This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/21/2017
This is one of four 1935 Pebble Beach Clothiers postcards that were recently discovered in a northern California estate are being presented here for the first time publicly. An accompanying letter sheds some light onto the distribution and promotional use of these postcards. The May 4, 1935 letter from San Francisco radio personality Ernie Smith describes a redemption offer for these “personally signed pictures” in exchange for “a band from a Pebble Beach necktie.” Highlighting this discovery is an astonishingly high grade example of the issue’s key rarity, Joe DiMaggio and an equally preserved example of issue’s second most coveted gem Lefty O’Doul. Both indisputably stand as the finest of the few know examples respectively that have surfaced to date.
The small series of (seven known) postcards produced by Bay Area clothing retailer Pebble Beach Clothiers in 1935 features selected players from the three Bay Area PCL teams (the Oakland Oaks, Mission Reds, and San Francisco Seals) as well as other notable Bay Area sports figures. These 3-1/2” x 5-1/2” cards feature real photographic fronts with typical postcard indicia on backs and were distributed already autographed by the featured player. The series is among the rarest PCL issues known. Offered is a sample of Lefty O'Doul, one of the Pacific Coast League’s greatest legends. O'Doul flawlessly signed in black fountain pen, rating a MINT 9 according to the experts at PSA/DNA. The medium itself is equally strong with astonishing visual quality and hardly a trace of evident handling. This newly discovered item is a PCL card collectors “white whale”.
Encapsulated by PSA/DNA MINT 9 (auto.)