Recent Pick Up

I recently won a new card in the latest Sterling Sports Auction.

It's another one of these odd circa 1910 game pieces.  I did a post about the other two I have and what I've learned about them so far here.

I haven't learned anything new about them since April but I'm thrilled to have another one.  I now have Tinker, Chance and Baker.  Just need to find a Evers to have the trifecta of Tinker, Evers and Chance.

 

If you have any info on these please share it with me.  As far as I know these are all one of a kind as even this Tinker is the same one pictured in the composite photo from my post in April.

 

 

Anyway,  I really like these cards, whatever they are, and hope to get more in the future.

 

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



A look at the 1910 E98 set

With my recent pick up of my E98 Bresnahan I felt like showing all of my 5 examples that I currently have and talk a bit about the set.

It is commonly called the Anonymous Set of 30 as the manufacturer is not listed on the back of the card.  This isn't uncommon for cards from this era.  With several E98s including a stamp on the back from Old Put Cigars some refer to the set as the Old Put set as well.

The cards with the Old Put overprint sell for a premium in the open market and are scarce, but they can be found. 

The backs of the cards have a numbered checklist but the cards themselves are unnumbered.  It is also full of HOFers and big names like, Mathewson, Wagner, Cobb, Walsh, Young, Lajoie and Connie Mack to name a few.

They also come in different color backgrounds; red, green, blue and orange.  I'd personally like to acquire at least one of each color and so far only have red and green. 

There was a huge significant find of E98s in 2012 in Defiance, Ohio, from a family who previously owned a meat market.  This find was called the Black Swamp Find (BSF) and cards that were graded from the find have this provenance on the flips.  These cards were all in superior condition with many grading 8s, 9s and 10s.  This inflated the population of the series considerably and the once scarce cards became almost common as a result.  I still like the pre-BSF cards in lesser condition the best.

Some have questioned the authenticity of the BSF cards and think they may have been printed more recently and are not genuine while many others this that is incorrect. 

My cards are obviously not BSF cards and were part of the smaller population of E98s that existed before the find. 

Like the name says, there are 30 cards in the set.  The Tenney card has his name misspelled Tenny and the Cy Young card is actually that of Irv Young.  Since I refuse to pay Cy Young prices for an Irv Young card, I will never actually complete this set. 

Here is the checklist for the set:

Card*	Player	Team
1	"Christy" Mathewson	N. Y. Nat'l
2	(John) McGraw	N. Y. Nat'l
3	"Johnny" Kling	Chi. Nat'l
4	(Frank) Chance	Chicago Nat'l
5	"Hans" Wagner	Pitts Nat'l
6	Fred Clarke	Pittsburgh Nat'l
7	Roger Bresnahan	St. Louis Nat'l
8	Hal Chase	NY Amer.
9	Russ Ford	NY Amer.
10	Ty Cobb	Detroit Amer.
11	Hughey Jennings	Detroit Amer.
12	Chief Bender	Phila. Amer.
13	Ed Walsh	Chicago Amer.
14	Cy Young	Cleveland
15	Al Bridwell	N. Y. Nat'l
16	Miner Brown	Chicago, Nat'l
17	George Mullin	Detroit, Amer.
18	Chief Meyers	NY Nat'l
19	Hippo Vaughn	NY Amer.
20	Red Dooin	Phila. Amer.
21	Fred Tenny (Tenney)	NY Nat'l
22	Larry McLean	Cin. Nat'l
23	Nap Lajoie	Cleveland, Amer.
24	Joe Tinker	Chicago, Nat'l
25	Johnny Evers	Chicago, Nat'l
26	Harry Davis	Phila. Amer.
27	Eddie Collins	Phila. Amer.
28	Bill Dahlen	Phila. Amer.
29	Connie Mack	Phila. Amer.
30	Jack Coombs	Phila. Amer.

This has become one of my favorite sets and I'm slow chipping away at it.  Here are the images of the cards I currently have. 

