What would be the most valuable original baseball photo (if it existed)?

[Forever Young]

Originally Posted by glchen

With the threads on the original photo used in the 1952 Topps Mantle card going on (Link and Link), it got me thinking of what would be the most valuable original photo from baseball, if it still existed? I believe it is known that the Horner photo for the T206 Wagner still exists. How about the photos used to create other iconic cards such as:

Baltimore News Ruth
M101-4/5 Ruth
Just So Cy Young
T210 Jackson

Would these photos (or others) break 100K?

Edit: Caveat is that it would be known that these photos used to exist (for example, they were known to have created a card) rather than fantasy photos.

The two that come to mind are the Horner Wagner and the Conlon Cobb sliding. I think large premiums are and will be had in the following TYPE 1 forms.

A)By GREAT photographers/artists-Conlon, Thompson, Bain, Burke, Van Oeyen, Horner..etc[/B]
These should be treated like artwork much like other well know photographers commanding 100s of thousands of dollars outside of the sports world which I find very interesting.

B) IMPORTANT IMAGES used for baseball cards, important publications and/or other baseball memorabilia.
Horner-Wagner, The 1951 Mantle image used for 52 card, the Gehrig used for his 1941 memorial day ticket(just finished in legendary)..etc.

C) IMPORTANT EVENTS in Baseball History-i.e. Maris 61st, Jackie's slide, Gehrig Day, BABE BOWS OUT,1927 Yankees etc.

D) ROOKIE IMAGES

E) Other ARTISTIC/GREAT images which do not fall under the above categories most likely of HOFs or popular players.


Obviously certain players under all of these will command higher premiums..i.e. Ruth, Gehrig , Joe Jackson, Mantle, etc.. Some images will fall under 2 or more of the categories above.

Great photos usually exhibit most if not all marks of the 4 C'S -Contrast, Clarity, Content, Condition. This is a great tip found in "A Portait of Baseball Photography".

This is what I see in the photo market today and what I think will be the cream of the crop in the future. Ben