For Love of the Cards

Prewar Hobby :: Things You Should Know

2012-05-26T21:06:00.001-07:00

If you are going to be in the prewar baseball card hobby there are many things you should know. A broad knowledge of the hobby can only help you as you embark on your endeavor.

There are many collectors out there who have been in the hobby for years who may still not know anything about cards from sets that they don't collect. They may be extremely knowledgeable about the sets they do collect, and I think that is great, but when it comes to other sets they may not know a thing. I think it's always good to know as much as possible, even if you don't collect certain cards.

Before going any further, let me be clear by saying that I am not an expert in any prewar set. I do however know a decent amount about these cards in a broad sense. And I just wanted to share some of the basic stuff that you should know if you're going to collect prewar cards. Many of you may think this is all common knowledge and you may already know all of it, but this is more for those collectors who may be new to the hobby or just never heard of some of this stuff.

Let's begin with the 1909-11 T206 set, also know to collectors as "The Monster". It's a big set at 524 cards. I'm not going to get into too much detail here about this set as books have been written about it already. I just want to touch on some of the main points.

Image courtesy OldCardboard.com

Many people consider their sets complete at 520 cards due to the difficulty in obtaining the last four cards conveniently known as "The Big Four". These include the following:

Honus Wagner - The Holy Grail of baseball cards. This is a rare card and estimates vary regarding how many exist. For this post I will say there are around 50 of them out there.
Eddie Plank - Another rare card in the set. I don't have an estimate for how many of these are out there.
Sherry Magee (Magie) error card - Magee's name was misspelled early on in the print run as Magie and was caught quickly and corrected. The resulting error card is a tough one to come by, but not nearly as difficult as Wagner or Plank.
Joe Doyle, NY Nat'l - I did a post about this card in 2008, you can read it HERE.

Another fact you should know about the T206 set is that there are 16 different brands advertised on the reverse of the cards. Not all fronts can be found with all the different backs however. The sixteen brands are (in alphabetical order, not scarcity order):

Image courtesy T206baseball.com

American Beauty
Broad Leaf
Carolina Brights
Cycle
Drum
El Principe de Gales
Hindu
Lenox
Old Mill
Piedmont
Polar Bear
Sovereign
Sweet Caporal
Tolstoi
Ty Cobb
Uzit

There are currently debates in the hobby regarding whether or not the Ty Cobb back is really a T206 back and whether or not Coupon (mainly type 1) backs should be included as T206 cards. One thing to know about the Ty Cobb back is that it is only found with a Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait front and it is always printed in green. There are reprints out there with the ad printed in blue and these are always fake.

That's it for my first post about things you should know. I'm going to have many more of these so hopefully you enjoyed it. I look forward to getting back into my blog as I took quite some time off in the last year.

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

Ugly Babes

2011-01-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

George Herman "Babe" Ruth was well known the world over.

It was because if this that there were many different cards of him issued over the years, both from the US and from several other countries as well.

Now, for a guy who was so well known, and so darn popular, why did he have so many cards that were just such horrible depictions of him? I mean seriously, look at these examples guys.

The first card I'd like to look at is his R377 Eclipse Import from 1933.

Now, I hear ya, this whole set it completely full of bad artwork, and some people like that part of it (I guess), but couldn't they of at least made him look like he was wearing pants instead of looking like a grandpa in his pj's with a blanket over his lap?

And what's up with his hand? It looks completely flattened and useless. He's not chowin' on any hotdogs with that thing

He really looks like he's about two minutes from passing away on this card. I'm just sayin'.

Here is another example that I think falls a bit short of truely representing the Great Bambino as he should be remembered.

This one is his 1923 German Baseball Transfer issue. Here he looks like a pudgy little bat boy. Honestly, he looks like he can't be a day over 8 years old and just finished filming a scene in The Sandlot or something.

Now, this last one is by far the best. This is a 1949 JK 5 Tohoku Karuta (Japanese Issue) Babe Ruth card.

Every time I see this card I laugh.

He's apparently lost his teeth and has that empty mouth look where his lower lip is pushed out like a kid who is whining about something.

Plus, according to the Japanese back then he was a blond and had matching yellow eyes.

