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There have been two recent auctions of documents with chess autographs:
- The online description - A postcard from the Candidates Tournament Bled/Zagreb 1959 with the signatures of all eight players. On the front are caricatures of the players and on the back the signatures of Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Pal Benko, Svetozar Gligorich, Helgi Olafsson and Bobby Fischer.
The card was sent on 23.10.1959 from an unknown professor in Belgrade to the Wagner family in Graz, Austria.
One thing that puzzles me is that Olafsson’s first name is Fridrik. A Helgi Olafsson does exist – he is an Icelandic grandmaster, born in 1956. A typo by the seller?
The auction closed July 22, 2013 on eBay.de There were 27 bids and the winner got the item for 602.8 euros which is $820 CND.
- The online description - CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 1904, Sheet with this inscription by Emanuel Lasker: "To the niece of the nicest lady in the world, 29th April 1904" with these autographs: Emanuel Lasker, H. N. Pillsbury, J. Mieses, Georg Marco, M Tschigorin, Carl Schlechter, D. Janowsky, Jackson W. Showalter, R. Teichmann, F. J. Marshall. It appears that this part of the page, possibly with the signatures of the rest of the players such as Barry, Napier, etc. has been torn off. This item was included in the Lawson Collection. It very likely was bought from Dr. Buschke by Lawson.
This was sold at a dealer’s auction on July 24, 2013 for $2500 US.
You’ll recall that Dr. Albrecht Buschke (1904 – 1986) was, for a forty-year period, the leading chess book dealer in the United States.
David Lawson (1886-1980) wrote “Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess”. Lawson was nearly 90 years old when the book was released in 1976. A paperback edition is still in print and available.
A nice bit of chess history on two pieces of paper.
- The online description - A postcard from the Candidates Tournament Bled/Zagreb 1959 with the signatures of all eight players. On the front are caricatures of the players and on the back the signatures of Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, Tigran Petrosian, Vasily Smyslov, Pal Benko, Svetozar Gligorich, Helgi Olafsson and Bobby Fischer.
The card was sent on 23.10.1959 from an unknown professor in Belgrade to the Wagner family in Graz, Austria.
One thing that puzzles me is that Olafsson’s first name is Fridrik. A Helgi Olafsson does exist – he is an Icelandic grandmaster, born in 1956. A typo by the seller?
The auction closed July 22, 2013 on eBay.de There were 27 bids and the winner got the item for 602.8 euros which is $820 CND.
- The online description - CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS 1904, Sheet with this inscription by Emanuel Lasker: "To the niece of the nicest lady in the world, 29th April 1904" with these autographs: Emanuel Lasker, H. N. Pillsbury, J. Mieses, Georg Marco, M Tschigorin, Carl Schlechter, D. Janowsky, Jackson W. Showalter, R. Teichmann, F. J. Marshall. It appears that this part of the page, possibly with the signatures of the rest of the players such as Barry, Napier, etc. has been torn off. This item was included in the Lawson Collection. It very likely was bought from Dr. Buschke by Lawson.
This was sold at a dealer’s auction on July 24, 2013 for $2500 US.
You’ll recall that Dr. Albrecht Buschke (1904 – 1986) was, for a forty-year period, the leading chess book dealer in the United States.
David Lawson (1886-1980) wrote “Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess”. Lawson was nearly 90 years old when the book was released in 1976. A paperback edition is still in print and available.
A nice bit of chess history on two pieces of paper.
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