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Posted By: barrysloate

Interesting debate, and both collections were great.

Jim Copeland collected primarily high grade material, and I would guess he wasn't even offered lesser pieces.

Barry Halper on the other hand collected everything. I remember cataloguing the internet portion of his sale (another 5000 lots above and beyond the printed catalog) and there were numerous lots in the $50-200 range. Barry had newspaper clippings signed in pencil by Yogi Berra.

So they were really two different kinds of collections. One thing about the Copeland Sale is it was the first major public auction devoted solely to rare baseball collectibles. There had never been anything like it before. So it was incredibly exciting. Now the Halper Sale was great too, but it lasted seven days and some parts of it dragged a bit.

Whichever collection appeals more to you, both were landmarks in our hobby.