GUEST: I brought a collection
of boxing cards that I found
in a rental unit about 20 years
ago. The renters had left, and
other renters came in, and maybe
two or three down the road,
they found them back in
the back of the closet.
APPRAISER: They were
basically abandoned.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: Then to
your possession.
GUEST: Yeah, right.
APPRAISER: Well, what we have
here are four beautiful examples
of early 1900s real-photo
postcards. These were actually
printed with the intention of
being mailed. The nice thing
we have here today is that,
from the backs of these,
none of these were mailed.
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: So what we have here
today are the three different
boxers in four postcards.
On the top two, both are of Jack
Johnson, first African-American
world champion in 1908.
And then Peter Jackson, the
closest to you on the bottom.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: He was the Australian
champion. Then we come down
to the lowest one next to
me, and that's Jim Jeffries.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Jim Jeffries was also
an American world championship
boxer. In 1910, Jim Jeffries
comes out of retirement,
far past his peak.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: Comes out of
retirement to fight Jack
Johnson strictly for
the purpose of showing
that the white man's a better
boxer. And in 15 rounds, he
was defeated by Jack Johnson.
On the one closest to you,
Peter Jackson, Australian
world championship. In 1891, he
went up against James Corbett.
I don't know if you heard
about that fight. That fight
was stopped in the 61st round
when the referee decided there
just will not be a winner in
this fight. The 61st round.
GUEST: 61st...
APPRAISER: And I saw
some reports that
said the 64th round.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: In fact, there
was a little label with yours
that said, "64th round."
GUEST: Right.
APPRAISER: My research
says the 61st round.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: But, still,
that's remarkable.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: These are all between
approximately 1908 to 1912 or
so. Some really great examples
of early boxing history right
here. Have you ever had these
appraised or... Have you offered
them to anybody before?
GUEST: I had a whole-- a
collection of them. They
offered me $150 for all of them.
APPRAISER: For all of
them that... All of them.
GUEST: Yeah, that I have.
APPRAISER: Well, it's a good
thing you didn't take that
offer. That was a good move. So
we'll start with the
Jack Johnson closest
to me. I have not seen
that real-photo postcard
of Jack Johnson before.
That one I would expect
to sell at auction for
$1,000 to $1,500, for
that one alone.
GUEST: Okay.
APPRAISER: The other Jack
Johnson image, of him getting
ready for the punch, I've seen
that one trade hands before at
auction. About $500 for that
one. The Peter Jackson, I've
also seen that postcard come
up before. That one, again,
would sell at auction for $500
or so. The Jim Jeffries on
the bottom, I've not seen that
one before. That's likely a
one-of-a-kind or
never-before-seen image.
This is, somebody took
that, obviously, where
he's either in training,
beginning of training, or
even just simulating training.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: That one I would
say, at auction, $300 to $500.
GUEST: Okay.