nteresting sports antiques come in the good, the bad, and the ugly...this one's ugly...But very interesting based on the accounts in the newspaper clipping below from the Lewiston Evening Journal of Lewiston Maine; which I was lucky enough to uncover. Until I got this poster I had never heard of Rudolph Santell...In the article we learn he was the "Middleweight Strongman Champion Of The World" at the time of the printing January 25th 1905. The third paragraph says a lot...QUOTE: "Recently a contest was held in England with Eugene Sandow as judge. The tournament was won by Santell by 57 points in the presence of 20,000 people. A Challenge was sent to Sandell, but he has never accepted."...UNQUOTE: Pretty interesting...Anyone who knows their strongman history knows who Eugene Sandow was...and so from the article we glean Santell was a contemporary of Sandow, and obviously they were at least  acquaintances if not friends...Without being familiar with the point system used, the 57 point spread isn't exactly clear...but it sounds good and perhaps could have been a world record. And the 20,000 attendance seems remarkable...According to ESPN the 4th ranked New York Jets are averaging 78,160 per game this year 2014...So back in 1905 in England 20,000 for a weightlifting event seems pretty good...

I just got this little poster in the mail and now that I can examine it in person and research it I’m very glad I got it…It sat on eBay with a BIN of I think $150 for forever…It was just too ravaged to get involved at that price…so it sat in my watch list for it must have been two years…Then the price got down to $100 BIN or best offer… and it still sat there….apparently no one wanted it enough to even make an offer….Then one night recently I started looking at it again…First of all I’m wild for these kinds of simple broadside posters…They pack a lot of punch…that is they held a lot of influence drawing crowds to events…And I like them for their strictly utilitarian nature…the fact they weren’t frilly and made to be collected…they had a job to do and after that it was to the trash bin…I sort of feel it’s a privilege to own one because they were supposed to have been discarded.

As I revisited and pondered it…it occurred to me I had never seen an early strongman exhibition broadside before…Then it occurred to me not only was it a rare example of a strongman poster but it was American...ho'yeah come to papa!!...then I started taking it serious…It was torn tapped and chipped but the three images were all intact and looked great…Then I found the email exchange I had with the seller back in March of this year:

Subject: Other: RARE ORIGINAL 1910 HARD POSTER PRINT of "THE GREAT SANTELL”
Sent Date: Mar-11-14 23:31:18 PDT
Hi, Boy that is one beat up poster...so it's missing two corners?...I've had it in my watch list forever...I was thinking of maybe making an offer...what are the dimensions?...What is written along the top? something about a theater?....do you know where it's been the last 100 years? Thanks
Carlton of SportsAntiques.com

Subject: Other: RARE ORIGINAL 1910 HARD POSTER PRINT of "THE GREAT SANTELL”
Sent Date: Mar-12-14 4:22:27 PDT
Thank you for your interest. poster size is 11" down x 14" across. I rescued it from abandoned building under renovation. took place at theater. I do hope you will rescue from me. it needs to be in better hands

A little later the seller sent me a reminder that he was open to offers…but I didn’t reply…So remembering all that... on Tuesday, November 11, 2014 12:23 AM I sent the seller a $25.00 offer…by 5:41 AM the same day the seller countered with $50.00…the shipping from Louisiana was $11.99 so I subtracted $11.99 from the $50 and countered back with $38.01…and boom he took my offer…setting the record for my least expensive Sports Antique of the Week!...

Phew…is it beat up or what…but I could hardly care less…I actually like the condition…It leaves absolutely zero suspicion it’s a repop…you know 100% it’s real!

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