Commentary: Geppi's is kind of the new kid on the block, but they are certainly interesting. For starters famed baseball collector Barry Halper is listed in their catalog as a Senior Acquisitions Consultant. Geppi's also owns Morphy's Auctions. Morphy's is one the top auction houses in the world for antique toys, banks and advertising. Apparently Geppi's also owns long established, Hakes Americana and Collectibles. Some of the items in this auction were on display at the 2005 National, and were featured in SportsAntiques101's 2005 National coverage.

Geppi's Fall 2005 auction "ICONS" appears to be made up primarily from two consigners, Toby Weston Cone, daughter of the late boxing collector Stanley Weston, and  entertainment agent Bert Padell. 

The following excerpts on the Stanley Weston collection was taken from the Geppi's website. Go to http://www.gmrs.com/consignor_weston.asp

to read the entire story

Geppi's Memorabilia Road Show is proud to present for auction, perhaps the greatest collection of boxing memorabilia in history. Toby Weston Cone, daughter of the late Stanley Weston, has consigned this legendary 1000+ piece collection which partially comprised the former Boxing Hall of Fame housed at Madison Square Garden's old 8th Avenue location.

Stanley Weston, as a boy in Long Island, started out raking leaves for Nat Fleischer, founder of "The Ring Magazine". Weston later went to work at "The Ring" and eventually served as publisher there. In 1953 Stanley Weston created "Boxing and Wrestling" Magazine. The collection contains many original artifacts from "The Ring” Magazine.

The following excerpts on the Bert Padell collection was taken from the Geppi's website. Go to

http://www.gmrs.com/consignor_padell.asp

to read the entire story. 

Bert Padell was a Yankee batboy in 1949-1950, Casey Stengel's first two seasons, both world championship years. He formed lifelong friendships with players from the time, and went on to become the founding partner in the business management and accounting firm Padell, Nadell, Fine and Weinberger LLP. Known as the "financial advisor to the stars," his clients have included Robert DeNiro, Madonna, Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Talking Heads, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Faye Dunaway, Pink Floyd, Run DMC, Madeline Kahn, Lorraine Bracco, Stanley Tucci, Cyndi Lauper, Earl Monroe, Blondie, Peter Max, Ben Vereen, and many more. He was DiMaggio's business manager for 11 years.

The Padell Collection is one of the hobby's best kept secrets. Seldom seen by the general public, rarely written about, and lovingly assembled for more than a half-century by Mr. Padell, the collection's primary pieces have long been coveted by those with knowledge of the material. Some have compared the treasures to the Barry Halper Collection, which was auctioned in 1999, and Mr. Halper, a senior consultant to Geppi's, has long marveled at the items in the collection.

Geppi's 

ICON 

Auction Overview

by 

Carlton Hendricks

The premier lot of this auction is a January 27, 1916 letter from Jack Johnson exposing the details of how he threw his fight with Jess Willard in their July 14th 1915 fight in Havana Cuba. The letter is Lot No.1, and the item description is not only great reading, but makes the catalog into an important research reference. Lot 43 is a pair of boxing gloves purportedly worn by John L. Sullivan. Lot 42 is a pair 

purportedly worn by James J. Corbett, who took Sullivan's Heavy Weight title from him in 1892. Lot 44 is a punching bag purportedly used in training by John L.Sullivan. 

All three of these items are stated to have been researched by long time boxing aficionado and promoter Craig Hamilton of J.O. Sports. The catalog copy in all three lots state Hamilton found photographic evidence that they resided in The Ring Museum, of Ring Magazine publisher Nat Fleischer. What an interesting three items! Do you understand their potential importance? John L. Sullivan's boxing gloves? James J. Corbett's boxing gloves? Excuse me? In the annals of boxing collecting I don't think I've ever heard of anything as important offered. I mean where do you go from John L. Sullivan's boxing gloves? On one hand, I don't read anything in the descriptions about documentation or letters from Fleischer or other parties of Sullivan's era  that detail the circumstances of how or where, or from whom they were acquired. On the other hand, I suppose if anyone would have had access to items of their caliber it would have been Nat Fleischer. I'll tell ya what, if those are John L. Sullivan's gloves they should be on the cover of the catalog, not to mention CNN. In all seriousness I think they should be tested for Sullivan's DNA if such a test is possible.

Getting back to the rest of the auction, there's just an absolute ton of incredible stuff throughout the whole 237 pages of the catalog. I'll just skim the highlights in this written part, then give you a list with links below of my favorites. 

There are page after page of boxing gloves of many famous boxers. Lot 28 thru 36 are all fantastic square silks. Programs, tickets, original art work galore, plaster fist casts, presentation walking canes. Lot 7 is a very advanced and important piece, a  decorative metal sculptured presentation belt awarded to English boxer Jim Mace in 1861. Lot 80, Joe Louis ring worn boxing trunks. Great purple color that would display very well. Lots 174 and 175, Rocky Marciano's gloves and trunks, wow. 

Regretfully there are no statues or great early site poster broadsides, which are my hot buttons. I'll end with one of my favorite pieces in the auction. Lot No. 23, which was on display at the 2005 National this last summer, and that I featured in my coverage, an incredible 5" wide by 16" tall silk banner that James J. Corbett gave to a friend, which details his victory over John L. Sullivan on September 7 1892 at the Olympic Club in New Orleans. Long time boxing collector and expert John Buonaguidi told me he'd never seen it before!