The remarkable thing about this horrible drawing is that is unmistakably the Babe. So as bad as it is, he really was an odd looking guy and still somehow resembled this chicken scratch artwork.

Well, I just wanted to show all of you some of the worst images of The Sultan of Swat that I can remember seeing on a baseball card. Hopefully you enjoy them as mush as I do.

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

ISA Grading Ad...Really guys?

2010-12-27T10:02:00.000-08:00

ISA Grading Takes Professionalism Seriously

I'm not trying to say I'm perfect and never mispell anything or use questionable grammer, but then again I'm not doing this for a living and I'm not trying to turn this blog into a business. So I don't mind if I make a mistake here or there and my readers catch them. But I was floored when I first saw this ad for ISA Grading in a magazine.

It's just one of my pet peeves I guess, but before a company sends something to print, or pays to have something produced, or what have you, I think I should be able to hold them to a higher standard than myself. Especially if they are trying to introduce themselves to potential customers and they would like to be taken seriously.

Here is the ad that had me so annoyed...

The first time I read through the ad, I found four problems. Four. Are they serious? How many people read this copy before they sent it to be printed and let their reputation be advertised as this unprofessional?

"Oh, this is were I want to send my cards to be graded. These guys are obviously detail oriented. They reviewed their own ad so closely that only 4 things were missed. I could probably be sure that any card I buy that they have reviewed should have been just as closely examined and that only only 4 scratches, dinged corners, bits of paperloss, spots of writing, or any other problem that would normally downgrade a card should be missed as well. In other words, a card they say is a '10' could have up to 4 blatant condition issues."

Let's take a closer look now.

1. They failed to capitalize their own name: In the first sentence, they typed their name "international Sports Authentication".

2. They offer "expert grading, great rates, and quick turnaroudn".

3. They ensure a "tip-notch" grading relationship as opposed to a "top-notch" one.

4. When informing us of their location, they abbreviate Michigan as "Mi" instead of the proper state abbreviation method of "MI".

I'd love to hear from a representative of the company if they want to claim these were all intentional mistakes and meant as a joke.

Hats off to ISA. You guys are true profesiionally dedecaded to makeing me feel like i'm getting the bestest review of the cards I collact.

Enjoy the hobby all.

Recent Pick Ups

2010-04-23T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a bunch of new stuff lately, both on the internet and from the last Philly Show. Is it still called the Philly Show by the way, really? Anyway, I really like that show even if some of the dealers complain about the table prices going up since Heritage started running it.

I'll try to get scans of all my new cards as well as other things, but my scanner isn't working right now. My old computer crashed and when we got a new one, we kept our old Dell printer/scanner and I can't get it to work yet with the new HP computer.

I do have images of these three new items however, and am happy to share them with you.

First up: Two new cards for my horizontal collection. These aren't baseball cards, but I really don't care. They are E77 American Caramel Co. "Prize Fighter Caramels".

I've been liking these horizontal boxing caramels more and more lately. I have a few of the "Scrappers" set from Philadelphia Caramel Co., so when these ones came up on eBay a little while ago I was excited to have a chance to pick up some examples from a different set.

After winning them, I checked out Adam Warshaw's site that identifies several of the many many different boxing issues and saw that he says that these are "very tough to find". Hey, that's cool and makes me even more happy to have them. I just hope I haven't misidentified them or something.

Okay, so the other card that I have an image of (for now) is an upgrade to one of my Jersey City C46's, John "Rube" Kissinger:

I am always excited to pick up another Jersey City card! I know what you're thinking, "This is an upgrade?" Yes, it's an upgrade.

My first one had some major paperloss on the sides of the front on both sides of his head and it has always bothered me. I picked the first one with the paperloss because I didn't have it yet and needed it. This one will someday be upgraded as well, but I'm very happy to have this one. I'm only missing Butler, Jones and Wells now to complete the 9 card subset.

There were recently a Butler and Jones on eBay but I didn't put my snipe high enough to win them. Them another Jones came up, but it was a little too nice and I knew my high bid wouldn't be enough, so I didn't get that one either. No problem, I'll get them someday.

