Posted By:
Bruce Dorskind
Whilst Barry Sloate is correct in his assessment that the vast majority of the 873 lots
offered from Jim Copeland's legendary collection were baseball cards and baseball photos,
there were a plethora of wonderful memorabilia pieces"
Most notable were
1. Climax Advertising Sign -1884 lot 421- $16,500
2. Carl Horner Boston Imperial Cabinet - did not meet is 12,500 reserve
3. Ruth Gehrig Exhibition Game Broadside - Lot 435- $14,300(4x estimate)
The auction included a very impressive group of early scorecards including 19th
century championship games and a near complete run of early World Series programs.
The real story of the auction was the relatively low prices that were realized for the 19th
century cards. In part this can be attributed to the fact that interest in 19th century baseball
was very limited 17 years ago. In part, many collectors attribute the low prices to the fact that
the 19th century lots were the very last lots auctioned and many of the "big hitters" had
spent their budgets. Finally 1991 was a "recession year" for the US economy.
Whist there have been hundreds of auctions since Copeland, none, not even Halper offered
as many extraordinary pieces. Many of the Copeland items have not seen the public auction
stage since they were sold in 1991.
Do purchase the catalog. If you would like a photo copy of the prices realized, we would
be happy to mail it to you privately.