COMPLIMENTARY COPY
Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 44, NO. 17 FRIDAY APRIL 26, 2013
Jackie Robinson Memorabilia Always A Hit With Collectors
By William J. Felchner
ackie Robinson’s place in baseball history is secure. In 1947, Robinson broke the “color line,” joining the Brooklyn Dodgers and becoming the first black player in major league baseball. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia, on January 31, 1919. While attending UCLA, the athletic Robinson won varsity letters in four sports: baseball, football, basketball and track. Following a two-year hitch in the Army, Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Baseball League in 1945 and for the Montreal Royals of the Class AAA International League in 1946. From 1947 to 1956, Jackie Robinson - sporting his famous #42 - plied his talents for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson won Rookie of the Year honors in 1947 and was the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 1949.
J
Jackie Robinson 1948-49 Leaf baseball card, $2,031.50.
Jackie Robinson signed photo, Jackie Robinson 1957 retirement $1,135.25. Inducted into Baseball’s Hall of azines, comic books, uniforms, letter, $22,705. 6 excellent-mint ($215.10), 1955 Jackie Robinson 1956 Topps card, $2,031.50.
Fame in 1962, Robinson, suffering from the ravages of diabetes, died on October 24, 1972. Jackie Robinson is one of the most collected players in the sports memorabilia field today. Robinson memorabilia is legion, and includes such items as cards, mag-
Jackie Robinson 1952 Topps card, $3,107.
bats, movie material, calendars, toys, dolls and autographs. Some of the earliest and most valuable Jackie Robinson artifacts date from his high school days. Robinson’s 1937 senior yearbook,
The Sequoian, from John Muir Technical High School (Pasadena, California), is big with collectors and can top the $1,000 mark in excellent condition. Robinson also attended both Pasadena (California) Junior College and UCLA. A collection of three Pasadena Campus yearbooks from 1937, 1938 and 1939 - all of which prominently feature Robinson - brought $215 in one auction. A 1940 UCLA Southern Campus yearbook in which Robinson is celebrated as “the big man on campus” is valued at over $500. Jackie Robinson baseball cards date from 1948 to the present day. Robinson’s “rookie card” is entry #79 from the 1948-49 Leaf series. One example in graded SGC 84 near mint condition recently sold at auction for $2,031.50. Other collectible Robinson cards and their winning bids include the following: 1949 Bowman #49 graded SGC 88 near mint/mint ($3,107), 1950 Bowman #22 PSA 7 near mint ($1,015.75), 1952 Topps November 1950 Jackie Robinson #312 SGC 86 near mint+ graded comic book, $1,314.50. ($5,078.75), 1954 Topps #10 PSA
Topps #50 SGC 88 near mint-mint ($836.50) and 1956 Topps #30 PSA 4 very good-excellent ($77.68). Jackie Robinson autographed material is always in great demand (Continued on page 2)
Signed Jackie Robinson Hall of Fame plaque postcard, $1,434.
Spotlight On Two Lancaster County Lifetime Collectors Art Reist: Preserving The Tools Of A Bygone Era
Ron Frisbie: Tuning Into The Past By Dayna M. Reidenouer
“You can’t open your garage door without (Guglielmo) Marconi,” Ron Frisbie Sr. remarked. “(Radio) has done more to change the world than anything else invented.” For much of his 89 years, Frisbie has been fascinated with radios and wireless communication, which was significantly improved by Marconi. At one time, Frisbie had amassed a collection of more than 2,000 examples of early radios. After selling off about half of his collection, most of the remaining items are on display in the Historic Radio Museum that he and his late wife, Jan, built behind their home in Akron, Pa. Frisbie enjoys giving tours to small groups of people, who must schedule the tours in advance. “(Antique radios are) a fascinating hobby,” Frisbie commented. “At my age, it’s wonderful, because I have people (Continued on page 6)
By Ann Mead Ash
Avid radio collector Ron Frisbie Sr. of Akron holds the first family radio, to which up to four people could attach earphones at the same time. Built in 1923, the device is one of more than 1,000 radios in Frisbie’s Historic Radio Museum.
Art Reist began his collection, which includes antique tools, carriages, wagons, and a variety of other utilitarian items, in a rather unusual way. “I grew up here (Lancaster, Pa.) on (my family’s) farm,” said Reist, whose clan has Art Reist, who has collected a large variety of tools and owned land in Manheim horse-drawn vehicles, holds a replica of a tin ear that was Township since 1843. “I start- made for him by a blacksmith. Reist has filled his Manheim ed picking up Indian artifacts Township barn with his collection, which ranges from (from the ground) when I was Indian artifacts to wagons that brought supplies to Washington’s troops at Valley Forge. about 10 (years old).” Reist wishes he could say that he young, I became) interested in my grandfaalways held quality antiques in high regard, ther’s old vehicles,” explained Reist. “At but like most young men, he went through first I started to get rid of them, and I did a phase where demolition seemed more some things I wish I had never done, but at exciting than preservation.” (When I was (Continued on page 7)