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Posted By: Alan Elefson

Hi-
I am sorry for the ambiguity of the title, but hopefully my question will make itself clear as I type. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share information regarding vintage sports memorabilia, specifically, "hidden gems" For example, I would love to obtain a list of books that contain early references to baseball that a flea marketer like myself might otherwise pass on. I realize information like this is treated like its classified material, but I am hoping some folks might be willing to share.
Obviously I am looking for information that will give me an advantage when hitting flea markets, and I also know that this same information will be read by other avid flea marketers but to me it is worth a shot. Besides books (that bear no overtly obvious signs that it is baseball related) I would love information on early cabinet photos. For example, are there any famous cabinets or series of cabinets (or CDVs) that feature players in street clothes? In other words photos that I would likely skip right by if looking for baseball uniforms or equipment. I realize there are plenty of individual cabinets that fit this description and it would be impossible to keep an eye out for these, but I was hoping folks here might know of a series or a specific photographer. For example, I typically look closesly at any cabinet photo by Elmer Chickering, mainly because I have hard he took photos of teams and players. However, I also know he ran a major studio (in Boston I believe) so there are tens of thousands of photos that bear his stamp that have nothing to do with baseball.
In short, I am looking for "inside" information that will give me a leg up at auctions (estate auctions, not sports ones) and flea markets. I completely understand the reluctance of providing such information (if everyone knew the information, certain collectors in the know might face more competition and higher prices for obscure items) but I figured it was worth asking. To try and boil it down to a simple request, Please post about baseball memorabilia you think the average person would not know is baseball related.
Alan