A New Book

There is a new book available out there that is related to our super hobby of prewar cards.

It's written by a collector and is available for purchase on Lulu.com. Click here to get to the ordering info. It's called "A Card's Life" and was written by John Dreker. I haven't read it yet, but plan to order a copy and check it out.

I just figured that some off you might be interested and would check it out. The description below is taken directly from Lulu.com.

The life of two old baseball cards and the boy who owned them as told by the cards themselves. A Card's Life follows the joys and sadness of these two baseball cards as they grow old together,the baseball stories they tell,and the ones they embellish. It leads you from their very creation up until modern day as they follow the life of the young boy who cherished them,and his family.

Enjoy the hobby all...

A Nice Find at the Antique Mall

I want to start out by apologizing about the long break between posts recently. My pc got a virus and it took a little while to clean it up. I didn't want to do anything on it until it was taken care of and that meant no posting for a couple weeks. It's all better now, thanks for sticking with me.

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I was at a local antique mall recently and came across this wonderful item.

Now, I know this isn't my regular thing here, it's not prewar, it's not a card, but it is a cigar box so that's got to count for something.

It's a Pedro Ramos endorsed hand made cigars box from the 60's. It is in wonderful condition with no real damage, just a bit of minor aging issues such as some dirty areas.

I thought this was a great item, but it just doesn't fit in my collection. So I decided to see if anyone else was interested and low and behold I found someone wanted it. I was so happy. This other collector agreed to cover the cost of the box from the dealer at the antique mall and the shipping and I agreed to go back and pick it up for him and ship it out.

Then something of interest happened. I received an email from another collector letting me know that he would be happy to pay me more than three times what the other guy was going to pay me for the box. Well, I had already agreed to get it for the other guy. After all, I wasn't selling the box myself, I just thought it was a cool piece and since it didn't fit my collection, someone else might have the same interest I did in it. I let the second guy know that it was already claimed and thanked him for is offer and then asked him if the box was worth a lot as I had no idea about the value. He let me know that it is in fact a very difficult box and that it would probably sell for 10 times what the antiques dealer was selling it for.

How cool is that! I was very happy to have helped out the other guy and he let me know that he really just thought it was a cool box and wanted to put it on a shelf in his office. So remember people, there are good deals out there if you are keeping your eyes open and look around, and there are good people out there in this hobby too. Try to be one of the good people. It makes being part of the hobby so much more fun.

Enjoy the hobby all...

Have I Done It?

Have I finally done it, after all these years?

Have I finally found what has been missing from my collection for so long?

I think I just may have folks. I think I finally have...Focus! What started it all? Well, I have been very interested in T206's that have a specific type of stamp on the back that was likely put on them by a collector long ago. The stamps are dark purple numbers like the one pictured here. I first saw this stamp years ago and always wished I had bought the card. When I saw another one a while ago on eBay, I snatched it up and my interest was renewed when I got it in hand.

Recently a flood of them showed up eBay again, all from the same seller. I was in the middle of my move when one of them appeared again and, with the help of a fellow collector, I was able to acquire it. I was very excited to add another specimen to my collection. I now had two of them!

When I saw another one posted on the Full Count message boards, I just about lost it. I asked about it and was informed that the seller had just sold a whole bunch of them on eBay and I had missed them all! I was crushed. I actually contacted the buyers to see if any of them would be so kind as to help me with my goal of collecting these stamped cards but none of them responded (yet, I'm still hoping).

I did notice that three of the one the seller listed didn't sell and I contacted them to see if they were still available. Not only did the seller still have these three, but they had two more to offer me as well. I snatched up all five of them and now had seven of them.

It was at this point when the inspiration for focus hit me. I was now very willing to let go a lot of the cards I already had in my collection in order to turn them into cards that would fit my new focus. So this is what I have decided...

For the next year, I will focus and only pick up new cards that fit into the following categories:

1. T206 : with the purple numbers stamped on back

2. T206 : with any other actual stamp on the back, not just some ink stain or mark

3. T206 : HOFers

4. All Jersey City players from any set

5. W572

6. W516-1 : with Becker Prize backs

7. R318 Batter Ups

8. All Remar sets

9. Prewar Horizontal Cards

Well, at least it's somewhat focused isn't it? I think it gives me a nice way to pick up T206s, of course the Jersey City players have to be in there and the others give me a chance to pick up cards of players from many different years and periods resulting in a nice player selection.

I'm very interested in the stamp backed T206s if any of you have any and would be kind enough to help me out in my pursuits. hint hint.

Wish me luck in my new quest. It's going to be tough for me to stick to these parameters, but I think this will make my collection even more enjoyable for the next year. I'll also try to post more often when I do add something new.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a great one...

Tolstoi card above is not mine

Huggins & Scott : Oct. 22-23, 2008

The current Huggins & Scott auction has just opened for bidding and I wanted to highlight a few lots that I particularly like in this one.

Personally, I like Huggins & Scott auctions because they offer a very nice variety of lots that span several budgets for collectors. They have some extremely nice stuff as well as some lower grade stuff that you just don't find in the major auctions like REA and Mastro.

For example, lot number 704: 1909-1911 T206 White Border Near Set (520/524) - Missing the Big Four. This is a wonderful collection of the monster with all but the four toughest cards present, but they aren't all in high grade. There are a lot of cards in beater shape including a Cobb with holes in it and several other HOFers with paperloss on the fronts. But what a great group of cards! This set has the many other tough cards including the O'Hara and Demmitt St. Louis and Elberfeld Washington examples.

Another extremely nice lot is number 55: 1910-11 T3 Turkey Red Cabinets Addie Joss Proof SGC Authentic. This is one of my favorite images of Joss and the T3's are simply georgous cards.

This example isn't just a T3 though, it's a proof for crying out loud. It's in great condition with unreal colors and clarity displaying the printer's marks at the centers of the edges and a blank name plate at the bottom. What a spectacular looking card.

How many of these proofs could have survived from this set? And of those, how many are Hall of Famers? In my opinion, this is a very important card.

I can't post about highlights from this auction without mentioning the big ticket item affectionatley known as "The Matchless Ball". This is a game-used ball from the 1934 All-Star game that is signed by a myriad of stars. Babe Ruth signed in his usual sweet spot space and other signers include Foxx, Simmons, Walter Johnson, Ben Chapman, Joe Cronin, Gehringer, Gehrig and others for a total of twenty signatures.

This is simply a dream ball for me. The usage that is displayed and the star power that graces the leather make this ball very important in the history of the game. The strenght of the actually signatures does not detract anything as far as importance for me. I can just imagine this ball being passed around after the game and each player happily penning his name on it while smiling and talking about the game. I wish I could afford this ball, but I will be happy to simply have an image of it on my blog.

There are many other great lots in this auction, so please check it out here. I just wanted to mention of couple of pieces that I really liked.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a wonderful one...