Another fine piece about stolen baseball memorabilia from the Prime Minister

[base_ball]

The case of the purloined Ezra Sutton contract:

http://haulsofshame.com/blog/?p=334

Nice article tracing the chain of custody an important nineteenth century piece, regardless of the "rap sheet" of the investigative author.

I'll bet that Goldfaden--at 95--could remember many of the things he sold to Halper. It seems odd that he would have forgotten something seminal like this piece. I reckon someone who reads this board knows who might really have sold it to Halper.

[slidekellyslide]

Did anyone here personally know Barry Halper? His collection seemed to be the destination for many stolen items.

[judsonhamlin]

It does seem that, at best, he didn't ask any questions when offered an item for sale. Provenance to him might have well as been part of the south of France.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by judsonhamlin

It does seem that, at best, he didn't ask any questions when offered an item for sale. Provenance to him might have well as been part of the south of France.

Maybe he knew so he didn't ask?

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Leon

Maybe he knew so he didn't ask?

I would lean to the side that he didn't know because he was allowing himself to be photographed with some of these items.

I sure hope the FBI is taking these stolen items seriously and that they get recovered and placed back into the NYPL. It seems with the discovery of the Devlin letters in last Summer's Hunt auction that they just might be ready to follow up on this stuff.

[judsonhamlin]

I agree that it looks very suspicious - one item, fine. But this isn't the first time I've seen the link between Halper's collection and items that might have been "appropriated" from other, legitimate sources. I always did wonder how he found all his treasures.

[slidekellyslide]

I think he found all his treasures by being in the limelight. By the 1980s he was certainly the most well known memorabilia collector. It also helped that he was a minority owner of the Yankees, had droolworthy contacts, and hung out with Joe DiMaggio. He was collecting this stuff before anyone even thought about collecting it.

[bigtrain]

Based upon his previous exploits, the Prime Minister should be impeached. Still, a very informative article. Good work by Mr. Nash. I understand all his investigative work will be detailed in his new book coming out next year. Hope he profits enough to pay off Rob Lifson and the rest of his creditors.