The Bobby O'Neill Sports Collection
Lot 1046:
Description
Title: Babe Ruth – HOF Bronze Bust
Bust Material: Cold Cast Bronze
Bust Produced By: TLA Manufacturing – Conway Missouri
Bust Base: Custom made, tiered, green with gold flecked Italian marble base
Bust Info Plate: Mounted plate includes New York Yankees logo, Babe Ruth’s name and Hall of Fame Induction date, as well as the official MLB Hall of Fame and Museum logo.
Rear Bust Edition Plate: Final bust produced from molds (before destruction) with a final Edition Number 14/14.
Bust & Base Total Weight: 59 pounds
Date of Final Ruth Bust Production: Thursday July 1st, 2004
Date of Mold Permanent Destruction by TLA: July 5th, 2004
Additional Description: This series of life-size bronze busts was commissioned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum around 1996. Although sculpture artist Palmer Murphy was commissioned to produce up to 550 total HOF special edition pieces (per player), the actual number of busts produced through the Hall of Fame series was extremely low. Antiques Road Show has wrongly misstated the correct number for years. This bust represents the final HOF Babe Ruth bust ever made from the original molds and tooling. There is only one other collector known to have the complete set of all five HOF busts, including: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson. This Babe Ruth bust will be included in a complete set, with the other four. Extremely rare and highly desirable set !!
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