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‘Finest known’ 1888 Spalding Baseball World Tour poster nets $240K at Heritage

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DALLAS – Discovered by a small auction house in Ohio, a baseball poster described as ‘the finest known’ has sold at auction for a record $200,000 ($240,000 including premium). Estate Auctions of Berea, Ohio chose to sell its remarkable find through Dallas, Texas sporting memorabilia specialists Heritage Auctions on February 24.

The 1888 Spalding Baseball World Tour promotional poster is only the second of its type known; the other resides in the permanent collection of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Measuring an imposing 3ft 6in high by 2ft 4in wide, it depicts portraits of more than 20 members of a Chicago all-stars team that in 1888-89 traveled to Australia, playing a dozen games before continuing west to Sri Lanka, Egypt, Italy, France, England, and Ireland. The barnstorming tour was the idea of player-turned-sporting goods magnate Albert Spalding, whose portrait features prominently in the upper left of the lithographed image. Collectors of 19th-century trading cards will recognize many of the player poses as those which appear in the famous Old Judge series of cigarette cards.

The poster was in wholly unrestored condition, with only storage folds and some light chipping to the borders to count against it. The auction house recommended this ‘miracle of survival’ would only require a professional linen backing. It was valued at ‘$100,000 upwards’ and comfortably met its reserve in pre-sale bidding. The price is a record for a baseball poster, bettering the $175,000 bid in August 2022 at Heritage for a poster of the same date promoting Old Judge Cigarette cards.
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1888 Spalding Baseball World Tour poster, which sold for $200,000 ($240,000 with buyer’s premium) at Heritage.
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