Babe Ruth Auction to Benefit Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/6/2016
Here's an incredible representation of career-contemporary, vintage souvenirs inspired by famed slugger Babe Ruth. These scarce pieces were promotional items sponsored by Quaker Oats during the company's mid-1930s endorsement agreement with the American icon. This all-different assembly incorporates pinback and cloth pieces, a figural belt buckle, and score-keeping devices in three configurations. All of the delicate and condition-sensitive souvenirs reflect nicely preserved attributes except as noted. The array includes: Babe Ruth Figural Belt Buckle - Slide-type, with Ruth bust, bat/ball design, and engraved facsimile signature, made by Harris Belts, 1-1/16" x 1-7/8"; Babe Ruth "Member - Baseball Club" Pin - Distributed only in conjunction with the cereal maker's promotional offer, this extremely scarce, 7/8"-diameter pinback displays a crystal-clear image of the baseball hero; Babe Ruth Round Umpires Scorer Premiums (2 Different) - Distributed only as premiums by the Quaker Oats cereal company in 1935, here are both varieties of these highly desirable fobs. These intriguing and very scarce novelties, with their dominating black-and-white photographs of Babe Ruth (in a smiling portrait pose made famous by a number of the period's pinbacks), facilitated the tracking of a game's progress in handy fashion. This is a very attractive pair of the clever scorekeeping devices, each designed to be fastened to a fan's watch fob by means of a slotted, protruding tab. These 1-3/4"-diameter celluloid delights are backed with a colorful ballfield layout, and each has five thumbwheels operated from the edges. They enabled the recording of Home and Visitors' Runs, Balls, Strikes and Innings and both are fully functional. The two are nearly identical except for ballcap logos tracking the Bambino's departure from the New York Yankees late in that campaign, and his subsequent employment with the Boston Braves. The New York Yankees variety is much more rare and is seldom seen. Both of the items' protruding watch fob tabs are remarkably intact. (The Yankees example displays a horizontal center crack with associated scuffing on the obverse surface.); "Babe Ruth Base Ball Scorer" - A rectangular, horizontally oriented version of the promotion's round scoring device, this item operates on the same principle: individual dials at the piece's edges facilitated the recording of Balls, Strikes, Outs, "Visitors Runs" and "Home Team Runs." Illustrations of Quaker's "Puffed Wheat" and "Puffed Rice" cereal boxes are printed in blue on the scorer's reverse side; Babe Ruth Cloth Patch - The unmistakable flowing script of Babe Ruth's autograph is faithfully reproduced at the center of this diamond-shaped, embroidered cloth patch that was ideal for decorating a shirt or jacket. Goldin Auctions will be donating 5% of the winning bid price of this lot and all lots in this auction to the Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum.