September 27, 2024 - Auction Central News

Pro women’s baseball memorabilia brings delight at Grant Zahajko

1947 Racine Belles yearbook with 18 signatures from players, $819 with buyer’s premium at Grant Zahajko.

DAVENPORT, WA – Professional women’s baseball was a dream that became reality. As with most things that allowed women to expand their horizons in the 20th century, World War II opened the door. Most of the sport’s best male players of the 1940s traded their bats for bayonets and their tour buses for troop transports, leaving behind a baseball-starved nation.

Phillip K. Wrigley, son of the chewing gum magnate who purchased an ownership stake in the Chicago Cubs team in 1916, cofounded the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1943, and held the tryouts at Wrigley Field. The league managed to outlast the war, but dwindling attendance and gate receipts led to its demise in 1954. Nonetheless, its twelve years of existence paved the way for professional women’s sports of all sorts. The story of American professional women’s baseball was dramatized in the beloved 1992 film A League of Their Own, as well as two small-screen versions bearing the same title, one on CBS in 1993 and another on Amazon Prime in 2022.

Several artifacts from the time when the Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles, and Peoria Redwings ruled baseball diamonds were presented at Grant Zahajko in its August 21 Sports Cards & Memorabilia & Collectibles auction. The lots had modest three-figure estimates and many bested those numbers, proving this underexplored realm of sports memorabilia remains in reach of collectors.

The Rockford Peaches team was the most dominant of the ten, winning four league championships. The sticker-covered suitcase toted by Rockford Peach pitcher Mary ‘Prattie’ Pratt, who died in 2020 at the age of 101, is on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. While the Rockford Peaches baseball cap offered at Zahajko was not linked to Pratt or any specific player, it was authentic and described as being in ‘excellent condition’. Estimated at $100-$200, it earned $441 with buyer’s premium.

Six yearbooks for the Racine Belles, having all their pages and spanning the years 1944 to 1949, were presented. All sold, and four beat their estimates. Interestingly, only the earliest of the six yearbooks had a photographic cover, showing an unidentified woman in uniform with a bat on her shoulder and a noble look on her face. It was one of the two that sold within estimate.

The four that exceeded their numbers featured idealized illustrations of women players, and the one that did the best of all, a 1947 yearbook, showed a catcher peeling her mask off to reveal a smiling, perfectly made-up face and a curly coiffure. The quick aesthetic shift from photographs to illustrations might reflect the league owners’ concerns that the players appear unimpeachably feminine.

Perhaps the glamorous 1947 cover image helped spark bidding, but it was also one of three yearbooks in the lineup that boasted more than ten autographs from women players. It drew the highest estimate of the six, at $300-$400, and it realized $819 with buyer’s premium.

Another winner was a postcard with a black-and-white image of the Peoria Redwings, issued in 1946, the year of the team’s debut. No one pictured is identified in the lot notes, but the women players are flanked by their chaperone on the left and their manager on the right. Estimated at $100-$200, it sold for $284 with buyer’s premium.

Vintage Rockford Peaches baseball cap, $441 with buyer’s premium at Grant Zahajko.

1947 Racine Belles yearbook with 18 signatures from players, $819 with buyer’s premium at Grant Zahajko.

1946 postcard with a black-and-white team photo of the Peoria Redwings, $284 with buyer’s premium at Grant Zahajko.

Sheila Gibson Stoodley

Sheila Gibson Stoodley is the associate editor for Auction Central News. She has written and edited for Robb Report, Art & Antiques magazine, and Andrew Harper online. She also authored The Hot Bid, a blog devoted to intriguing and delightful lots coming up at auction.

William Wegman’s dog photographs have their day

This 1984 large format William Wegman photograph, titled ‘Orange Block,’ is notable as the photographer preferred black and white, and only rarely added color to his images. It earned $5,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2022. Image courtesy of Millea Bros Ltd and LiveAuctioneers.

NEW YORK — Ansel Adams was famous for his black and white photos of the American West; Dorothea Lange put faces on the Great Depression; and Diane Arbus made viewers think, and sometimes squirm, with her portraits of those deemed social outcasts. Photographer William Wegman (b. 1943-) takes a somewhat lighter approach to the art form, and in doing so, has created an extensive body of work that is celebrated for its charm and whimsy.

After earning a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting in his native Massachusetts in 1965, followed by an MFA at the University of Illinois, Wegman began teaching at the university level. His talents spanned not only painting and drawing, but also film and video. By 1970, he was already playing around with film and beginning to consider the storytelling possibilities of photography. But an unrelated spontaneous decision he made that year — purchasing a Weimaraner puppy — ultimately shaped his career.

Detail from the 1984 large-format William Wegman photograph ‘Orange Block,’ which is notable as the photographer preferred black and white, and only rarely added color to his images. It earned $5,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2022. Image courtesy of Millea Bros Ltd and LiveAuctioneers.

