Lot # 294: c.1880s Helen Dauvray Ward (John Ward's Wife) Signed Cabinet Photo (JSA) Personalized to Henry Chadwick

Category: 19th Century

Starting Bid: $1,000.00

Bids: 0 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
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This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Summer, 2022 Premier Auction",
which ran from 8/2/2022 12:00 AM to
8/20/2022 9:00 PM



Beautiful Falk cabinet photo featuring actress Helen Dauvray.  Her 1887 wedding to John Montgomery Ward was covered in the New York Times, where it was noted that it was Dauvray and not Ward who was the more famous of the celebrity pair.  Dauvray's love of baseball was similarly documented; as a regular attendee of Giants games she was the namesake of the Dauvray Cup, the championship trophy awarded each year between 1887 and 1893, effectively the first World Series trophy.  The cup was first won by the 1887 Detroit Wolverines, but after the 1893 season, the Boston Beaneaters, per the rules established when the cup was created, became permanent owners of the Dauvray Cup after winning the championship in three consecutive seasons.  By then, Dauvray had divorced Ward and lost interest in baseball, so the replacement cup was provided by William Chase Temple and became known as the Temple Cup.

The reverse has been personalized to Henry Chadwick.  Ward accompanied her husband on Albert Spalding’s famous 1888/89 World Tour - even designing the team’s uniforms.  Chadwick, the well-known journalist often called the "Father of Baseball" (who was also on Spalding’s payroll as editor of the Official Baseball Guide), praised the tour as doing “more in six short months to advance the popularity of our American national game throughout the world, than had previously been accomplished in a whole decade.”  Mark Lamster’s excellent book Spalding’s World Tour: The Epic Adventure that Took Baseball Around the Globe - And Made it America’s Game contains a photo that Dauvray gifted to Chadwick that contains the identical inscription, in French.

The cabinet appears in GOOD condition with some water staining along the bottom of the mount, as well as additional age-related discoloration and mild staining throughout.  The cabinet is noteworthy for the signature on the reverse, Dauvray signing her full married name with salutations in French.  The fountain pen signature and inscription are dark and clear, the reverse exhibiting light water staining and soiling, none of which distracts from the beauty of the signature.  LOA from James Spence Authentication.

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