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Babe Ruth Red Sox

Looking Back … 1920

REPUBLICAN SENATOR WARREN G. Harding is elected president in the first election in which women have the right to vote in all 48 states. The 1920 Summer Olympics open in Belgium, with the five-rings flag raised at an Olympic Games for the first time. Babe Ruth (above) is traded by the Red Sox to the Yankees for $125,000, the largest sum ever paid for a player at the time. The Cleveland Indians beat the Brooklyn Dodgers (then known as the Robins) in the World Series, and the first organizational meetings to establish the National Football League are held in Ohio.

POLITICAL

Cox-Roosevelt-Club-Jugate-Political-ButtonThe 1920 Democratic National Convention resulted in the nomination of Ohio Gov. James M. Cox for president and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt for vice president. The timing was not right for Roosevelt, and Democrats lost in a landslide to Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. A rare “Cox Roosevelt Club” Jugate Political Button realized $31,070 at a November 2011 Heritage auction.

ILLUSTRATION ART

James Allen St. John Thuvia, Maid of MarsJames Allen St. John (1872-1957) is remembered for the illustrations he did for novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and today he is considered the “Godfather of Modern Fantasy Art.” Thuvia, Maid of Mars is an illustration he completed for Burroughs’ novel of the same title, published by McClurg and Co. The mixed media on board realized $21,510 at a March 2009 auction.

SPORTS

Bobby Jones 1920 Western Golf Association Amateur ChampionshipBobby Jones (1902-1971) has been called the greatest golfer of his era, and perhaps the greatest ever. A medal he received at the 1920 Western Golf Association Amateur Championship realized $33,460 at a November 2011 Heritage auction. Jones would capture all four Major Championships in his last season of 1930.

COINS

1920-S Ten-Dollar Gold PieceWith a mintage of 126,500, the survival rate of the 1920-S Ten-Dollar Gold Piece has been extremely low, with the government systematically melting down gold coins in the late 1930s. Fewer than 125 pieces of this issue have been certified in all grades by PCGS and NGC combined. The finest-known 1920-S Indian Head eagle, graded MS67, realized $1.72 million at a March 2007 auction.

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