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THB[EARLY HOMOEROTIC PHOTOGRAPHY] A COLLECTION OF 1,740 ANTIQUE POSTCARDS OF STRONGMEN AND ATHLETES
![[EARLY HOMOEROTIC PHOTOGRAPHY] A COLLECTION OF 1,740 ANTIQUE POSTCARDS OF STRONGMEN AND ATHLETES](https://s1.img.bidsquare.com/item/xl/1412/1412069.jpeg?t=1EN0GP)
About Seller
566 East Boston Post Road
Mamaroneck, NY 10543
United States
Our auctions feature an impressive selection of fine art, decorative art, rare books, icons, militaria, and other objects from antiquity to the present. Shapiro Auctions advertises globally and has clients all over the world, while providing a rare combination of personal service and the ability to ...Read more
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Bid Increments
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|---|---|
| $0 | $25 |
| $500 | $50 |
| $1,000 | $100 |
| $2,000 | $250 |
| $5,000 | $500 |
| $10,000 | $1,000 |
| $20,000 | $2,500 |
| $50,000 | $5,000 |
| $100,000 | $10,000 |
| $200,000 | $25,000 |
About Auction
LiveMay 21, 2016 - May 22, 2016
Shapiro Auctions info@shapiroauctions.com
View Full Catalog (474)
- Lot Description
A COLLECTION OF 1,740 ANTIQUE POSTCARDS OF STRONGMEN AND ATHLETES
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LOT NOTES
A unique collection of 1,740 photographs and postcards from turn of the twentieth century Russia, Europe, and America. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, strongmen were circus performers who exhibited extraordinary feats of strength, such as tearing chains and using teeth to lift rods with weights. Some names have gone down in history, such as Alexander Zass, who could lift a 400 kg horse with his bare hands, and Ivan Shemyakin, who used one hand to lift six assistants at once. This collection includes photographs of famous strongmen Georg Lurich, Pyotr Kryloff, George Hackenschmidt, among many others.
Oftentimes, strongmen sold photographs of themselves flexing and wrestling each other to make some extra money. Some posed nude and wore face masks while showing off their bare bodies covered only by a leaf, which suggests the covered-up exchange of homo-erotic materials. During this era, Russia had no active gay rights movement, so Russian homosexuality was visible only in literature and prostitution. It is probable that these photographs served multiple purposes, one of them being eye-candy for the male viewer. This collection is a combination of images that exhibit both the professional bodybuilder and the masculine icon, stripped down to show off physical perfection. Some strongmen, such as Eugene Sandow, gained fame for the beauty of their physique, inspiring others to achieve a perfectly toned figure and pose in photographs that could now reach mass audiences. Along with these significant implications, the photos provide valuable historical information on who these performers were, where they worked, and what was considered to be the standard of male beauty at the time.
an extensive collection of 1740 postcards (1718 black-and-white and 22 color) featuring rare collectible pictures of strongmen, athletes and sportsmen published on postcards (some inscribed by hand) and photographs; most printed in Russia in early 1900s - Buyer's Premium
