FALL 2012 Auction
Wed, Nov 14, 2012 09:00PM EST - Sun, Dec 2, 2012 12:00PM EST
Lot 614
MOE BERG SIGNED 1946 EUROPEAN TRAIN PASSPORT
Sold for
$2,396.40
Sold Price includes BP
Bid Increments
| Price | Bid Increment |
|---|---|
| $200 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $3,000 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,000 |
| $30,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 | $25,000 |
| $500,000 | $50,000 |
| $1,000,000 | $100,000 |
| $1,500,000 | $150,000 |
Here then is a unique double play of sports and Americana: a super high-grade example of a train passport from the legendary former major leaguer and later spy Moe Berg. A graduate of Princeton and Columbia Law Berg was deemed by none other than Casey Stengel to be "the strangest man in baseball" which was high praise indeed. Berg was perhaps most known for his espionage efforts in the Land of the Rising Sun while touring with the famous 1934 Tour of Japan barnstorming group and in Central Europe prior to World War II. Berg worked for the OSS at that time and worked with various resistance groups and interviewed German nuclear physicists; at the conclusion of the war he would occasionally for the the successor to the OSS the Central Intelligence Agency. The 31/4-by-41/4-inch green train passport is in German and French and it traces its own lineage into the sports memorabilia hobby to the historic sale of the Barry Halper Collection in September of 1999 by Sotheby's in New York City. It includes a small black-and-white photograph of Berg at the top of the page and a red ink signature "Morris Berg" at the bottom. The 24-page passport is in fine condition though one of the green pages (No. 16) is slightly stuck to an adjacent inserted white page near the spine.
Pre-certified by PSA/DNA.
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