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Lot # 1244: 1892 Olympic Club Boxing Ticket Collection - Sourced from Olympic Club Boxing Instructor (9)

Starting Bid: $1,500.00

Bids: 1 (Bid History)

Time Left: Auction closed
Lot / Auction Closed




This lot is closed. Bidding is not allowed.

Item was in Auction "2023 Summer Classic",
which ran from 7/16/2023 7:00 PM to
8/5/2023 10:00 PM



Displayed is a fascinating 1892 Olympic Boxing Club collection of rare tickets. The Olympic Club was a private athletic and social venue in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an arena that sat 10,000. Near the end of the 1800s, the Olympic Club became the Mecca for boxing in the United States. The collection consists of nine (9) tickets. 1) Four of the tickets are to the March 2nd match at the Olympic Club between Peter Maher, the Champion Heavyweight of Ireland, and Robert Fitzsimmons, the Champion Middleweight of the World. These tickets sold for $5, which would be roughly $130 today. One of the tickets measures 4.9x5.1", and that includes an approx. 1.1x2.9" perforated section that served as a coupon for a prize drawing after the bout. The coupon had been removed and then reattached with clear tape at the spot from which it was detached at the perforation. The other three Maher/Fitzsimmons tickets do not have the initially attached coupon. Fitzsimmons won the fight by beating Maher in 12 rounds. 2) Three of the tickets are for the Monday, September 5th, fight between Billy Myer and Jack McAuliffe for the Lightweight Championship of the World. This fight was a part of the three day "Fistic Festival" that featured a World Championship fight at the Olympic Club on three consecutive dates, from September 5-7, 1892. These tickets measure approx. 2.5x5". The ducats tout the fight as a "Grand Glove Contest" with a purse of $10,000.00. McAuliffe won the fight with a knockout in the 15th round. One of the tickets has a clipped corner and the other ticket has a pair of clipped corners. 3) The collection contains two (2) tickets (measuring 3x4.25") to the Tuesday, September 6th Featherweight Championship of the World fight between George Dixon and Jack Skelly. The tickets cost $5, and the fight was for a purse of $7,500. The tickets advertise the fight as a "Grand Glove Contest." Dixon, an African American fighter, was called by Nat Fleisher, the founder of Ring Magazine, the greatest featherweight boxer of all time, and Dixon knocked out Skelly in the 8th round. Each of the aforementioned two tickets has wear and minor paper loss around the edges. The third day of the Olympic Club Fistic Carnival included the World Heavyweight Championship fight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and John L. Sullivan. Corbett took the World Heavyweight title by knocking out Sullivan, for Sullivan's only loss, in the 21st round. Tickets for the Corbett/Sullivan fight are not included. The nine included tickets all show varying degrees of the foxing and darkening to be expected from tickets that are 130 years old, but the tickets are in excellent condition, considering their age. The tickets are sourced from Robert L. Curry, a boxing instructor at the Olympic Club, and a locally respected and well-known instructor in the New Orleans area. The tickets have been passed down through generations within the family. These scarce tickets are wonderful mementos of the famous vintage boxing at the Olympic Club.

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