Babe Ruth photo signed to his sister sells for $22,546

blowoutcards · 09-01-2010, 10:30 AM

Babe Ruth photo signed to his sister sells for $22,546
September 1, 2010, 10:24 am

A Babe Ruth photos originally owned for his sister sold for $22,546 Wednesday through SchulteAuctions.com.

The image (above) was the headliner as part of a collection consisting of five original photos and an inner book cover, which was signed, dated and personalized by The Bambino to “Mamie” Margaret Ruth-Moberly. The items were consigned by the family to the Woodstock, Md.-based auction house and were never before been publicly available.

Adding to the $22K photo’s appeal was a photo of “Mamie” holding the signed photo.

While that photo attracted 39 bids, the next-highest selling image, a photo signed by Lou Gehrig also personalized to Ruth’s sister sold for $11,183 after 37 bids.

Among the other items sold were five other Ruth-signed items — $7,902 for a signed photo of The Babe and his wife, down to $1,292 each for a pair of Ruth family photos signed with just a “Babe” signature.

Babe Ruth photo signed for his sister sells for $22,546 The Beckett Blog

BAMBAM · 09-01-2010, 11:05 AM

Kind of odd how he addressed the photo and signed it as Babe instead of George since it was for his sister. Maybe he was goofing around with her, who knows.

mwheeler27 · 09-01-2010, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAMBAM

Kind of odd how he addressed the photo and signed it as Babe instead of George since it was for his sister. Maybe he was goofing around with her, who knows.

Given the pose in the picture, I'm sure it was meant to portray him as "Babe" as apposed to simply a picture of himself to his sister. After all, how many of us give our sisters an autographed picture of ourselves?

fungi2510 · 09-01-2010, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mwheeler27

Given the pose in the picture, I'm sure it was meant to portray him as "Babe" as apposed to simply a picture of himself to his sister. After all, how many of us give our sisters an autographed picture of ourselves?

How many of us are Babe Ruth?

mwheeler27 · 09-01-2010, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fungi2510

How many of us are Babe Ruth?

I think you proved my point.

jenmatt092007 · 09-01-2010, 04:28 PM

How long till it is cut auto?

golferphil · 09-01-2010, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenmatt092007

How long till it is cut auto?

Good point. I have no doubt that it will end up as a cut auto on some card in the future. It's really too bad if it does, because the history is really in the whole picture not just the auto...

mwheeler27 · 09-01-2010, 10:00 PM

I don't think anyone will be putting a $22,000 Babe Ruth auto into a cut auto card ever. There are plenty of his autos that can be used that cost a lot less.

jenmatt092007 · 09-01-2010, 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golferphil

Good point. I have no doubt that it will end up as a cut auto on some card in the future. It's really too bad if it does, because the history is really in the whole picture not just the auto...

I agree with you.

mwheeler. It depends on who bought the picture. You just never know. I hope that it stays intact.

mwheeler27 · 09-01-2010, 11:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jenmatt092007

I agree with you.

mwheeler. It depends on who bought the picture. You just never know. I hope that it stays intact.

I don't care who bought it. They're not going to cut it up. The only thing worthy of cutting up on that picture is Babe Ruth's name. And as I mentioned before, you can buy his autograph for a lot cheaper than $22,000 to put into a card.

Now, if the inscription was smaller so that more than his name could fit into/onto a card, that would possibly be a different story. But given the size of the inscription, this picture will be staying intact. That's my opinion anyway.

aggie4ever · 09-02-2010, 05:47 PM

I agree, the card companies are buying the cheapest autographs they can to make into cut autographs. The only exception is if a player's autograph is normally too big to fit on a card, then a manufacturer might pay more for an unusually small autograph that will fit.

But for Ruth autos, they are going to use ones that cost less than $2k most likely. And it seems to me, the quality of cut autos of the most expensive players seem to be going down... most of the Ruths I have seen in the past couple years in Topps and Upper Deck products are either in pencil on a darker background that is harder to see (and thus should sell for less money), or a portion of the auto gets cut off since it was taken from a team signed sheet.

09-01-2010, 10:30 AM	#1
blowoutcards Administrator Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 9,049 blowoutcards	Babe Ruth photo signed to his sister sells for $22,546 Babe Ruth photo signed to his sister sells for $22,546 September 1, 2010, 10:24 am A Babe Ruth photos originally owned for his sister sold for $22,546 Wednesday through SchulteAuctions.com. The image (above) was the headliner as part of a collection consisting of five original photos and an inner book cover, which was signed, dated and personalized by The Bambino to “Mamie” Margaret Ruth-Moberly. The items were consigned by the family to the Woodstock, Md.-based auction house and were never before been publicly available. Adding to the $22K photo’s appeal was a photo of “Mamie” holding the signed photo. While that photo attracted 39 bids, the next-highest selling image, a photo signed by Lou Gehrig also personalized to Ruth’s sister sold for $11,183 after 37 bids. Among the other items sold were five other Ruth-signed items — $7,902 for a signed photo of The Babe and his wife, down to $1,292 each for a pair of Ruth family photos signed with just a “Babe” signature. Babe Ruth photo signed for his sister sells for $22,546 The Beckett Blog __________________ Sign Up For Blowout Emails To Get The Latest Hobby Info And Exclusive Savings!

09-01-2010, 11:05 AM	#2
BAMBAM Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Southern New Jersey Posts: 8,460	Kind of odd how he addressed the photo and signed it as Babe instead of George since it was for his sister. Maybe he was goofing around with her, who knows. __________________ IF YOU CAN'T TAKE AN HONEST REPLY THEN DON'T ASK. ALWAYS BUYING '97 LEGENDS AUTOS OR H.O.F. AUTO NEEDS

09-01-2010, 04:28 PM	#6
jenmatt092007 Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 1,069 matbohle0	How long till it is cut auto?

09-01-2010, 10:00 PM	#8
mwheeler27 Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: NorthEast Kansas Posts: 18,419 mwheeler27 mwheeler27	I don't think anyone will be putting a $22,000 Babe Ruth auto into a cut auto card ever. There are plenty of his autos that can be used that cost a lot less.

09-02-2010, 05:47 PM	#11
aggie4ever Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 6,846 aggie4ever	I agree, the card companies are buying the cheapest autographs they can to make into cut autographs. The only exception is if a player's autograph is normally too big to fit on a card, then a manufacturer might pay more for an unusually small autograph that will fit. But for Ruth autos, they are going to use ones that cost less than $2k most likely. And it seems to me, the quality of cut autos of the most expensive players seem to be going down... most of the Ruths I have seen in the past couple years in Topps and Upper Deck products are either in pencil on a darker background that is harder to see (and thus should sell for less money), or a portion of the auto gets cut off since it was taken from a team signed sheet.