Lot # 218: Rare 1905 Van Oeyen Postcard Nap Lajoie (HOF) - SGC VG 3 (Pelty Estate)

Category: Baseball Postcards

Starting Bid: $500.00

Bids: 30 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "Fall, 2022 - 10th Anniversary Auction",
which ran from 11/6/2022 12:00 PM to
11/26/2022 9:00 PM



Impossibly rare portrait postcard of Hall of Famer Nap Lajoie, dating to 1905 as published by baseball photographer Louis Van Oeyen.  Van Oeyen began his career as a staff photographer at the Cleveland Press, and by 1908 was the official photographer for the American League.  Though his photographs covered a variety of subjects, he was keenly interested in baseball and boxing.  There are several different known postcards utilizing this format - a Cleveland Indians team postcard, another picturing Nap Lajoie with boxer Jim Jeffries, and this example, a portrait image of the famous Cleveland manager.  In our research, we have found just two other examples of this postcard, with only one recorded sale, in 2008 by a major auction house that is no longer operating.  SGC has graded just three examples including this one; PSA has graded none.  It is unquestionably rare.  The postcard came to us as part of a collection of postcards that were part of the estate of former St. Louis Browns pitcher Barney Pelty; virtually all the baseball postcards in the collection depicted either Pelty or other members of the St. Louis Browns - this was one of the few that did not.  We submitted the card to SGC where it was awarded a grade of VG 3, due to light wear at a the corners and edges, as well as some light toning.  An incredibly rare postcard featuring an important Hall of Famer, one of just three graded examples known.

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