Russ Ford N.Y. Amer

Hal Chase N.Y. Amer (Lionel Carter Collection)

Fred Clarke Pttsburgh Nat'l

"Miner" Brown Chicago Nat'l

Roger Bresnahan St. Louis Nat'l

I really like how they look in the SGC slabs and try to find them graded that way, but I couldn't turn down the raw Ford for the price. 

I hope you like this set as much as I do and enjoyed seeing mine.

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

Recent Pick Ups

Having picked up a lot lately, but here are a couple pieces I recently got.

First up is another E98 Hall of Famer of Roger Bresnahan with a red background.  I love the E98 set and am always excited when I pick up a new card from this set.

The E98 set comes with either red, green, blue or orange backgrounds. 

The next item I recently picked up is this really cool early 1900's cabinet photo of a baseball team with "Mayflower" on their jerseys.  It's a little rough, but I think it's just so cool and am thrilled to have it.

 

They have their kid mascot in the front row and the picture has bats, gloves, a catchers mask and the guy in the middle is holding up a baseball.  I like the ump behind the fence in the background too.

Well, those are my recent pick ups folks.  I hope you liked them.

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

Baseball Postage Stamps

Not everyone thinks of postage stamps when they think about collecting vintage baseball cards.

But they are actually sort of cool.  The first baseball themed baseball stamp isn't even US postage stamp.  It was a 1934 Philippines issue. 

1934 Philippines

In fact, the second, third and fourth baseball stamps weren't US postage either.  It wasn't until 1939 that the US issued it's first baseball stamp.  It celebrated the 100 year anniversary of the invention of baseball. 

The second baseball stamp is the 1935 Colombia issue.  This stamp is usually sold as part of a set that sells for around $1,000 so I don't have one of these yet.  But it is my second favorite design.  I like the scene and design.

1935 Colombia

Here are the third and fourth baseball stamps.  The 1937 Nicaragua set of four different colors and the 1938 Panama stamp.

1937 Nicaragua

1938 Panama

 

As stated the fifth baseball stamp is the first US issue.  Here is the 1939 Centennial of Baseball stamp.

 

1939 US Centennial of Baseball

 

The next stamps to be issued were my favorite, the 1944 Venezuelan set.  I love the colors in this set and the design of the stamp.

 





1944 Venezuelan

The next two are from 1948, one from Japan and another Nicaraguan stamp.

 

1948 Japan



1948 Nicaragua

There are several modern stamps after 1948 from many countries, but I just wanted to focus on these issues for now.  Maybe another post will showcase the later issues. 

I hope you like these stamps as much as I do.

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

Hans in Blue shows up on eBay

Years ago I posted about the c. 1910 E-Unc Honus Wagner (Blue Caption) card.

Back then it was the first I had seen the card and I was fascinated by it.  It still remains my favorite Wagner card.  It appears the set is also known as the Blue Caption set and there are a few known examples.  The checklist is not complete as so few are known and the background of the set is a mystery.

Well, I was just scrolling through eBay and there it was, a Blue Caption Wagner for sale!  Then I looked at the price...$25,000.00 plus $200.00 shipping.  Don't get me started on asking $200 for shipping when you're asking $25K for a card (I feel like shipping and insurance should be included in a $25K purchase). 

When this card sold in Heritage 10 years ago it sold for $4,481.25.  Well, not this exact card, but the other known example which was an SGC 10 example.  Is this SGC 20 (from the Richard Egan collection) worth $20K more?  I don't think so, but I could be wrong. 

I figured I would show the SGC 10 as well as a comparison.  Note: these are the only two examples known at this time.

 

I really wish I knew more about the set so I could give you some background.  But all I have to offer are a couple more scans of cards from the set.  Here are the Bridwell and McCormick cards.

 

 

Notice the extra large borders on this Bridwell example.  It almost looks hand cut to me.  

