Mar 10, 2020 - Sale 2533

Sale 2533 - Lot 246

Price Realized: $ 812
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
(TRAVEL.) Album of photographs and ephemera from a cross-country motorcycle trip to California. 187 items on 92 scrapbook pages, including 24 manuscript items, 91 original photographs (most about 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches), 64 pieces of ephemera, 6 newspaper clippings, and 2 original watercolor paintings. Oblong 8vo, 7 x 10 inches, original string-bound limp calf album, minor wear; minimal wear to contents, a very small number of items apparently missing. Vp, 1928-29
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Additional Details

The journal was kept by Alfred Zantzinger "Tony" Baker Jr. (1907-1987), who was raised in New Jersey, son of one popular illustrator, and grandson of another (Peter Newell). He was an aspiring artist himself. In the mid-1920s, he relocated to Locust Place (now 41st Road) in the Little Neck neighborhood of Queens. As this album documents, in July 1928 he bought a new Harley Davison motorcycle (the receipt begins the scrapbook), and then set out westward the following summer. Among the cross-county stops which can be documented are St. Louis, MO; Taos, NM; and the Grand Canyon, AZ. Most of the album documents his time in California from August to October 1929, including stops in Los Angeles, San Diego, the Huntington Library and Gardens (with admission ticket and map of the grounds), San Francisco, and Yosemite Park. He then sold his motorcycle (a clipping of his newspaper classified ad is included), and the final leg of the journey was by ship via the Panama Canal.
Many of the photographs show Baker and his ride, as well as the majestic scenery he found along the way. They are interspersed with tourist ephemera he collected, including local maps, theater tickets, national park brochures, and postcards, as well as receipts for repairs, travel documents, and his membership card in the American Motorcycle Association. On the ship home, he added two attractive watercolors (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches) of his room and of a sunset. Baker was already on his way home when Wall Street crashed, bringing this age of optimism to a close.