A rare piece of 19th century baseball memorabilia and a game-used Jackie Robinson bat were the high ticket items in an auction.
A one-of-a-kind antique baseball advertising poster from 1889 went for $115,271 in a recent catalog auction which closed over the weekend.
The poster, which received a good deal of attention when acquired by Lelands several months ago, was an advertisement for the Goodwin Round Album, available by sending in coupons from Goodwin Tobacco. The Round Album has it’s own coveted place among collectors; advertising posters for it, featuring 19th century Hall of Fame stars Cap Anson and John Montgomery Ward, are quite scarce, and none of this particular size has ever been on the market.
The antique baseball poster was recently discovered by a book dealer hunting for bargains at an upstate New York estate sale. Although two other dealers had already been through the home the poster remained undiscovered on a dresser perched on top of a pile of old books. Realizing what he had found, the dealer purchased the item and consigned it to the auction.
The final realized price included a 19.5% premium charged to the winning bidder.
The total for the 1,349 lots was nearly $2 million.
The second most sought after item was a Jackie Robinson game used bat, with a provenance trail from Jackie’s widow Rachel. It takes its place among the highest prices paid for a bat on the auction market, having sold for $86,165.
Game-used and game-worn memorabilia listings also included a Chicago Bears jersey worn by Walter Payton in his final regular season game, which went for $53,502.
Other highlights include $18,956 for a deed to the land on which Ebbets Field was built (lot 2), $15,666 for an 1888 Syracuse cabinet photo featuring Moses Fleetwood Walker (3), $27,754 for Roberto Clemente’s signed 1955 rookie season contract (4), $15,905 for a game used bat from Negro League star Louis Santop (83), $22,690 for a Larry Brown ring from Super Bowl XXX (238), $30,200 for a Michael Carter ring from Super Bowl XXIV (242), $27,455 for an Anthony Jones ring from Super Bowl XXII (244), $20,627 for a Guy LeFleur ring from the 1976 Stanley Cup champs (782), $24,959 for a Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series ring (489), and $22,108 for Sparky Adams 1931 World Series ring.
A payment document to Babe Ruth, which also reserved him for the Red Sox for 1919, went for $22,690 (308), a signed, game-used Santos soccer jersey worn by Pele went for $12,808 (935), and a single signed ball by Clemente went for $18,120 (265).
Other antique baseball and other sports memorabilia items sold: A panoramic photo of Fenway Park taken in 1918 went for $7,749 (495), a 1962 Elston Howard Yankees’ home jersey went for $12,947 (538), and an old Yankee Stadium sign stating that betting was prohibited went to $4,118 (284) and Kid Bassey’s vintage featherweight championship belt went for $5,491 (710).
