Feb 21, 2019 - Sale 2499

Sale 2499 - Lot 322

Price Realized: $ 1,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
(FEMALE WRESTLING)
Three complete sets (with more than 200 photographs) of women's wrestling from the visionary company California Amazon, founded by Juldell du Long, featuring her and other figures.
The sets include Judell du Long vs. Linda Schultz (59 silver prints in the series + one duplicate and an extra photograph, 1974), Nancy Lee Skarvan vs. Susan Skarvan (80 photographs in the series, 1978), and Liz Meles vs. Cindy Brooks (70 in the series and one extra photograph, 1979). Each set is accompanied by the original colorful description of the fight with image-by-image captions (the first is a first-person narrative by du Long). Silver (61) and chromogenic prints, the images each measuring approximately 5x3 1/2 inches (12.7x8.9 cm.), and the reverse, each with a number in the negative (or occasionally hand-applied), the "extra" prints with one of du Long's hand stamps and the first with her notations, in ink. 1974-79

Additional Details



The descriptions of the fights are compelling. Each begins with the wrestler stats, including age, height, and weight. The texts are up to six pages long, and include a shot-by-shot description of what is happening in the images. "They each wanted it and they each came to request it," begins the narrative of the fight between Liz Meles and Cindy Brooks. "These two women seemed to sense that they had to fight and to a finish. If the 'Most Beautiful Amazon' contest were repeated today it is clear that Liz Meles and Cindy Brooks would dominate the voting. [...] Each seemed to know they had to meet on the mat and settle it. It might not be an old west dusty street but it is the west and only one would get off the mat as the victor and best and each would 'lay it on the line.'"