Mile High Auctions

[barrysloate]

Jay- isn't it Ned Williamson on the N403?

And shame on SGC for labeling that Anson. They should know better than that.

[oldjudge]

Barry-You're right. Sorry. Dalrymple is the body on the Anson in Uniform.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Looks like our suspicions have been confirmed on Lot # 985, zero bids thus far with a starting price of $1,500. Wouldn't you think that an original photo containing the first baseball image of Anson likely already be at $10K - $20K (i.e.-Marshalltown photo)?

[benjulmag]

"All that being said, the presented piece is without question the earliest known image of "Cap" Anson in a baseball setting, and is absolutely deserving of a place in the collection of even the most discriminating memorabilia enthusiast." (emphais added)


Those are the words from the Mile High catalog description. WOW!!

Hard to know where to begin on this one. For starters, how to we know it is even the Notre Dame baseball team? From an inscription added 80 years later?!

Second, even if it is that team, how does one date it to the specific period Anson was on the team?

Third, resemblance alone, in the absence of detailed photo facial comparison (most of which end up being inconclusive even if through external means there is known to be a match), is insufficient to make a positive ID.

Fourth, there's no provenance.

Fifth, doesn't the description say that Anson played at Notre Dame after playing at Marshalltown? So since there is a known image of him with Marshalltown, even if this was Anson with Notre Dame, how could it be his earliest?

And with all this it's described as being the earliest known image of Anson without question?!

[barrysloate]

Has the image been removed from the auction, or at the very least has the text been amended since this thread was started?

[bcbgcbrcb]

Barry:

I have been checking every day, not as of yesterday. Probably not a bad idea though.......

[Runscott]

When I saw the post about this photo, I got kind of excited - I've been looking for early team photos with Anson, in an attempt to locate another player who I have photos of, due to ties he had with Anson as a player. I immediately looked for this other person in the 'Anson' Notre Dame photo, and here's what who I found, standing right next to 'Anson'.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it's a pretty damned big coincidence:

[oldjudge]

Mile High, in my opinion, has done a poor job with this lot. They have taken a questionable piece (and I think I am being kind) and tried to finesse the description. Both this lot and the Williamson Yum Yum are lots that can mislead the uninformed collector.

[bmarlowe1]

I was hoping they would provide a better scan. Given what we have I can only make one point.

In most of his photos Anson appears to have very light hair (his eyebrows are often hard to see). In other photos it may appear somewhat darker, but it is still on the light side. Darkness or lightness of hair in these photos can sometimes be difficult to judge, but for the guy in the Mile High photo the hair appears too dark.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by bmarlowe1

I was hoping they would provide a better scan. Given what we have I can only make one point.

In most of his photos Anson appears to have very light hair (his eyebrows are often hard to see). In other photos it may appear somewhat darker, but it is still on the light side. Darkness or lightness of hair in these photos can sometimes be difficult to judge, but for the guy in the Mile High photo the hair appears too dark.

Yeah, I wonder why they didn't blow up his image and place it next to the woodcut image - they actually look very similar, and it would help their case. I'm guessing they don't want it to appear that they are 'building a case' - that would possibly inject more doubt.

[bmarlowe1]

I did find one Anson image (below left) in which his hair did look somewhat dark, but it is a high contrast somewhat half-toney reproduction, and his eyebrows are still not visible. Most of his images, like the one below right, show light hair.