One of the hobby’s high-end collectors has chosen Legendary Auctions, a premier Sports & Americana auction house, to exclusively conduct the sale of more than 3 million incredible images of Sports and Americana. The extraordinary collection of photographs spans numerous decades, and includes significant figures from various sports, poignant scenes from the turn of the century, entertainment icons, and other notable individuals and events in history including the Civil Rights movement. The massive photograph collection will be sold in several upcoming Legendary Auctions events, with the first scheduled to open for bidding on Monday, September 8 and close on Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30.
Doug Allen, president and CEO of Legendary Auctions, said he expects bidding and overall interest on the photographs to be high. “Photography has really found its place in collecting,” said Allen. “It is a relatively new niche that has just taken off. We have seen the prices realized on high-quality photos such as the ones we will be offering climb steadily during the last few years.”
While some attribute the appeal of collecting photography to nostalgia, Allen suspects that a much more contemporary trend may be at play. “We live in such a visual age, with an insistence on immediacy,” said Allen. “The need to ‘see’ instantly is paramount to how we work and enjoy our leisure time. Vintage photographs satisfy a collector’s desire to peer directly into the subject’s past. It’s the immediate pay-off that is so in line with how we live today.”
According to Allen, the origins of the tremendous photo collection include several major media print archives. Consequently, the collection includes numerous wire photos and frames that capture significant historical moments. “Buyers will be blown away by the quality and content of these photos,” said Allen.
The first auction featuring the photographs will include famous images from the archives of the Detroit News and Sport Magazine, as well as those framed by noted snapshot artists Charles Conlon, Barney Stein and Ansel Adams.
Allen said that what is most exciting about the photographs is the diversity of their subjects. “In one group you’ll find icons of baseball, in another pile there are stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood. And then you’ll turn over another photo and it is the frame that captured the moment right after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on the balcony of the motel in Memphis. Collectively, the photos really are the proverbial ‘snapshot’ of the American experience,” said Allen.
With such inherent variety evident in the photos’ content, Allen expects there to be widespread interest in the photography auctions. “Realistically, no matter what someone collects, there is bound to be a pertinent photo in this September sale,” said Allen. “The sheer number of great photos available almost guarantees it.”
Because of the quantity of photographs Legendary Auctions will be selling in the coming months, the company will be developing an eBay presence, Legendary Photos, to further accommodate the sale of some of the more affordable images in the wide-ranging collection. “Typically, a photo in a regular Legendary Auction may run in the thousands,” said Allen. “Through Legendary Photos on eBay, still amazing but less pricey images will be available for a couple hundred dollars. The utilization of the eBay outlet will simply broaden the appeal and availability of these incredible photos and ensure that they all find their way into collections.”
Additional details regarding the upcoming photographs in subsequent photo auctions will be released during the next few months. For additional details regarding the Legendary Auctions September Photo Auction or for the soon-to-be-implemented Legendary Photos on ebay, or to pre-register to bid, call Legendary Auctions at 708-889-9380 or go to www.legendaryauctions.com
About Legendary Auctions
Legendary Auctions, headquartered in Lansing, IL, is a premier auction house that specializes in bringing the finest Sports and Americana memorabilia to the collecting public. During the past decade, the company’s principals have managed the sale of over $300 million in historical collectibles and overseen the auction of newsworthy items such as the most expensive baseball card sold publicly, the most expensive non-Hall of Fame baseball jersey, the “Bartman” baseball, Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak bat, Mickey Mantle’s 1961 61 home run season jersey, and the bus on which Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat. Legendary Auctions conducts several sales annually in a combination of phone/internet and live auction events.