Well, I know it's not much, only three new cards, but when I get my scanner back up and running, I'll get a lot of scans up for show.

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

Tristar Flop

2010-04-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Like many prewar collectors I'm a big fan of the Obak sets. Between the years 1909 - 1911, packs of Obak cigarettes came with a card featuring players of the Pacific Coast League and the Northwestern League. These cards are widely considered to be some of the most beautiful prewar cards produced.

You can differentiate between the the three years quite easily. The 1909's actually have a slightly different look on the front, and the 1911's have sevaral cards that have a sort of drippy gooey-like background that are only found in that series. But the easiest way to determine the year is by flipping the card ove and looking at the back design; each year has a different back.

1909----------------------1910----------------------1911

While I could go on quite a bit longer on the original Obaks (and I most likely will in a future post), I'm actually writing this post to ask this question: What were they thinking?

"They" are Tristar Productions and they have released a new line of cards (I know what you're thinking, "Modern cards?!") that have borrowed the name of the old Obaks and the back designs for it's modern release. And for some reason, I couldn't resist seeing what they were like.

I was expectedly unimpressed and furthermore left scratching my head at how these things made it past the various stages of design and approval before they started printing them. They did nail the most spectacular part of the Obak design; the amazing sunset backgrounds.

They decided to make the player's image really dark and dropped the quality of the image so much that the guy is actually pixelated like they took the photo with a really cheap 1.5 megapixel camera.

The scan I took actually brightens up the image considerably as the card in hand looks as if there was no light in front of the guy. You can barely see him on the actual card.

Each pack comes with some old timers in there pictured with their minor league squads and this is kind of cool, except they decided to make them black and white images of the players set against the colorful background and they just don't look right.

Here are the ones I got in my pack:

I did get one card in the pack that I'm happy with though. In each pack, you also get a reprint of one of the original Obaks. I got a reprint of one of the most sought after of all original Obaks. It is the Victoria Bees of the Northwestern League player named Ten Million. Yes, that's right, his name is Ten Million. It's written right there on the card.

I've always liked this card and it will be a long time before I can actually afford an original, so it was kind of cool to pull this card from the pack.

It's safe to say I won't be buying any more of these packs, so I'm glad that I got one card I liked out my trial pack.

Happy collecting everyone, enjoy the hobby.

Recent Pick-Up

2009-08-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

I thought this was too cool to pass up when I saw it so I tossed a little bid out and ended up with a new piece for my shelf.

I really like items with the centennial logo on them. 1939 and our beloved game was a hundred years old already. Unreal. Anyway, it's not the most amazing pick up but it sure as heck looks pretty cool don't you think?

Good ol' Abner Doubleday in the center of the Centennial logo. I assume all of my readers know that he actually had nothing to do with the creation (or evolution) of the national pastime. Obviously this tidbit of information wasn't known back in 1939.

It's interesting to note that the 1939 record book didn't have the same red border as the other years did. Now, I'm not an expert on these books, so if you know any more info than I do and the fact the color is not red points to this being a fake then please let me know. I have seen others with this same color though, so I'm pretty sure this is authentic.

I like to pick up items that will decorate my office shelves someday when I have a home office that I can turn into my baseball room. Not everything I pick up is so old either, sometimes I pick up some nice modern stuff too. Well, thanks for checking this out and letting me share it with you.

Enjoy the hobby all, we got a great one...

Hobby Reference Not to be Missed

2009-08-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

There are many things in life that we take for granted, and whenever I realize that I have been taking something for granted, I try to make up for it in some way.

To that end, I wanted to make sure that anyone who reads my blog is sure to become familiar with one of the very best Vintage/Prewar Baseball Card resources on the internet. If you haven't already become familiar with them, you absolutely MUST check out OldCardboard.com.

They have a wealth of information about our hobby's different vintage baseball card sets. They are focused only on baseball which I particularly like as I don't really collect anything but baseball. Their site is easy to navigate and I am constantly referring back to it for card images or checklists or just some general info about a set.

They offer all of the following for your reference needs:

1. Set descriptions and images - Each featured set has a brief description as well as at least a couple of images to help identify the set.

