The American National Game of Baseball

Q My family has an original print titled ”The American National Game of Baseball,” ”Grand Match for the Championship at the Elysian Fields Hoboken, N.J.” I searched your pricing guide and did not see this print. How can we determine its value?

A From 1857 to 1907, the Currier & Ives Company produced and sold over 10 million ”colored engravings for the people” in thousands of subjects. In August 1865, the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn won a baseball championship, defeating the Mutual Club of Manhattan by 13-12 at the Elysian Fields in Hoboken, N.J. This scene was the subject of an 1866 Currier & Ives print titled ”The American National Game of Baseball.” Many reprints of Currier & Ives prints have been made and this classic baseball scene has been reproduced in great numbers. If you believe your print is an original, you can have your print evaluated by a specialist. Start by looking at your print with a powerful magnifying glass or a jeweler’s loop. If you see tiny spaced dots, the print is a ”photolithographic” reproduction. Currier & Ives made all their prints in black and white and employed artisans to hand color them. In 1991, $44,000 was the winning bid at auction for the full folio size of this baseball print. Repros, particularly the 1930s lithograph by S.Z. Lucas, sell for $25 to about $175.