Question: 1890 Illustrated American w/ Keefe, Ewing, Polo Grounds

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Posted By: hockey jim

Back from my Sunday morning tour of antique markets. Today I found something very interesting. it is 3 pages from a magazine called Illustrated American. There is a great article about opening day 1890 and the labour problems the league went through the past year. There are great photos of the Polo Grounds, Brotherhood Park, Tim Keefe, Buck Ewing and other geat scenes from opening day. I still can't figure out how to upload pics to this site. The pages measure appr. 10x17 and are in remarkable condition. My questions are: Is this a common item? Is there any value to something like this? I can email a couple scans to anyone interested in viewing it. Thanks

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Posted By: davidcycleback

The general rule is that anything nice with baseball content from 1800s has at least some financial value-- booklet, ticket, program, ribbon, prints, etc. Original 1800s baseball material is scarce.

If the illustrations are woodcuts/wood-engravings, the pages will have value. A quick, though inexact way to tell if it's a woodcut is look up close and see if the image is made up of lines or tiny dot pattern. If it's lines, it's more likely to be a woodcut. A dot pattern wouldn't mean it's a fake or anything, but that it's not a handmade print like a woodcut ... If the photos/content have to due with the 'Brotherhood' league, it will have even more value. The Brotherhood was essentially the Federal League of the 1800s, and many top players played in it.

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Posted By: hockey jim

Thanks David. I looked at it under a loupe and it is a dot pattern. It shows opening day photos from both leagues. I wish I could figure out how to post scans
Thanks again, Jim

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Jim, I think the pages' value depend on their displayability. The valuation question being, "If I framed matted this, would it look sharp and interesting on a wall?" More than likely the pages aren't worth lots of money, but would have at least some value if they have wall displayability.

In the end, you are the owner of the items and would tell me what they are worth when you sell them. I'm just taking a stab in the dark about value until you find out the sale price ... It's like on day 1 of an eBay auction when someone asks me what I think the eBay lot will sell for. I hestitate to give an answer, because I know that if I do the person will realize in 7 days how bad is my judgment.

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Posted By: Julie

(He's getting me something else already). I turned it down because the pictures are not too sharp and rather distant.
There were no bids on it at the time.

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Posted By: hockey jim

Thanks David. It is definetly something I am going to mat.

Julie. Was this same type of item offered to you?

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Posted By: Julie

I'll get the number.5169409396. Maybe not the same edition: "1890, opening day, Keefe. Ewing, Denny etc/" page says "Illustrated American" on it, not ad.

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Posted By: hockey jim

Julie
I just bought these this morning at an antique show in Toronto(where I live). I will check out the auction though. I hope you and David didn't think i was just fishing for a resale value. The only reason I ask about values is to find out if I am overpaying. We don't see too much nice vintage baseball material in Canada and sometimes it is easy to get excited and overpay for something. It may be a rare sight up here but a common item in the US. Thanks, Jim.

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Posted By: Julie

(Reminds me, every time someone mentions something interesting in an auction, everyone thinks they're the consignor!) I just realized I'd heard all about the same pictures (or very similar ones) very recently.

I can't tell, from the auction page, whether they're--yes, they ARE all one picure--I mean, page. I didn't think it was terribly interesting, and was surprised to see how old it was.

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Posted By: hockey jim

Julie
I checked out the auction too. The scans he has up are awful. Those are 2 of the 3 pages that I bought. I just read the article and it was very interesting. Mostly about the history leading up to the split in leagues and the fan reaction and attendance at the 2 opening day games in New York.