(ENTERTAINMENT) Very early signed photograph of Paul Robeson

Sale 2631 - Lot 192

Price Realized: $ 2,000

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800

(ENTERTAINMENT.) Very early signed photograph of Paul Robeson as a college student. Photograph, 9 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches, with embossed studio stamp in lower border, signed and inscribed in image "Yours in Ø.B.K., Paul L. Robeson, 'Roby'"; in original studio folder, minimal wear. New York: White Studio, circa 1919

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Additional Details

This photograph dates from Robeson's days as a Rutgers University undergraduate, where he was the school's only Black student. It is apparently inscribed to a fellow member of Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society to which he was accepted as a junior in 1918. We are not aware of any earlier Robeson material at auction, or any other signatures using his middle initial or college nickname Roby.