EDITOR’S NOTE: Author Ron Cobb is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Ga.
There was a flurry of news articles in July 2022 when a set of dentures showed up in an SCP Auction that were said to have been personally owned and worn by baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb. The dentures sold for $18,840 in September 2022. SCP Auctions enticed potential bidders with this description of the item: “Offered here is one of the most unique pieces of sports memorabilia you will find in the hobby: The Georgia Peach’s personally used dentures. The upper and lower dentures come with Cobb’s original plaster denture holder and brass opening device. Originally sourced from the collection of Cobb’s biographer Al Stump, our consignor acquired them in the famous Barry Halper sale back in 1999 and has owned them ever since. At one point, Cobb’s famous jaws were loaned to the Baseball Hall of Fame where they were displayed in the museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. This incredible, one-of-a-kind artifact has been preserved in immaculate condition since Cobb’s death in 1961. These dentures have been featured on The History Channel’s ‘Lost and Found,’ ESPN’s ‘Most Valuable Whatever,’ as well as featured in USA Today, Associated Press and many other major media outlets. Includes loan documentation from the Baseball Hall of Fame and other provenance documents.” (Editor's Note: Articles on the sale of the Cobb dentures appeared in SCD in 2021 and 2022.)
Photos displayed in the electronic catalog included the dentures from various angles and a photocopy of the Baseball Hall of Fame loan receipt.
FIRST APPEARANCE IN HOBBY
These dentures first appeared publicly in a May 22, 1995 Sports Illustrated article titled “Sultan of Swap” by
