Description:

Ruth Babe 1895 - 1948 Babe Ruth's personalized hinged sterling silver humidor, a gift from the City of Boston presented to him on his 24th birthday, his last as a member of the Boston Red Sox. Sterling silver cigar humidor, 7.5" x 3.5" x 1". Hinged lid with enameled "BR" and two affixed silver baseball bats: "Babe Ruth" facsimile autograph on one and "Boston Red Sox" on the other. Engraved under the lid: "To The Babe / Happy 24th Birthday / Best wishes, / The City of Boston" Lined in wood inside. Scratches, tarnished. Babe Ruth turned 24 on February 6, 1919.

Accompanied by a glossy 10.25" x 8.25" black & white photograph taken by Underwood & Underwood, originally created/published October 30, 1919, as a 17" x 14" gelatin silver photographic print, originally captioned "George Herman ‘Babe' Ruth, half-length portrait, seated, facing slightly right, rolling a cigar."

This sterling silver humidor was originally in the collection of early baseball items being sold by the collector's widow. The collection also included a "Champions of the Federal League 1914" gold pendant and a 1916 Boston Red Sox oak frame with enameled portraits of 23 players, a gift of the City of Boston to the Red Sox, which were sold at auction within the last year.

In 1918, Babe Ruth had tied for the major league lead with 11 home runs. Waite Hoyt, Ruth's teammate on the Boston Red Sox (1919) and New York Yankees (1921-1930), wrote in "Babe Ruth as I Knew Him," in part, "After he hit his twenty-sixth homer [in 1919], and seemed likely to tie and pass all major league marks in that department of slugging, the City of Boston, in co-operation with the Knights of Columbus, decided to give him a ‘day.' September 20th, 1919, was the day set aside for the honoring of the big, overgrown youngster who was standing the baseball world on its ears…" The "Boston Daily Globe" reported on September 20th that "each player will be presented a box of cigars by Pere Marquette Council" of Knights of Columbus, South Boston, of which Babe Ruth was a member. Babe Ruth already had this personalized humidior to house his cigars.

On January 5, 1920, 3½ months later, the New York Yankees announced its purchase of the heavy-hitting outfielder George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for $125,000 in cash and about $300,000 in loans which Boston owner Harry Frazee reportedly used to finance his Broadway production interests. The rest is baseball history…

On September 30, 1932, Ruth was presented with another silver jacketed cigar humidor as the Yankees left New York for Game 3 of the World Series in Chicago. It was to commemorate his participation in his tenth World Series; it was also his last World Series. The next day at Wrigley Field, Ruth hit his "called shot" home run off Cubs' pitcher Charlie Root, his last World Series HR.

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Bid Increments
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$100 $299 $20
$300 $499 $25
$500 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $2,999 $200
$3,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 + $5,000