2. Galleries of tons of sets - Many of the featured sets have full set galleries with images of all cards in the set. The T206 set is one of these and they have images of all 524 cards.

3. Checklists of tons of sets - Most, if not all, of the featured sets have full checklists listed.

4. Links to eBay's top 100 Vintage Card dealers - This is a great reference for when you want to find a new search on eBay.

5. Monthly e-newletter - This is an amazing reference tool with updates to the site listed as well as great articles and upcoming auction info.

6. The best Prewar magazine published today, fittingly called "Old Cardboard" - This is seriously the greatest current vintage baseball card publication out there with well written articles with full color images, set galleries, and even collector profiles.

7. Plus a bunch of great links to all sorts of related sites from collector's personal sites, other references, auction houses, show calendars, etc.

Please check out this outstanding hobby resource if you haven't already. The guys behind the site and the magazine are a couple of great contributors to our hobby and we should all be doing something to support their efforts and help them keep up their great work.

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

New Link :: David B. Vintage

2009-07-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

There is one dealer of vintage sports cards and memorabilia that stands out as a truly great and honest seller on eBay. His eBay seller name is davidbvintage and he has recently launched a very nice new website as an additional forum to offer collectors his consignors items.

If you have never dealt with David on eBay you can rest assured that he is the most honest seller out there and he has great stuff to offer.

Do yourself a favor and check out his new site here:

I've also added him on my links at the side of my blog for all of you.

If you have items that you would like to sell, you can consign them to DavidBVintage and have them sold for you on eBay or on his website. Details are on the website. His reputation and feedback level on eBay make him one of the best consignment choices around and I can only imagine his website will be become a wonderful place for vintage collectors to find new additions to their collections as well.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a super duper one.

Recent Pick Up

2009-06-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

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.

t206museum.com was a FRAUD!

2009-05-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

I know I have been absent from my blog for some time now, but I haven't been absent from our great hobby!

I've been working a lot after moving from CA to NJ and I apologize to all of you who really enjoyed by blog. I'm going to try to be a bit more regular again going forward.

On to the front page story...

It has recently been revealed that t206museum.com was a sham that was set up by a scam artist who used it to hype T206 "rarities" and "oddities" so he could profit on fake cards that he made. It has been discovered that he was the creator of the Old Mill Black Overprint backs. These are all fake. He even had one for sale on his site for $35,000.00.

Read much more detail here than I'm going to go into on this post, so please check it out and know that I'm not taking any credit for it.

I used to check out this site when I first started getting back into cards years ago and I'm shocked by this realization. What a terrible fraud to play on collectors.

This goes to show you that just because a card is graded, even by PSA or SGC, doesn't mean it is real. Be careful out there all, but still enjoy the hobby...

Classic Cobb

2009-02-09T11:55:00.000-08:00

I just saw this image of Ty Cobb and had to share it with all of you.

I can't believe I never saw this one before. If you look real close you can sort of see how Ty used to intimidate those players who chose to actually cover the bags.

Awesome!

Enjoy the hobby all...

1912 Boston Garter - Matty

2009-02-08T16:53:00.000-08:00

Boston Garters were issued over a three year period between 1912 and 1914 with very different styles used each year.

The inaugural issue, pictured here, is by far the most attractive. It is not argued by many that the designs suffered from one year to the next with the final year's offering being little more than a black and white photo with a little Boston Garter ad on it.

This example of Christy Mathewson's card has always been one of my favorites. The image is fantastic with Matty relaxing before the day's contest. Perhaps contemplating how he will handle the afternoon's line up.

But what I love most about this card, is that while Matty sits in quiet solitude, he seems completely unaware of the blatant bludgeoning of the player just outside of his window. I always wondered why the artist decided to show a player being beaten by a baseball bat so clearly in the background. I could see if it was an ump, but another player?

I just wanted to share this observation with any of you who hadn't seen it before.

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

What a Deal!

2009-01-14T18:29:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm pretty upset that I missed this one folks.

Actually, I'm more upset that I didn't put a snipe on it as I would've beat this winning bid for sure.

While perusing eBay last night I saw this card, and since I like to pick up beaters for cheap, I decided to take a closer look at the listing. As you can tell from the front, it's not much to get excited about.