Looking for a puppy for his then-wife, Gayle Lewis, while they were living in California, Wegman spotted an ad listing Weimaraner puppies for $35. He named his new pet Man Ray in homage to the famous artist, and it became the first of many canine muses Wegman showcased as he embraced the Conceptualism art movement then sweeping across Los Angeles. He dressed Weimaraners in elaborate costumes and placed them in settings both silly and serious, posing the animals standing on boxes or stepping up and down on them.

Similar to Cindy Sherman’s repetitive self-portraits in which she uses herself as an avatar, Wegman’s much-beloved portraits of his dogs are also stand-ins for varied concepts that reference art history or embrace minimalism. While Sherman’s photographs are critically lauded, and several have sold for more than a million dollars each, Wegman has been overlooked by art world critics.

Make no mistake: people know Wegman’s work, and he’s had gallery and museum exhibitions. He is both a commercial success and a pop culture icon, having directed several film shorts starring his second Weimaraner, Fay Ray, for the classic children’s TV show Sesame Street. His photographs also led to the creation of several children’s books. His art sells well, but his photographs are not valued at the same levels as those of important photographers, possibly because his dog images might be seen as too popular to count as fine art.

A William Wegman photograph, ‘Landscape Portrait,’ showing one of his Weimaraners holding a landscape scene in his mouth, took $6,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2020. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center and LiveAuctioneers. — A William Wegman photograph, ‘Landscape Portrait,’ showing one of his Weimaraners holding a landscape scene in its mouth, took $6,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2020. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center and LiveAuctioneers.

“I think he is an underappreciated artist, while at the same time his work is sort of irresistible,” said Richard Wright, CEO of Rago/Wright. “I think he has been a little trapped in his own success. He has also created other work, but I think what everybody really wants are the dogs, and you see that expressed in the valuations of his work.”

Most of Wegman’s photographs, particularly his editioned photographs, auction for sums well under $10,000, Wright said. “To me, he is sort of in an ironic place where the work is widely loved, but … it’s not expensive in art world terms.”

William Wegman’s ‘Church & Steeple,’ a large-format 1993 Polaroid Polacolor print measuring 29 ¾ by 21 ¾in, sold above its $2,500-$3,500 estimate to bring $5,000 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2023. Image courtesy of Wright and LiveAuctioneers.

Wegman’s large-format Polaroid photographs typically bring the highest prices, yet they are still accessible to most buyers. A 1993 large-format Polaroid Polacolor print, Church & Steeple, achieved $5,000 plus the buyer’s premium in January 2023 at Wright.

Richard Wright said that Church & Steeple brought a strong price because it was one-of-a-kind rather than an editioned work. Noting the chemical process involved in creating the print, he explained that its unique color palette, dominated by a pleasing blue hue, also drove up its value.

A collection of nine early photographs by William Wegman, dating to 1972, shows some of the ways the photographer got his dogs to interact with a simple box in his studio. The ‘Dog/Box (Stormy Night)’ gelatin silver prints achieved $12,000 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2023. Image courtesy of Millea Bros Ltd and LiveAuctioneers.

Whether it is a simple chair, a net, or a blanket, Wegman’s props help the dogs’ personalities shine through in the finished photograph. Proof comes in the form of a collection of nine 1970s gelatin silver prints in which Wegman repeatedly captures a dog stepping up and down on a box. The Dog/Box (Stormy Night) images together earned $12,000 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2023 at Millea Bros Ltd.

The top price on the LiveAuctioneers platform for the photographer is a grouping of 44 vintage gelatin silver prints collected in a 1993 Pace/MacGill Gallery portfolio titled Letters, Numbers, Punctuations. It attained €22,000 ($24,485) plus the buyer’s premium in June 2015 at Leitz Photographica Auction.

A 1993 portfolio containing 44 vintage gelatin silver prints by William Wegman sold for €22,000 ($24,485) plus the buyer’s premium in June 2015. Image courtesy of Leitz Photographica Auction and LiveAuctioneers.

Art is, of course, subjective, and viewers are best left to make their own interpretations of the subtleties lurking in Wegman’s images. Possibly a commentary on art imitating life, however, is a portrait of one of his Weimaraners holding a landscape picture in its mouth. The image took $6,000 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2020 at Rago Arts and Auction Center.

‘Ray Cat,’ a 1987 photograph by William Wegman, went for $3,300 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2021. Image courtesy of Circle Auction and LiveAuctioneers.

There is no mistaking the gentle jokes in Wegman’s works such as Ray Cat, a 1987 image he marked up in a way that gives the dog feline features. The color lithograph went for $3,300 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2021 at Circle Auction.

“I think one would be hard-pressed not to like his work,” Wright said. “The work really does come from a place of intellectual rigor. It is conceptual, and it’s also just humorous and humane. It’s the rare work of art that balances those two qualities — to have some rigor, and then also have mass appeal because of the universality of the images.”

