This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 1/4/2017
Starting his career as a photographer in 1927 with the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper, Frank Stanfield worked in Milwaukee for over 40 years. During his award winning career, he worked for the Milwaukee Brewers / Borchert Field (AAA), Green Bay Packers at Milwaukee State Fair, and the early Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium. His work appeared on card sets, programs, and yearbooks. He won the 1961 Life Magazine “Best Sports Picture” for one of his Milwaukee Braves entries.
MEARS company president purchased a very rare, exclusive collection of Frank Stanfield’s personal 4”x6” oversized acetate negatives direct from the family estate. Using the same printing methods used for nearly a century, each print was painstakingly hand developed from Stanfield’s original negative. The results are simply amazing.
The color, contrast, and clarity are unrivaled amongst period images. Quite simply the finest image of the player ever produced! Anybody that has seen this print in person can only marvel at the clarity of the hand developed image. A master of focus and lighting, the waist high portrait of Aaron is artistically centered on a near 50/50 background, perfectly splitting sky and land. At the upper top region of the image, the Milwaukee Braves “M” cap is shown in detail crowing Aaron’s head, the future homerun king. Aaron youthful grin and watching eyes give the viewer insight into this young player’s personality. Of all the images, the famous Milwaukee Braves uniform with “BRAVES” and the tomahawk are shown in the greatest detail of this shot.
During circa 1998, MEARS conducted a private autograph signing with Hank Aaron at the original MEARS center in Greenfield, WI. A very limited number of these prints were signed, personally witnessed by MEARS President Troy R. Kinunen.
In a very unassuming manner, “Hank Aaron” is neatly scribed on the bottom white area of Aaron’s jersey and serves as a perfect contrast for signature and signing area. Each signature is quite strong and signed in near mint blue sharpie marker. Great care was taken during the signing; with new blue sharpie markers being rotated after just a few signatures were signed, insuring only the highest quality signatures appeared on this remarkable print. One of the finest images from the Frank Stanfield oversized 16x20 Archives. JSA hologram applied to lower right corner.