Norman Rockwell’s Tough Call study reaches $1.6m

A Norman Rockwell study in oil for Tough Call (1949), one of his best-loved paintings, has sold for an exceptional $1.6m.

The work was originally just valued in excess of $300,000.

Rockwell Tough Call

The consigner originally believed the painting to be a print 

It depicts three baseball umpires figuring out whether to cancel a game due to poor weather. The central figure is “Beans” Reardon, a famous umpire who worked in the National League between 1926 and 1949.

Incredibly, the consignor had owned it for a number of years and had no inkling it was an original painting by Rockwell.

They believed it to be a print, but thought it may be valuable as Rockwell has inscribed: "My best wishes to 'Beans' Reardon, the greatest umpire ever lived, Sincerely, Norman Rockwell."

A jersey baseball legend Lou Gehrig wore during his final season in 1937 achieved a $870,000 - a record for a jersey worn by "The Iron Horse". It's a significant increase on the previous record of $717,000 set by a 1927-1928 jersey in 2013.  

The jersey is the very one he wore in an iconic photograph taken at Yankee Stadium in 1937. The shot was later used for his Monument Park memorial in the grounds of the stadium.

After his retirement, the jersey (complete with Gehrig’s iconic number 4) was given to a Yankees farm team. You can only imagine the arguments over who'd get to wear it.

We have a wonderful selection of sports memorabilia for sale.

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