![Marilyn Monroe handwritten letter and envelope to her sister Bernice c. 1948 [detail]. Photo © SCP Auctions](https://images.prismic.io/barnebys/b4611e8d-36fd-4794-89c5-645a537a756a_Cover.jpg?auto=format,compress)
From 17 March to 3 April, SCP Auctions is offering a collection of ultra-rare sports and entertainment memorabilia owned by Al Tapper, a passionate American collector. Spanning nearly a century of American history, beginning with the original home plate from Yankee Stadium in 1923, the collection is represented by 50 lots within the 370-lot sale.
"My interest in history dates to my grammar school [secondary school] days, so I decided to start a unique and historical collection which I titled, 'One of a Kind'," says Al Tapper. "The collection did not have to be filled with politics, or entertainment, or sports. It just needed to be comprised of items that fit the bill of, 'One of a Kind'."
Here are some of the one-of-a-kind highlights waiting to be discovered.
For baseball fans, this Yankee Stadium home plate holds over 50 years of baseball history and is one of many premier lots in the sale. Over twenty World Series’ and four All-Star Games were played with this plate as the centrepiece and it certainly came in contact with the cleats of legends like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle. Installed just before Opening Day in 1923, the plate remained intact until renovations were undertaken on the ageing stadium in the mid-1970s.
The letter that started Tapper's collection was discovered at Sotheby's twenty years ago. There, Tapper says he was "immediately mesmerized by a letter written by Jackie Kennedy in 1959 to Evelyn Lincoln... Jack Kennedy’s secretary." The note begins “Dear Mrs. Lincoln, Here are two bills which I have been dreading to show Jack for months… Please try your best to slip them in without his noticing.” At this point, the Massachusetts senator had not yet announced his run for presidency, and the couple lived in Georgetown.
A letter with a fascinating back story is one written by Marilyn Monroe to her half-sister, whom she didn't know about until she was twelve. Written when she was twenty-two and on the cusp of worldwide fame, Monroe addresses the letter to “My Dearest Sister“ and begins with an apology: "I've started at least a dozen letters to you dear but something always seems to come up to keep me from finishing them... I almost took a trip to Fla. but I've just signed a new contract and can't get away right now.” Monroe grew up in an unstable home in LA as a ward of the state after the hospitalisation of her mother from mental illness. She wrote this letter just as her Columbia Pictures contract was under negotiation, which later propelled her to icon status.
Another revealing letter is one written by Babe Ruth to his mistress in 1922. Although Ruth was a serial philanderer, little is actually known about the specifics of his extramarital affairs, which makes this lot extra rare. Written on the letterhead of the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, it is addressed “Dear Nell” and reads, “Very sorry but my wife jumped over on me without me knowing it this is the first time she ever did that she is watching me so don’t get mad and I will see you Monday night. The club is watching so the only way I will be able to see you all night is for you to stop in at the Aldine Hotel and I can see you. Babe."
Other important letters in the sale are handwritten by Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Mario Puzo (The Godfather), Clark Gable and Mickey Mantle.
One of Hollywood's great love affairs was the clandestine, twenty-six-year relationship between Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, who co-starred in nine films together. Since Tracy was married, few details existed about their affair until the death of Tracy's wife in 1983, years after Tracy's own death in 1967. Hepburn later wrote, "It was a unique feeling that I had for [Tracy]. I would have done anything for him." In 1960, Hepburn painted a double portrait of her with Tracy in watercolour and ink on paper, showing their lined profiles and serious, focused expressions. This drawing comes from the Sotheby's sale of Hepburn's estate in 2004.
Arguably America's most famous football coach, Knute Rockne coached at the University of Notre Dame and led the team to 105 wins and three national championships between 1914-30. When he died tragically in a plane crash in 1931, his death was considered a national loss and his funeral was broadcast live. Here are his personally owned rosary beads and cross that were found at the scene of the plane crash in 1931, clutched in his hands.
Discover these treasures and much more between 17 March and 3 April at SCP Auctions.