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2004 NATIONAL COVERAGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4

Next we come to the booth of hobby heavyweight, Dave Hunt of Hunt Auctions from Exton, Pa. Though he mainly auctions things, Dave had some items for sale in his booth. First up was a c1920’s color litho box for Spalding baseballs, which held one dozen balls. Classic red, white and blue Spalding colors, with a photo of A.G. Spalding on the side. A little rough, but still very nice. 11 7/8” wide by 9” deep by 3” tall, $750.00 P76.

Next, a very unusual and large, framed, original period, photograph of a turn of the century loving cup baseball trophy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a photo before. Pretty esoteric, but very nice. Perhaps it came from the archives of the trophy maker. 18 ½” wide by 22 ½” tall, $275.00 . Next from Dave’s booth, a great Cy Young Tobacco tin see above. The condition was a bit rough for most tin grading, but for the super rare Cy Young, it wasn’t bad at all. A very rare and desirable baseball artifact that sits quite high on the advanced baseball memorabilia totem pole. 5 ¼” tall by 5 ¼” wide, I believe this item will be in Hunt’s November 6th 2004 auction . Next in Dave’s booth was a c1890 Heubach bisque statue of a baseball player see below, in impeccable condition. This was the larger more desirable 16” tall version. Again I believe this is slated for Hunt’s November 6th 2002 auction. 

Dave also had a nice 1928 figural basketball trophy. The award plate was engraved: I.H.S.A.A. District Tournament. It was made A.C. Rehberger Co. of Chicago, not a bad little figural, 13 ½” tall, $475.00 . Next, Dave had a c1930 photo of Red Grange, mounted on a gray card stock backing. The photo is of Grange crouched low in mid step, running with the ball tucked in his rib. Nice, you don’t see a lot of original Grange photos around, 11 ¾” wide by 13 ¾” tall, $650.00 . Next up from Hunt’s, a c1910 Tuxedo Tobacco poster featuring Christy Mathewson, a little staining, not perfect. In this day and age, perfect makes everyone nervous anyway. Strong material, 18 ¾” tall by 13 ¾” wide, this will be in Hunt’s November 6th 2004 auction, . Next in line from Hunt’s, a nice little c1920 litho advertising sign for Suncrest Soda, showing a boy baseball player and period equipment. Nice little sign, killer deep colors. I got one of these at a show in L.A. about twelve years ago, which I still have. First one I’ve come across for sale in many years. 11 ½” wide by 14 ¼” tall, $275.00 . Last Hunt piece, a great c1899 team photo of an African American football team, see below excellent interesting image full of character, best African American football team photo I’ve ever seen. Very interesting expressions check out the dapper management at the sides, especially the one armed gentleman on the left with derby and cane. 13 ¾” wide by 11 ¾” tall, $875.00 . 

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c1899 team photo of an African American football team photo, 11 3/4" tall,  $875.00  offered in Hunt Auctions booth

I was walking by one booth and spotted a huge early 50’s advertising sign for Wonder Bread, featuring Stan Musial see below. The booth owner said it belonged to a friend, Joel Kolman. I finally hooked up with him by cell phone, said he got it there at the National, and that Mastro wanted it for his auction, wouldn’t tell me what he paid, but the figure of $3,000.00 was mentioned by the booth owner, when I asked if it was for sale. Great piece, 45” wide by 33” tall, look for it in a future auction. P88.

Speaking of walk bys, Keith Mitchell of Rock Island Sports, Music & Collectibles from Rock Island, IL., had nine very nice c1950 framed color prints, all featuring different Hall of Fame baseball players. Keith had all nine hanging on the outside of the booth railing as I walked by. The nine players included, Connie Mack, Lou Gehrig, Frankie Frisch, Honus Wagner, John McGraw, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ty Cobb, and Dizzy Dean. The prints were produced by the Brown and Biglow printing concern. Brown and Biglow used these images for advertising calendars they produced and marketed to small businesses such as garages, markets, machine shops etc. Earlier in this piece, I mentioned just such a calendar, offered by Ted and Carol Murray, of Sports Publications and Memorabilia, featuring the same Tye Cobb image as Mitchell’s Ty Cobb print. Keith told me he acquired all nine at once in the 1980’s from an executive of Brown and Biglow. Like I mentioned, you see these around, but the chance to get a set of nine all at once, in their original matching frames, was quite a rare opportunity. Framed, each print was 20” tall by 16 ¾” wide, price for the entire set: $6,500.00 . Finds like that are why people come to the National.

David Martin had a most interesting Old Judge and Dog’s Head Cigarettes poster see above mounted on an ancient looking cardstock backing. We had an interesting discussion on it. I’d seen the bigger version of the poster but not the size he had 13 3/8” tall by 9 ¾” wide. He told me no one else had either, and basically told me some in the hobby didn’t believe it was real, and that it was a modern copy. I’m not an expert in that field exactly, but not only did it seem real, but it was embossed! So I don’t know. Time to call Lew Lipset, and other illuminati. It was definitely interesting.

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	close in shot of autograph
c1907 John L. Sullivan autographed  photo, 16"X13", $12,000.00   offered by Les Wolf

Les Wolf of Plainview, N.Y., a very familiar and long time name in the hobby had quite the John L. Sullivan photo see above, large, autographed, personalized, and dated July 1st 1907 . Dimensions inside the framed mat were: 16” tall by 13” wide. That’s a big photo for that era. Price: $12,000.00 . Pretty much had it all, I’d say it was one of the most important pieces of the show. 

Gilbert Porter of Harvey Horseradish & Company Sports Cards and Memorabilia, from Crugers, N.Y. brought an eye catcher. For show and tell only. Gil had a framed set of N173 cards that he was displaying for all to enjoy. The set included all the players on the 1889 New York Giants baseball club, who won the championship that year. Framed up as a composite they were huge, 58 ¼” tall by 37” wide. Gil said he’d just gotten them four weeks earlier, wouldn’t divulge the price, it’s all good. see photo following page

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