What would be the most valuable original baseball photo (if it existed)?

[drc]

A good Horner portrait of T206 Wagner would rank up there. That might be a $100,000+ photo.

I think some very early historical photos that are rare types might rank high. I've seen some 1800s photos that should be more valuable than the Mantle.

Some of the Horner very large multi-team composites might seller higher than the Mantle some day.

A couple of the mammoth sized team photos by the Old Judge photographer (forgot his name at this moment, fill it in) would be worth a lot.

To me, a Goudey Ruth news photo or such wouldn't get near the Mantle, in part due to the plentitude. I think the Mantle was an aberation for that type of photo. That's mostly due to the popularity of the 1952 Topps Mantle card.

As someone who has specialized in photographs from all years and for many years, I will once in a while see a historical baseball photo that totally impresses me-- usually due to a some combination of subject, type of photo and size. I've seen a few 1800s baseball and football salt prints, and many people have no idea how rare those are. Those are museum pieces. The few James Creighton photos also belong in museums. And a couple of those Horner mammoth League composites are amazing.

In my mind, there's nothing particularly exceptional about the Mantle other than it's rare (so I'm told) and it has the famous pose. I'm not putting it down and I like news photos, just think $50,000 is a whole lotta money.