1866 Baseball Cards

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

Bring them with you to show all of us at the Net54 dinner at the National this summer in Chicago. You'll also get additional opinions when collectors see them in person.

Which auction houses will be having live auctions at this year's National? That's as good a venue as any to auction off this collection..and he's probably still got time to get them in the catalogs.

[felada]

I have seen the archives at the HOF and looked through their card collections. These will almost certainly end up in a box in their temperature controlled vault along with the rest of the cabinet cards, and CDVs. The HOF displays an extremely small percentage of their cards.

[Old Hoss]

The Hall of Fame does not permanently display most of their photographs because all works on paper are very sensitive to light and exposure. The permanent display of any work on paper, even with controlled light levels, will lead to fading and light damage. The best way to preserve photographs is to "rest" them in climate controlled storage that is free of light. This is what the Hall of Fame does.

I assume that the Hall of Fame will eventually digitize their collection, and anything that they keep in storage is available in their research room upon request. Hundreds or thousands of people view prints, photographs, and papers that they keep in storage each year. I have used their research room before, and it was a great experience. They have a nice collection of 19th century material that would provide very good context to these amazing photographs. The photographs really would not be buried in the basement...

The Hall would be a great place for the photographs, and I think they would be both safer and more appreciated there than at any other museum or historical society. I will seriously consider giving my collection to the Hall when it is time for me to make that decision.

For the record: I don't work at the Hall of Fame.

Kudbegud, if you donate your photographs, you can draw up a contract that restricts the museum/historical society from selling them. You will just want to make sure that you consult a lawyer about the contract. If you decide to sell, I also recommend one of the big auction houses already mentioned. You would certainly have many interested bidders, myself included!

Best,
Charles

[Leon]

There are lots of great recommendations from some of the foremost experts in the field, in this thread.

It is all going to come down to what the owner's (hi owner) goal is. Since he has now been made aware that these are at a minimum of $5000 in value maybe his thoughts have changed. I will echo others sentiments. Take your time.....then take a bit more time and make a decision that YOU are happiest with and makes you feel good about. As I told another board member in an email, that really is what this is all about. Whatever your choice is I wish you the very best with them. They are truly awesome photos and thanks for sharing them with our community.

I do have one question for the owner. Is one of the photos actually a relative of yours? (your grand or great grandfather etc...) You mentioned they belonged to your grandfather but I don't think I saw (might have missed it) where one of these is actually a relative? best regards




best regards

[uffda51]

Great items! As you see, you have some options. As others have said, I would take your time. Certainly many collectors would love to own these and I think they should be kept together as a group.