Lot 563
CAPONE, Alphonse ("Al"). An archive of ephemera, including photographs and related matchbooks.
Sale 1097 - Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana
Lots 1-410
Nov 8, 2022
9:00AM CT
Lots 411-717
Nov 9, 2022
9:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
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Estimate
$800 -
1,200
Price Realized
$10,000
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
CAPONE, Alphonse ("Al") (1899-1947). An archive of ephemera, including photographs and related matchbooks.
A matchbook from Jim Colosimo's Cafe, listing Al Capone as manager ("A. Capone, Manager"). Advertising The Cats Pajamas starting Al Jolson; Texas Guinan; Isham Jones; and the Ragtime Band. With an advertisement on the back: "vote for "Big Bill" Thompson." William Hale "Big Bill" Thompson is the most recent Republican to have served as Mayor of Chicago; his open alliance with Capone earned him a reputation as one of the most unethical mayors in American history. Capone's support was pivotal to Thompson's campaign to return to the Mayor's office in 1927.
A group of modern reprints from original negatives of photographs showing Capone and his associations horsing around with what appears to be a .41 Colt revolver at the Sell's Resort in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin.
[Also with:] "Former Trostel Estate." Upper half only of a printed map of the Former Trostel Estate, located along the Wisconsin and Michigan border. With annotations in ballpoint pen presumably in the hand of Bill Sells, and with lots colored in red and blue crayon indicating the ownership of Bill Sell and others, with lines in ballpoint pen delineating private roads. (See lot 560.) -- A matchbook, from Club Carnival, Hurley, Wisconsin. Reportedly, in the 1920s, Hurley was known as a town that ignored prohibition, and Silver Street gained notoriety. Capone and other gangsters were known to frequent establishments there. -- A collection of 20th-century newspaper articles and clippings relating to Capone.
This lot is located in Chicago.
Chicago-area gangsters in the Prohibition era had close ties to Wisconsin – in addition to being an important avenue for bringing bootlegged liquor to Chicago and the Midwest, it was a refuge where they could escape for rest. “They love[d] to vacation in the Wisconsin Northwoods… The hoods of the Depression era enjoyed escaping to and from Wisconsin when the situation demanded… Enjoying gangster holidays of sorts in the Northwoods during the summers from 1925 to 1931 was ‘Scarface’ Al Capone whose refuge, ‘The Hideout,’ is in Couderay, Wis., 50 miles southwest of Manitowish Waters” (Chicago Tribune, “Northwoods’ Gangsters of Old: From Fishing Holes to Bullet Holes,” 2 March 1987).
William and Lowrene Sell, owners of Sell Improvement Company, a realty and insurance company, also owned and operated Sell’s Resort in Manitowish Waters from the 1920s to 1950s, where, in the early 1920s, Al Capone and his associates were regular guests. According to family lore, Capone was adored by those who knew him, and Lowrene would allow him to take over her kitchen to make his famous gravy. The Sells and Capone developed an intimate friendship over the years, as evidenced by correspondence retained by the family. Taking the Sells into his confidence, Capone maintained a correspondence with them over the years, asking for advice on finding bootleggers and real estate in the Northwoods, and even writing his friend two days after the 1925 assassination attempt to let them know he’s alright. The family kept the correspondence and related items for several generations, but offer it for sale now for the first time.
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