Where has all the 19th century baseball memorabilia gone?

[bigfanNY]

I have been collecting for a long time and early Baseball memorabilia especially from the 1870's and early 1880's has always been scarce. Part of that scarcity comes from the fact that there was only one leauge..The National leauge. Teams struggled in the early years and played far fewer games. Scorecards and tickets from the first few years of the National Leauge are extremely scarce. And a few of the best collections made their way to the Hall of Fame.
Maybe the celebration of 150 years of the NL next year will bring out some items. I hope so but even if they do pop up demand is gonna sweep them up pretty quickly.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

I have been collecting for a long time and early Baseball memorabilia especially from the 1870's and early 1880's has always been scarce. Part of that scarcity comes from the fact that there was only one leauge..The National leauge. Teams struggled in the early years and played far fewer games. Scorecards and tickets from the first few years of the National Leauge are extremely scarce. And a few of the best collections made their way to the Hall of Fame.
Maybe the celebration of 150 years of the NL next year will bring out some items. I hope so but even if they do pop up demand is gonna sweep them up pretty quickly.

How many were kept in the first place and, even if they were, how many survivors are going to keep them after the original owners died 125+ years ago? For the most part, I don’t think people saw any “value” in this stuff back in the early days….especially for “throw away” items like tickets and scorecards. Things have changed so much….just think of the number of bats and uniforms a modern player goes through compared to the 19th century and even 50 years ago. And, these days, someone is always there to grab those uniforms and bats.

[murphusa]

I am constantly emailing, texting and writing my old customers to try and judge their vision of where or what they are doing with their collections.

I also contact estate/divorce lawyers in my area letting them know about my services, along with people who run estate sales

[vintagesportscollector]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

How many were kept in the first place and, even if they were, how many survivors are going to keep them after the original owners died 125+ years ago? For the most part, I don’t think people saw any “value” in this stuff back in the early days….especially for “throw away” items like tickets and scorecards. Things have changed so much….just think of the number of bats and uniforms a modern player goes through compared to the 19th century and even 50 years ago. And, these days, someone is always there to grab those uniforms and bats.

From my experience most of the tickets and scorecards, from the 19th century or TOC, that I have acquired or have seen, survived because they were kept in scrapbooks. If they were in a scrapbook they survived and were kept by relatives, otherwise they were thrown away for the most part.

[ValKehl]

Many old scorecards may have fallen victim to paper salvage drives during wartime, especially during WWII: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_...939%E2%80%9350

[aelefson]

As an avid antique shopper, I have found enough 19th century memorabilia to keep me generally satisfied and sometimes overwhelmed. Here is a tintype (in case) I bought at the Brimfield Antique show a few weeks ago. In May I bought a full sized lemon peel ball there. I have also bought many cool items through ephemera and historical dealers. Unfortunately, bargains are rare, but my favorite part about buying in non traditional spaces is getting a chance to own items that are fresh to the hobby.

To answer the OP (I owe you an email Gary!), I feel that some of it shows up in the non traditional spaces but there are many of us who look for things there. It does help not to have to compete at large hobby auctions for these items though.

Alan

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by aelefson

As an avid antique shopper, I have found enough 19th century memorabilia to keep me generally satisfied and sometimes overwhelmed. Here is a tintype (in case) I bought at the Brimfield Antique show a few weeks ago. In May I bought a full sized lemon peel ball there. I have also bought many cool items through ephemera and historical dealers. Unfortunately, bargains are rare, but my favorite part about buying in non traditional spaces is getting a chance to own items that are fresh to the hobby.

To answer the OP (I owe you an email Gary!), I feel that some of it shows up in the non traditional spaces but there are many of us who look for things there. It does help not to have to compete at large hobby auctions for these items though.

Alan

Hi Alan,
That tintype is a beauty, Alan! Very cool!

[aelefson]

Thank you Scott! It is my first cased tintype of baseball players. I wish I could make out the team name on the uniforms.

Alan

[jbsports33]

Nice Photo Alan! Hope all is well - Jimmy

Originally Posted by aelefson

As an avid antique shopper, I have found enough 19th century memorabilia to keep me generally satisfied and sometimes overwhelmed. Here is a tintype (in case) I bought at the Brimfield Antique show a few weeks ago. In May I bought a full sized lemon peel ball there. I have also bought many cool items through ephemera and historical dealers. Unfortunately, bargains are rare, but my favorite part about buying in non traditional spaces is getting a chance to own items that are fresh to the hobby.

To answer the OP (I owe you an email Gary!), I feel that some of it shows up in the non traditional spaces but there are many of us who look for things there. It does help not to have to compete at large hobby auctions for these items though.

Alan

[aelefson]

Thank you Michael! That is a lot clearer. Thank you Jimmy! I missed seeing you at Brimfield in September but it was great to see you in July (and great to see Barry and your brother too).

[ruth-gehrig]

Perhaps I sound a bit naive when I say this but I believe there are still alot of great baseball antiques out there that haven't been discovered. Maybe I'm to optimistic but hopeful . There used to be a poster on the board that seemed like all he had was 19th century baseball that was part of his family's collection. Incredibly high grade amazing stuff if I remember correctly! I have a few lemon peels, a belt ball and some bats along with some advertising but not a ton of 19th century. I think alot of collectors have a little from the timeframe so it's spread out quite a bit. Like most collectors I enjoy my collection. I don't sell a lot but definitely more inclined to hang onto the items that would be the most difficult to replace. 19th century fits that bill.