Fischer Memorabilia

We're into the summer doldrums on Top eBay Chess Items by Price. Since my previous post, Red and Yellow Speed Wheels Included, the only unusual items that hadn't been covered in previous posts were a 'Lego Castle Giant Chess Set' that sold for US $500 and a gold coin 'ARMENIA GOLD 8.6 gr. 22kt COIN 2006 37th Chess Olympiad' that sold for US $750. I just couldn't whip up the enthusiasm to feature another chess set and last year I posted about a different Olympiad gold coin in Real Olympiad Gold.

What to do? While I was scrolling through eBay's closed listings, I noticed there were a large number of Fischer items. Why not do a post on those? The results are pictured below in descending order of price using the same software I mentioned in The Longest Sidebar. It's a great tool for capturing long web pages.

Since the items are reduced to a size rendering the text nearly unreadable, I'll step through them. The top line shows autographed postal covers. The first item on the line includes a signed cover from the 1972 match, a coin set, and a couple of tickets to the match. The lot sold for $2945, probably because of the gold coin and the cover. The coins are not the same type mentioned in Gold for Fischer - Spassky. Here they show Fischer wearing laurel, a curious tradition I once documented in Where's Smyslov?.

The second and third covers on the top line are from the 1971 Candidate matches against Taimanov and Larsen, respectively. The Taimanov cover received 40 bids and sold for $897. The Larsen cover received fewer bids and likewise sold for somewhat less. The seller noted against both covers that they were 'also autographed by two other unknown persons', the same signatures appearing on both covers. One of the signatures appears to be Larsen's. Could the other be Taimanov's? If so, what were the circumstances surrounding the signing?

The second line shows more Fischer autographs. The most unusual is the second (middle) item. It was signed by all of the competitors at the 1962 Curacao Candidate tournament, received 12 bids, and sold for $667.89. The description mentioned,

THIS LOT CONSIST OF A LETTER SEND TO VAN VOLKHOVEN FROM THE NETHERLANDS SIGNED BY THE TOURNEMENT CHAIRMAN THANKING HIM FOR HIS COLABORATION ON THE ORGANISATION. AS A "THANK YOU-TOKEN" ALL THE PLAYERS SIGNED THE SPECIAL STAMPS CARD WHICH THE CHAIRMAN REFERS TO IN HIS LETTER.

The last line shows a number of press photos. They all sold for a little over $100. A few other photos that I cropped out sold for a little under $100. That appears to be the current approximate value of a genuine Fischer photo.

Incidentally, if you search for 'Fischer Memorabilia' elsewhere on the web, you'll find all sorts of people who have nothing to do with chess.