Matty McIntyre's ca. 1905 Photo Album

[slidekellyslide]

We may never know, but lots of people saved their negatives. I just bought over 1000 negatives from an estate that date to around 1900 - 1920...I also just sold on ebay a month or so back about 100 glass plate negatives from the 1890s-1910s. That's not unusual at all. However you're not the only person who believes those inscriptions are in McIntyre's hand...as a non-autograph person I just don't know, and after so many years on this forum all autographs not obtained in person are questionable to me.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

We may never know, but lots of people saved their negatives. I just bought over 1000 negatives from an estate that date to around 1900 - 1920...I also just sold on ebay a month or so back about 100 glass plate negatives from the 1890s-1910s. That's not unusual at all. However you're not the only person who believes those inscriptions are in McIntyre's hand...as a non-autograph person I just don't know, and after so many years on this forum all autographs not obtained in person are questionable to me.

I know some non-glass were saved - I'm just saying it wasn't the norm, even less-so to re-create photo albums using such negatives, but here's a possible scenario: If it was someone other than McIntyre, I'm thinking it was at least done around that period, and by someone who knew him well, and knew the other players well; otherwise, you wouldn't see all the nicknames in the descriptions. Perhaps it was another person on the same journey Matty took, who asked Matty if he could use the negatives to make his own personal album? No telling. Or maybe it was someone who did it around 1920 when Matty died, finding the negatives in his belongings, and wanting to create something to remember him by.

I do lean toward it's being McIntyre's handwriting, but let's say it was the same situation, only it was an album belonging to a far more famous player - there is no way I would pay prices based on it being that player's authentic handwriting.

[milkit1]

What did they sell for on average?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by milkit1

What did they sell for on average?

They were all over the board. I don't remember any of the prices.

[slidekellyslide]

I definitely think this album was put together around the time the photos were taken...you can just tell the age of old photos and paper when you've handled enough of them. Definitely old and period.

I recall paying about $50-$75 for each photo that was unidentified because I knew I could easily identify the players and had identified many of them before the auctions were over...I got outbid on most of the photos that were identified players and it seems they went for $100 or more each...I also recall the McIntyre photos selling for more when "Matty" was written underneath of them and I'm assuming it's because people believe it is in his hand. Lots of the non-player photos were in the $10 range. I got one with a child wearing a baseball mitt and it said "My boy" underneath of it. And that jogs my memory a bit..I recall now trying to find out if McIntyre had any children to see if the inscriptions were written in his hand. I never could find out anything on that front.

edited to add: McIntyre's obituary is now posted on the Deadball Era's website...it appears he had no children which increases my skepticism regarding the album being in his hand.

http://thedeadballera.com/Obits/Obit...atty.Obit.html

[slidekellyslide]

Here is the Sam Thompson photo that I won...it was listed as unidentified and I got this one pretty cheap because I'm sure most didn't think it was a ballplayer.

[mabjae]

I have about 12 pics from this album, but haven't scanned them yet. I have 2-3 of various players posing on the wreck of the USS Maine in Havana. A couple player pics. And the best one is the groundskeeper at Navin Field (?) mowing the outfield w/ a huge push mower.