 

 



The McCormick has a couple large borders as well and some stray red printing.  Both have terrible quality images, but the same blue font for the name and team.

If you have any scans of any other players I'd love to get them if you would share them with me.  Please let me know if you do. 

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

New Purple Number Back Stamps

I've been collecting these T206s with this particular type of back stamp for years.

And they just never come up for sale anywhere.  Well, a fellow T206 back stamp collector located these for me recently and I was able to pick them up.  He picked up one of them for me when he saw it and then I was able to get the other one. 

 

Here is Ball with the number 81 on the back.  This is a very nice clear stamp as well. 

 

 

And Sweeney with a 142 on the back.  This is the highest number I've ever seen on one of these purple number stamps. 

 

These back stamps always have a lot of pencil writing all over the backs as well.  I have no idea what any of these numbers, pencil notes, etc. mean but I just love the numbers.  Like I said, they never show up for sale so I'm just thrilled to have them. 

 

Enjoy the hobby all...however you like it.



New Pick Ups

Got a few new cards lately and wanted to share them.

This one is not really a new pick up but I just got around to scanning it and now I can post it.  It's a 1963 Pepsi Cola Colt .45. 

 

A trader friend of mine sent it to me and I will likely start the set now.  But I won't likely find an affordable Bateman example.

 

These three help push me a little closer to the E90-1 set.  I really like this set a lot and love adding cards to it.  I also wanted a Fromme for a long time so I'm really thrilled to have it.

 

 

 

 

I like the added touch to the O'Connor.  What do you think?

 

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

 

 



Funniest Card Ever

A friend of mine shared this with me today and I just had to post it here.

It's a minor league card of Keith Comstock when he was playing with the Las Vegas Stars. Keith was a pitcher who saw major league action with four different teams as a reliever.  But he was in the minors a lot.  He wanted to do something different than the normal pitcher poses for his minor league card and decided to take one to the nuts. 

Here is a link to the story in his own words about how it all happened.

And, of course, the card...

 

Now there's one for the collection want list.  Now I just have to find one that I'm willing to pay for.  Since this story has come out the prices are through the roof for this card.  I'm sure they will come back down again eventually.

 

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

 



1916 Tango Eggs Ty Cobb Batting Pose

This card is being sold in the current REA auction and I wanted to highlight it in it's own post and not mix it in with the other cards I just posted about.

There is no ACC designation for the Tango Eggs set as it was not known until a rather large group or around 750 - 800 surfaced in 1991.  The checklist is incomplete but has 20 confirmed (I believe) cards to date.  Prewarcards.com lists 22 cards but includes Joe Tinker and Honus Wagner that have not been confirmed yet.

The Tango Eggs set most closely relates to the E106 American Caramel set with shared cards used in both sets. 

This post, however, is about a single Tango Eggs card, not the whole set.  So lets see this Cobb batting pose card.

 

 

This card is new to the hobby folks.  That's right, it's the only one known to exist.  So it's going to be interesting to see where the hammer falls when the auction closes. 

 

There is another Cobb in the set that has been confirmed, it is the leaning on bat pose that is shared with many other sets including E92, E101 and E102 etc.  That card is in rough shape and I believe it is also the only one known of that pose. 

 

This card sold in the Spring 2017 REA auction for $15,600.

 

 

Considering the condition of the newly discovered batting pose I can only guess the final price will be closer to $35K.  Like they say, it just takes two heavy hitters to go up against each other to get that price to skyrocket. 

 

So let's keep an eye on this one guys.

 

Here is the checklist for the set so far borrowed from Prewarcards.com.

 

1916 Tango Eggs Checklist

This checklist includes Wagner and Tinker, both of whom are believed to exist but have not been fully confirmed.

