Recent Pick Up

I am very excited about this pick up everyone!

On my Jersey City want list, there are a few cards that I am not too confident in my chances of ever picking up. At least not any time in the next several years. This is due to both rarity and cost.

If you follow my blog at all, you know that my budget as a collector is pathetic by most standards. I live on the hope that at some point in my future, I will have gotten far enough into my career that I will be able to really spend what I would like to on cards. Until then, I'm picking up beaters at best.

This is no exception. However, this is one of the cards on my wantlist that I never thought I would find, let alone find in a condition that I could afford and still look presentable.

I submit for your viewing enjoyment a T215 Red Cross Tobacco Billy Purtell of Jersey City. When you're done drooling, please keep reading. :)

This card also exists with the ultra rare Pirate back and, of course, I will be forever trying to find that one in comparible condition so that I may be able to afford it. To be honest, this one was a little out of my price range, but I couldn't let it go.

When else would I ever find one? Of all the Red Cross backs to show up for sale, how often is one specific common going to be the one offered? Know what I mean?

Now, I know what you're thinking, "But Andy, his jersey says Chicago, not Jersey City." And you are correct. But the caption reads Jersey City.

And that's all that matters when you're putting together a wantlist for a specific team right?

So, I'm very happy to have added this card to my collection recently. I'm not going to be beating this one for a while. I do have a lot of recent pick ups to post though. I haven't really shared any of my new cards in a long time, so I'll start posting some of them for you all soon.

Enjoy the hobby all. It's a great one.

Hans in Blue

After years of immersing myself in the vintage baseball card hobby, I feel like I can identify most cards by type. It isn't very often anymore that something shows up that I haven't ever seen before.

That said, I was pleasantly surprised when someone posted a picture of this Honus Wagner card on a the Net54 vintage card message board.

My first thought was that he was playing a joke on the board and he was good at Photoshop. However, after contacting the poster, he assured me that this was an uncatalogued Wagner card.

He had won it on eBay a while back and said it had originally sold in a Mastro Legendary Auctions in August 2004. At that time it was part of a larger lot of prewar cards. (A nice lot I must say). Check out the original auction listing here.

Apparently, there are only 2 examples of this card known at this time. I love finding out about a new card. It's even better when that card is of the caliber of a Wagner. Better yet? When there are only 2 copies known to exist!

I wanted to make sure to share this with anyone who follows my blog (I know I'm not posting as much as I should, but I'm glad some of you are still checking it out) because this is the sort of thing you need to know when you're serious about your hobby.

One of the two examples was labelled at one point as a "w-unc" by PSA. I assume they gave it the W label because it is blank backed, but from what I'm told, it's not much like a strip card other than the blank back.

The other known copy, sold in a Heritage Auction in April 2009 and resides in an SGC holder with the label, "C. 1910 E-Unc Candy". This makes a bit more sense to me than a W label. Check out the Heritage listing here.

This SGC example closed at $4,481.25 with the buyer's premium. I'm a bit surprised at this figure to be honest. I would have thought that such a rare Wagner would have brought a lot more than this. I guess maybe the fact that it isn't well known and doesn't have any advertising on it kept the price down, but seriously? Only two known and less than $5K?

I think with a little good press in the hobby and the right exposure, one of these babies could fetch a much better sum in a good auction.

I guess time will tell. Personally, I think it's an awesome card. Even if it doesn't have the most clear image or any advertising.

Well, enjoy the hobby all. It's a great one.