However, after scrolling down into the listing, I noticed what makes this such a steal.

At first I thought there's no way this could be for real. I must be missing something here. But it all looked good.

The best part about this card is the back. It wasn't listed anywhere in the listing, but the back is a Red Cross back making this not a T206, but a T-215 instead. And, from what I can tell from the image, the caption at the bottom of the front is brown and not blue making this a Type I example, that's the more rare of the two if you're keeping track.

I'm certainly not an expert on these, but I know they are in damand and they command much more money than the same T206 pose in the same condition.

This one did sell for more than what it's common T206 counterpart would have, so I have to assume the bidder knew what he was looking at.

The closing price including shipping: $42.83

Nice job to someone out there. This is just another example of a good deal on eBay. Their out there if you just keep looking for them.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a super duper one...

Mellomints Tin Bothers Me

2009-01-13T21:45:00.000-08:00

This old tin for Mellomints candy was auctioned off in REA's 2004 auction and the description has always annoyed the crap out of me.

Every time I am flipping the old 2004 catalog and I see this tin I get a little more perturbed. The description reads in part:

If you think your Mello Mint collection is complete, think again! Offered is a circa 1910 Mello Mint tin, measuring 8 inches tall and 10 inches in diameter, designed to be used by candy stores to dispense the presumably very delicious Mello Mint treats.

While I can't argue that this particular tin did contain Mellomint treats, they were certainly not the same thing that is related to the rare E105 Mello Mint cards. They have nothing in common other than the similar name.

The cards were distributed with Mello-Mint (notice the hyphen and so "s" at the end) gum, not sugar confections as the tin advertises.

The backs of the cards have the logo of the gum pictured and it clearly states, "Smith's Mello-Mint, The Texas Gum" and it further clarifies that the card are, "wrapped with each 5¢ package of SMITH'S MELLO-MINT GUM". This seems pretty clear to me that these cards were never packaged in tins like the one pictured above and sold in the REA auction under the premise of being related to the cards.

How could this tin possibly be listed as it was in such a respectable auction house's catalog? That really annoys the hell out of me. What the hell?

Thoughts anyone?

Enjoy the hobby all...

New Pick Up

2008-11-30T18:14:00.001-08:00

I went for a trip to the local antique mall with my wife this afternoon and picked up a nice little piece.

There are several very attractive advertising peices for Tuxedo Tobacco which feature several different stars of the deadball era, most notably Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson. I've included images of two ads featuring these two hurlers for reference here.

No, I didn't find one of these advertising pieces. That would've been like hitting the lottery. But I did see a familiar looking item up on a top shelf of a vendors stall.

There, mixed in with a bunch of uninteresting items, way up on the top shelf, was a Tuxedo Tobacco Tin. The exact same tin that is featured in these ads. This one is a bit damaged, rusted, dented, etc., but I just had to have it.

So, I wanted to share my new pick up with you and see what you think. Let me know, leave me a comment of shoot me an email. These tins aren't worth a whole lot, but I don't usually see the Tuxedo ones at the antique malls that I've been in. It was a nice little thrill on a rainy day, when it was just my wife and I spending some time together.

Enjoy the hobby all, it's a really neat one...

The Great T206 Back Stamp Project

2008-11-14T23:00:00.000-08:00

I am very happy to be making the Official Announcement of my new project to you all...

The Great T206 Back Stamp Project

For a long time now I have been very interested in the various stamps that appear on the reverse of many T206s. If you follow my blog then you know that I have recently picked up several cards with my favorite type of back stamp, the purple number stamp, and that I have decided to focus my T206 adventure primarily on only picking up new cards that have a stamp on them.

Well, I have also decided to begin documenting all of the various back stamps that I come across along the way, whether I ultimately own them or not is of no concern here. So, with the help of all of you and all other collectors who are introduced to the project, I hope to create a database of as many examples as we can. I'm hoping some interesting patterns may emerge and some cool stamps will be found.

My purple number stamps are already featured as their own type within the project, and I have another type coming soon (with an unbelievable number of examples collected already). This is just one way that I am enjoying this wonderful hobby. And I'm hoping that my fellow collectors will join me in this adventure.