1. Bob Bescher
2. Roger Bresnahan
3. Al Bridwell
4. Hal Chase
5. Ty Cobb – front pose
6. Ty Cobb – side pose
7. Eddie Collins
8. Sam Crawford
9. Red Dooin
10. Johnny Evers
11. Happy Felsch
12. Hughie Jennings
13. George McQuillan
14. Billy Meyer
15. Ray Morgan
16. Danny Murphy
17. Rebel Oakes
18. Eddie Plank
19. Germany Schaefer
20. Joe Tinker
21. Honus Wagner
22. Buck Weaver
23. Heinie Zimmerman

 

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

 





 

A Quick Preview of the Current REA Summer 2019 Auction

Robert Edward Auctions is open for bidding and they have some serious stuff as usual.

 

The latest REA auction is now open for bidding and as usual it is full or great stuff.  The auction ends 08/18/19 for those of you who want to get in on the action.  I just wanted to highlight a few of the items that I really liked and am following.

I'm working on the E93 set slowly so I always like to see those.  There are a few Cobbs that I'd like to own.  One is a really nice looking PSA 1 with typical wear.  It has some great orange color though so it has that going for it and a clean legible reverse.  

Then there is also a lot of both an E93 Cobb and an E95 Cobb both graded A that I wouldn't mind having. 

 

 

There are also 12 T206 Cobb Green Backgrounds and 19 T206 Red Backgrounds.  Come on now! 

 

Of course there are some usual big boys starting the auction in the forms of a 1952 Topps Mantle PSA7 and a T206 Eddie Plank PSA1.  Then there is a really nice looking T5 Pinkerton Joe Jackson as well.  Here are some pics of these items to drool over.

 



 



Here's another unique card that I have not seen before.  It is a 1933 Goudey blank back proof card of Babe Ruth. 

 

There are always some hobby significant pieces in any REA auction and this one has this rare 1869 Peck & Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings trade card that has the Peck & Snyder ad back.  This is a very desirable card in the 19th Century collectibles arena. 

 

 

 





I'm also a big fan of the 1887 N690 Kalamazoo Bats set.  I really like the photography and the ballpark backgrounds, the size of the cards and the fact that they have several multiplayer cards and horizontal poses.  There are a couple (non including the team card) here one of which has the seldom seen as back.  I'll show both here as well as the ad back.

 

 



I really liked this one as I've never seen an example from this set before.  It's a 1888 M117 Sporting Times of HOFer Tim Keefe.  These are so rare that its the only the REA has offered in twenty years.  It's just a cool looking card if you ask me.

 

 

Also included in this auction is a lot of 76 E254 Colgan's Chips square proofs including 25 uncatalogued examples.  Personally I don't believe these are Colgan's Chips proof, but something else altogether, but that's a topic for another post.  Here's a pic of a group of them though.

 

 

How about this for a low grade card that will still sell for thousands.  It's a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle in a GAI Authentic holder and it's one of the worst condition 52 Mantles you're likely to see.  It's going to be fun just to see where it ends.

 

 

This card, the 1952 Mother's Cookies,  is one that I really want someday as it features the Rifleman himself, Chuck Connors.  Some day I'll own this card, but I'm watching it this auction to see what it brings.

 

 

So take a look at the current auction online here and peruse some of the amazing stuff.

 



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











Another Great Multi-Strike Overprint Scrap

I've posted images of scraps before with some having some great overprints.

Well, I just saw this new one for the first time and had to post it for you all to see.  Scott Brockelman owns the card and will have it at this year's National if you you're going to be there.  (Update: The card has been sold and may not be at the National at this point).

It's a T206 Southern Leaguer Bill Bernhard.  The back has multiple advertisements on it including Piedmont, El Principe de Gales and what looks to me like a Brown Old Mill.  It also has the ghost image of Germany Schaefer under all the ads.

 

There was another great overprint similar to this one that I posted years ago.  I'll post it again here for comparison and because I just really like it.

 

 

Interestingly they both have the same advertisements but this one has a ghost of Cy Young.  Perhaps these were cut from the same sheet long ago. 

 

I hope you liked this new overprint scrap as much as I do.

 

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