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1931-32 Ty Cobb Ledger Containing 132 Signed Personal Checks....
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Description
1931-32 Ty Cobb Ledger Containing 132 Signed Personal Checks. In almost a century and a half of Major League Baseball history, just two men have hit safely more than 4,000 times. Neither was the most naturally skilled hitter in history however, perhaps not even of his own respective era. And each battled more than his share of personal demons, one teetering at the very edge of banishment from the game he dominated, the other famously plummeting beyond. Though they played in different leagues and in very different eras, Ty Cobb and Pete Rose were alike at the fundamental core of their greatness- an unrelenting, indefatigable pure force of will.When Ty Cobb grudgingly acknowledged his baseball mortality near the conclusion of the 1928 season, he would turn his attention and single-minded determination to financial pursuits, expanding his personal portfolio to the modern equivalent of $80 million by the time of his passing in 1961. It was the natural progression in a life which had always been structured around an almost pathological aversion to mediocrity, one surely instilled in him by his murdered father who had warned his son as he left for Detroit, just weeks before his own death, "Don't come home a failure."
In the presented lot we can immediately detect that character trait which made Ty Cobb one of the most significant and controversial figures in the history of our national game. Like every pursuit in his life, Cobb undertook the maintenance of his personal checkbook with an unyielding discipline, matching every returned canceled check to the corresponding stub in his ledger, then gluing each into its proper place. On each page of three, the edges are lined up with military precision.
The checkbook was rescued by our consignor's father from a pile of trash built outside Cobb's Georgia home in the immediate aftermath of a fire which all but gutted the structure. Three checks near the front of the book exhibit water damage from the efforts to douse the flames, leaving 129 fully executed checks to survive with only minor handling wear attributable to their intended function. All are filled out entirely in the Hall of Fame legend's hand, each concluding with his formal "Tyrus R. Cobb" authorizing signature. Of these 129, twenty-three are also signed on the reverse by Cobb, typically for checks made out to "Cash," adding an extra element of value and collecting appeal. More than twenty checks are made payable to various members of the Cobb family, most to "Mrs. T.R. Cobb," providing a signature variation of sorts, then another as Cobb entered that information into the proper field on the stub. As such, the occurrence of the hand signed surname "Cobb" approaches 200 within the volume.
While an investment in this highly personal Cobb relic makes good financial sense purely from a mathematical standpoint when considering the sum of its parts, we believe the value as an archive exceeds that total. Cobb checks are one of the hobby's most reliable commodities, the sports collectibles equivalent of bearer bonds, but while they exist with little scarcity, the same certainly cannot be said of a bound volume such as this. We won't hesitate to call it the most intriguing Cobb autograph hoard to surface in the collecting hobby. Full LOA from James Spence Authentication. Full LOA from PSA/DNA.
Note: We expect this lot to come up for auction at approximately 11:15 am Pacific Time. Lots are planned for approximately every 15 minutes but could vary and be faster or slower. Check HA.com/live to track the progress of the auction.
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Please take note:Auction Info
The Great Big American Auction #6065 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
April, 2011
16th
Saturday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 33
Lot Tracking Activity: N/A
Page Views: 9,939
Buyer's Premium per Lot:
19.5% of the successful bid per lot.
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