Anyone know the origin of these old 8x10s?

[Cooptown]

Does anyone know the origin of these old 8x10 photos? They were found in my Grandmother's attic in the mid 1980s or so. The photos are of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Carl Hubbell, Casey Stengell, Christy Mathewson, Connie Mack, Joe DiMaggio, Johnny Mize, Rogers Hornsby, and Ty Cobb.

A couple of years back someone from an auction house told me they were premiums that you can redeem in the 1950s from sending in wrappers, and that they were basically worthless.

I have a hard time believing they are "worthless" as they are very old photos. I'm not thinking they are a ton of money, but not worthless either. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[drc]

I've seen them before, and what the auction house guy told was pretty much right, including that they are from circa 1950s. Though I don't know anything about wrappers. It's the distinct-style faux signatures that identify them. They aren't worthless. For some auctioneers, anything under $500 counts as worthless. Not sure if would be worth it financially, but I'm sure you could convince Beckett to grade/holder them.

[GehrigFan]

Those are the photos I was trying to research a bit. I've come to the conclusion they were issued in 1946-1947. You can see my thread below (I hope the link works):

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=114886

Yours seem a bit "off" to me, though, as they appear very glossy in your scans. Normally, these are very thin paper and not glossy (they are not photo paper stock), and are very toned and brown. Yours could be Type 3's (copies of the originals) printed on photo stock? Strange.

As much as people talk about how common and worthless these are, I disagree. Show me where you can pick them up. They are exceedingly difficult to locate, especially in a quantity larger than one, and the fact that we are still discovering previously unknown players suggests these are not as common as people assume.

[scgaynor]

They can be found in both paper and glossy photo stock. I have never seen them cataloged anyplace. They were sold througha ads in sports magazines of the era. I had a bunch of the original negatives years ago that were used to make them and they do date from the late 1940's. There are also Football, Hockey, College players, Olympians and more.

They do have value, just not much. If somebody ever took the time to catalog them, I am sure there would be more collector interest. Unfortunately to many collectors, if they don't appear in the price guide, then they don't exist.

Scott

[GehrigFan]

Hi Scott - thanks for clarifying that you've seen both paper stock versions - that is good info I never knew before.

SCD does list a few (and I mean very few - like 8 to 10 I think) under 1940s-1950s Anonymous Premium Photos. I have never seen a complete list either. They list Ruth at $50 in NM, Gehrig at $40, but I paid more than that on mine (and they are in Poor condition with pinholes). Each of mine (Ruth, Gehrig and an uncatalogues Ruth/Gehrig combo) was the only one I could find available so I had no problem paying that, but I can't say what a fair book value should be right now.

If anyone ever comes across one of the ads selling these, please scan and post!

Thanks!
Mark

Originally Posted by scgaynor

They can be found in both paper and glossy photo stock. I have never seen them cataloged anyplace. They were sold througha ads in sports magazines of the era. I had a bunch of the original negatives years ago that were used to make them and they do date from the late 1940's. There are also Football, Hockey, College players, Olympians and more.

They do have value, just not much. If somebody ever took the time to catalog them, I am sure there would be more collector interest. Unfortunately to many collectors, if they don't appear in the price guide, then they don't exist.

Scott

[Cooptown]

Thanks for everyone's responses.

Does anyone know of a legitimate, smaller auction house that would take these on? I am assuming these are chump change for the big time auction houses, and I dont want to go the ebay route.

Thanks again.

[drc]

As touched on, if these were officially cataloged or had a write up on in a magazine, there would be more demand for them. There's no reason an old commercial photo or premium of Babe Ruth or Ty Cobb shouldn't have decent value. There's would have to be a Ruth or Yankee type collector who would want it. So I think they need some more publicity. Many collectors will be hesitant just because they don't know what they are.