Andrea Valluzzo

Andrea Valluzzo is an award-winning journalist who has worked for media publications for more than 20 years. Today, she enjoys writing about antiques, collectibles, art and the art of collecting. Based in Connecticut, she's also an avid scrapbooker who loves Broadway shows.

Rare surviving work by Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage featured at Sterling October 2

Augusta Savage, terracotta bust of an infant, estimate $4,000-$6,000 at Sterling Associates.

NORWOOD, NJ — A rare surviving work by Harlem Renaissance sculptor Augusta Savage will appear as a top-estimated lot at Sterling Associates Wednesday, October 2 in its October Fine Estates sale. The 202-lot catalog is now open for early bidding at LiveAuctioneers.

Until earlier this year, many art collectors might not have known the name Augusta Christine Fells Savage (1892-1962), but a February episode of PBS’ American Masters changed all that. Titled Searching for Augusta Savage, the biographical documentary revealed the largely unheralded Florida-born sculptor and educator to be one of the most important – and talented – of all Harlem Renaissance artists.

Additionally, she was one of the first Black woman activists to fight for the inclusion of African American artists in the mainstream canon. In spite of her undeniable gifts, Savage’s own career was plagued by racism and sexism. Even some of her male counterparts in the famed Harlem Black art movement failed to offer support.

More than half of the 160 artworks Savage created in her lifetime are missing or have been destroyed, and none of her extraordinary monumental sculptures survived, including the 16ft-tall sculpture she created for the 1939 New York World’s Fair. When Savage could not raise the funds to transport or store her depiction of a choir of 12 Black children singing, the sculpture was destroyed.

At the peak of the Harlem Renaissance, Savage sculpted busts of prominent individuals, including W. E. B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, and opened the first US gallery devoted exclusively to African American art. Two of her works were accepted for exhibition at the Salon d’Automne and exhibited at the Grand Palais in Paris. She was also appointed the first director of the Harlem Community Art Center.

“There is so much more to the Augusta Savage story,” said Sterling Associates’ owner Stephen D’Atri. “Her legacy and influence can only increase. Because her work is so rare, it is especially meaningful that we’ve been entrusted to auction one of her sculptures in our October 2nd sale.” The artwork is a painted red clay or terracotta relief bust of an infant, signed and dated 1942. Sensitively modeled, the work measures 9 by 12 by 10in and is conservatively estimated at $4,000-$6,000.

In his short life, self-taught painter Bradford Boobis (American, 1927-1972) used art as an outlet to explore the theme of societal woes and personal loss. He was known for his dystopian realist imagery and dreamlike depictions of subjects in turmoil. In 2022, the 50th anniversary of his passing, Boobis’ work was featured in an exhibition at the respected Louis K. Meisel Gallery in New York. Three Boobis paintings from a lifelong art collector in New Jersey are entered in the auction, including an oil-on-canvas painting of John F. Kennedy. Signed and dated 1968, it has a framed size of 34 by 44in and is estimated at $800-$1,200.

Augusta Savage, terracotta bust of an infant, estimate $4,000-$6,000 at Sterling Associates.

Bradford Boobis, 'JFK,' estimate $800-$1,200 at Sterling Associates.

Jim Bunte

Jim Bunte has worked in editorial, design and the toy and auction industries for more than 30 years. He co-founded Auction Central News in 2007.

Jasper52 presents Dazzling Desires: Fine Jewelry and Stones October 2

14K gold ring featuring a GIA-certified 5.12-carat emerald and diamonds, estimate $27,000-$32,000 at Jasper52.

NEW YORK – On Wednesday, October 2, starting at 7 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will present its next Dazzling Desires: Fine Jewelry and Stones auction, containing almost 450 lots. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Among its many prizes is a 14K gold ring centered on a 5.12-carat transparent green emerald certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The size 7 ring also features 1.20 carats of round- and full-cut diamonds of G color and Vs-2 clarity. It carries an estimate of $27,000-$32,000.

The lineup also contains a pair of 18K gold, saltwater pearl, and diamond dangle earrings estimated at $12,000-$14,000. The pearls on each can be detached to convert the earrings to diamond clips. The baguette-cut stones weigh in at 2.80 carats and have G color and Vs-2 clarity.

The third highlight is a vintage estate bracelet fashioned from orange-brown jade, accented with 14K gold. The color of the stone is even throughout, and the piece is estimated at $11,000-$13,000.

14K gold ring featuring a GIA-certified 5.12-carat emerald and diamonds, estimate $27,000-$32,000 at Jasper52.

18K gold, diamond, and saltwater pearl dangle earrings, estimated at $12,000-$14,000 at Jasper52.

Orange-brown jade bangle bracelet with 14K gold accents, estimate $11,000-$13,000 at Jasper52.

ACN Staff

Content bearing the byline of ACN staff has been researched and written by multiple members of the Auction Central News team.