Ruth Box on Legendary Catalog Cover

[spaldinger]

D. Allen of Legendary called me Sat. and Mon. to discuss the particulars on the Ruth glove box. He said that the top outer box panel; originally missing, has now been replaced with a plain substitute panel. The writing that originally surrounded both sides of Ruths image were filled in and inpainted. Doug said that his understanding was that the restoration did not effect Ruths' face and he did not think that anything had been done to the area surrounding Ruths' mug, except for possibly some cleaning.
I told him that it did appear to me that it had either been restored or cleaned dramatically because it was so much brighter now. I also asked Doug if he knew that this glove did not match its box, and neither did some of the other gloves with boxes from Johns' collection. He said he did not.
After our conversation I did see that Legendary had posted some more details related to the glove and box on their auction site.

[vintagebrett]

Thanks for sharing that. Not knowing that the box and glove don't match is just lazy research. As a buyer or consignor I would hope the auction house would be doing its best to provide an accurate description.

[Mr. Mitt]

Thanks for the information, Jeff.

I can't beleive I didn't see this until just now, but take a look at the auction's rules and faq;

http://legendaryauctions.com/rules.aspx

Specifically, the Lot Ownership Disclosure. Here is a quick cut and paste;


Lot Ownership Disclosure
In the spirit of full disclosure, lots that are owned by the auction house, an auction house employee or an authenticator who also rendered an opinion on the item are listed here. Legendary will offer a 10-day no questions asked return policy on these items (listed by lot number): 718, 797, 839, 913, 917, 918, 923, 930, 931, 933, 936, 951, 953, 961, 969, 974, 986, 995, 1008, 1088, 1116, 1150, 1357, 1460, 1556, 1637, 1671, 1803, 1805, 1862, 1881, 2008, 2024, 2095, 2131, 2233, 2297, 2320, 2538, 2573, 2587, 2595, 2598, 2601, 2607, 2674, 2681, 2693, 2722.


Several glove lots are listed here as being owned by the auction house or one of its emplyees. Interestingly, lot #969, the Spalding Ruth Box, is one of them. Now, we were under the impression this was John's glove and box, restored by Legendary. Did they buy it from John and then restore it? Did they restore it for John and he didn't lke the work, so they assumed the risk on it? Very interesting, indeed. Hopefully one day I can learn the whole story behind it. In any event, since it is listed as a lot owned by the auction house, there is a 10-day return policy. At least that's something.

[Mr. Mitt]

I'm a little slow tonight, but it just dawned on me that Jeff should have gotten a much more detailed response from Doug given that the auction house actually owns the item. I mean, who better than the owner to accurately describe something and itemize exactly what was done in the restoration process. But then again, the owner shouldn't have to be told that the glove doesn't match the box.

[spaldinger]

Mr. Mitt,
Nice heads up on the Legendary auction disclosure! I think your theory is probably right on too. No need to comment on the final auction results, I think they speak for themselves.