Auction Item Details
Lot 211a
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Lot Number: 211a
Description: Extremely scarce 1919 Larry Kopf Cincinnati Reds World Series ring (World Champions defeating “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and the Chicago “Black Sox”). Long considered one of the most coveted of all baseball championship awards dating to a transformational period for its category as one of the first championship rings in the history of American sports. The 1919 Cincinnati Reds emerged as World Champions after defeating the highly favored Chicago White Sox after a national scandal for the latter to throw the World Series. Although the Chicago club tried to reverse their fortunes midway through the series after payment disputes with their gambling co-conspirators its was too late and the Reds captured their first World Series title. The Cincinnati players and manager were presented with an ornate 14K gold pin to commemorate their championship to which very few examples have been documented to survive today. Of that elite population which is believed to number less than five in total there have been three examples which were fashioned into rings including manager Pat Moran and this newly discovered example from shortstop Larry Kopf. The ring displays the top portion of the pin which features an inset diamond within a baseball field having “1919 World’s Champions” lettering encircling. The pin façade was then affixed atop a simple gold ring band with the perimeter of the top being slightly shortened and pin back removed during that same process. The other known examples were all marked with manufacturer’s hallmark of “F.H. Co.” and “14K” both of which are obscured by the ring alteration. Given the direct Kopf family provenance and identical configuration to the other known 1919 Reds World Series pins (and Moran ring) we feel succinctly confident in the attribution that those very same hallmarks are present underneath the existing ring format. The ring presents very nicely with a simplistic elegant design and does exhibit moderate to heavy surface wear as proudly donned by Kopf’s wife Erma for decades after its presentation. Prior to the early to mid-1920s era, rings were not deemed appropriate for men’s sports championships indicative of the social culture of the times associating them more closely with feminine relation thus noting examples such as the two known 1919 Reds World Series rings as scarce exemplars. Kopf played in all eight games of the 1919 World Series scoring three runs and collecting six hits one of which was a triple. The offered ring represents one of the most coveted baseball award scarcities of its type with relation to one of the most infamous events in the history of the game. The ring is being presented to the public for the first time directly by the Kopf family and will be accompanied by a letter of provenance: VGEstimated Price Range: ($25,000-$50,000)
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