaning bill that Mays rang up in the years he faced Drysdale must have been substantial."

[vintagesportflips]

My main collecting focus is Philadelphia Eagles and Frankford Yellowjackets memorabilia. I also too a much lesser extent collect items relating to the Carlisle Indians football team. Things have been pretty quiet so far in 2012 in terms of Eagles/FYJ stuff, but I did pickup this rare Carlisle Indians pin about a week ago.

[71buc]

I really lack focus in my memorabilia collection. Ironically that is exactly what I love about memorabilia. There is such a variety available I never have become bored with it. I still collect cards but as I have gotten older, 49 tomorrow, I find myself more drawn to it than ever. I go through memorabilia collecting phases that last about year. My most recent phase has been original type 1 photography. I purchased about 100 of the in the past year. I think this tangential approach to collecting memorabilia has given my collection an interesting and gratifying variety. Each piece reflects a different period of my journey in collecting. Unfortunately I don't have a cool man cave like many I see posted here. I still have four kids at home and space remains a premium. I created the picture below as wall paper for my computer. It displays some of my favorite things and reflects my changing tastes over the years.

[GrayGhost]

Originally Posted by 71buc

I really lack focus in my memorabilia collection. Ironically that is exactly what I love about memorabilia. There is such a variety available I never have become bored with it. I still collect cards but as I have gotten older, 49 tomorrow, I find myself more drawn to it than ever. I go through memorabilia collecting phases that last about year. My most recent phase has been original type 1 photography. I purchased about 100 of the in the past year. I think this tangential approach to collecting memorabilia has given my collection an interesting and gratifying variety. Each piece reflects a different period of my journey in collecting. Unfortunately I don't have a cool man cave like many I see posted here. I still have four kids at home and space remains a premium. I created the picture below as wall paper for my computer. I displays some of my favorite things and reflects my changing tastes over the years.

I LOVE IT..fantastic

[cliftons8]

I focus on 14" Mini Bats, Player model split finger gloves in the original box, Old store model bats, and salesman sample bats and gloves. But like the poster before, any baseball item that catches my eye is fair game if I have the $$$ to buy.

Mike

P.S.- I would love to have a nice Lemon Peel and/or Belt Ball if anyone is interested in trading. I don't see me getting any of the ones in REA.