Chadwick's Woodcut Collection - Mystery Solved!!

[aquarius31]

Hi All,
I wanted to share on main forum as I think it's applicable across the board but Leon feel free to move to memorabilia side if more appropriate. I have been collecting woodcuts for nearly 2 decades now and my passion has only scaled up over the past 5 years. Some years back, I came across Lew's extraordinary auction of a massive woodcut collection that may have provenance back to Henry Chadwick himself. By that point, I had already collected a majority of the Harper's and Leslie's woodcuts along with a number of undocumented prints from more obscure publications. Unfortunately, there has been very little information on this collection along with additional photos.

http://www.oldjudge.com/archive/2010...eadliners/5/#a

What started as curiosity for me became a challenge when I realized that I had previously seen at least 2 of the woodcuts (1 Leslies, 1 NY Clipper). I used to exclusively collect T206 and nearly completed a few very tough back runs so this wasn't that far off. I would argue that this run however is nearly impossible because of the fact that 1) the actual publication names were cut off and 2) pulp newspapers are prone to serious damage and will completely deteriorate in certain environments.

With all this background, I'm beyond ecstatic to share with you all that I have identified and acquired all 6 woodcuts that are depicted from this auction! I honestly didn't think that I would complete it in my lifetime and this will go down as the most significant collection accomplishment for me A special thinks to bgar3 and h2oya311 for helping me purchase the Chadwick woodcut!

If there are other photos from this auction or if the owner comes across this post, please reach out to me directly as I'd like to share some additional findings.

1) 1876 Munro's Girls and Boys - Astor Club
Astor by George M, on Flickr

2) 1877 Our Boys - Chicago White Stockings
73219964_1_x by George M, on Flickr

3) 1877 Sporting Gazette - Brooklyn Excelsiors
Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 5.19.02 PM by George M, on Flickr

4) 1880 NY Clipper - Henry Chadwick
Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 5.19.42 PM by George M, on Flickr

5) 1883 Illustrated Police News - Boston
Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 5.20.02 PM by George M, on Flickr

6) 1883 Leslies - Philadelphia Athletics
Screen Shot 2020-02-04 at 5.19.27 PM by George M, on Flickr

[todeen]

Congrats. Nice sleuthing.

[h2oya311]

Glad I could help! And thanks for the awesome NY Clipper of Hanlon! Been on my want list for years!

[doug.goodman]

Fantastic! Congrats!

[GaryPassamonte]

Great stuff, George. Put the 1877 Chicagoes on my list, too.

[aquarius31]

Thanks guys!

Hope you enjoy the Hanlon Derek.

Gary, I'll keep an eye out for you. I know that one is definitely on your list.

[bgar3]

George, great job.
The DuMouchelle catalogue can still be found, with amazing stuff. I may have a photo copy of the pages I can check, although I have been told some items were sold beforehand.

[aquarius31]

Originally Posted by bgar3

George, great job.

The DuMouchelle catalogue can still be found, with amazing stuff. I may have a photo copy of the pages I can check, although I have been told some items were sold beforehand.

Thanks so much Bruce...would love to see any photos from that auction at some point. And again big thanks for going above and beyond to connect me to owner of Chadwick woodcut! I owe you


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CW]

Nicely done. Congratulations! Those are some great pieces of baseball (and base ball) history.

[bgar3]

George, just checked my copy of the baseball pages from the catalogue and could find no obvious reference to the scrapbook or woodcuts etc.
However, what a great group of baseball stuff, put together by an auction house that had no idea what they had, highlighted by grossly underestimated lots, misdescribed items, a fake Wagner card, and incredible books, historical documents and statues etc.
Auction was May, 1991. Worth trying to find in my opinion.