There are two online parts to this project; the BLOG and the WEBSITE.

The Blog: The blog is where all new cards will be posted. Any updates to the project will be posted here whether it is a new card, or the announcement that a new type has been determined and a new page added to the website.

The website: This is where I will be archiving all of the images that I get. I'm hoping that my fellow collectors will participate and send me scans, whether you own the card or just find the image somewhere.

Please take a moment to check out both parts of the project and let your collector friends know about it too. The more people that participate, the more amazing the archives will be.

Enjoy the hobby all, there are so many ways...

One "Big Four" Deserves Another

2008-11-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

Our friends over at Sports Collectors Daily have just posted a story about another of the "Big Four" cards from the T206 set, the Doyle Nat'l error card.

I just can't rob their story, so here's the link to their story.

I did want to mention, however, that this is one of the many bits of hobby knowledge that you should really have if you are going to be taking part in the vintage baseball card hobby.

Some unscrupulous sellers might try to pass of the several other Doyle cards that say Nat'l on them as the very and coveted error version. Below is a little visual for you.

Notice that all three of these Doyle cards have the same caption at the bottom: DOYLE, N.Y. NAT'L.

Some beginning collectors may have heard of the super rare Doyle error that says Nat'l on it and be fooled by one of these cards. Now look at the more common version of the Doyle that has an error.

Notice that this version does not have the NAT'L after the N.Y.

This is the common version. Feel free to try to find the error out there in the hobby somewhere. Really. I mean it. Good luck. Let me know if you ever find it. Ever.

The late great Larry Fritsch, one of the great hobby veterans, the first full time mail order dealer spent years looking at hundreds, if not thousands, of Doyle's in search of one before he found a single example. And that was before the rest of the hobby was privy to the fact that it was an error. In other words, nobody else was seeking it or keeping it from him because they thought the one they had was rare. It just doesn't show up anywhere.

I'm very excited to see this one is going to be auctioned off in an upcoming REA auction. I can't wait to see what it brings when the hammer drops.

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

Another New Wagner!

2008-11-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

Wow, people, another new T206 Honus Wagner has entered our hobby.

Philip Weiss Auctions of Long Island, NY will be auctioning off a newly discovered example of the iconic card commonly referred to as "Holy Grail" of the baseball card world. Following is the description from their website:

Honus Wagner. T-206. Graded. SGC Graded Honus Wagner 3. This is a Golden Opportunity to own a "Fresh to the Market " example of the "Holy Grail" of Baseball cards. Found in the basement of an Oceanside home, this card has been in the possession of the same family since it was printed. It is impossible to say how many more of these reside unknown in basements or attics but now is the chance to add this to your collection. With the price of this card steadily on the rise, do not miss this opportunity to purchase a beautiful example of this card. Please view the scans carefully or examine in person, some believe this might even be graded on the conservative side.

They have estimated the value between $500,000 and $900,000, which seems like a pretty big spread if you ask me. It is a very nice example of this card, which is usually found with several flaws commonly in the form of multiple creases. Click here to see the actual listing.

Just for fun, here is a link to a nice collection of images of the Wagner card: The Wagner Gallery

The lesson here is to always keep your hope alive, you just might find the next big hobby gem in your neck of the woods someday.

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

A New Book

2008-10-25T20:01:00.001-07:00

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

2008-10-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-10-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-10-05T20:00:00.000-07:00

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...

New Pick-Ups - From Philly Show

2008-09-30T17:40:00.001-07:00

Okay all, here are some pics of what I was able to pick up at the show last weekend.

I'm very excited about this first item as it knocks another Jersey City card off of my list. I've been wanting this T201 fairly bad for about a year now but just haven't found one that I really liked for a good price. This one was just right for me and I snatched it up from Clean Sweep the minute I saw it.

It's an example picturing William Abstien (1b) on the front and John Butler (c) when it's folded over. I've always heard that these are fairly thin fragile cards so I've been wanting to see for myself when I picked this card up. While it is thinner and more susceptible to creasing than other cards of the era that I am familiar with, it's not as thin as I had originally thought. I can see why there are a lot of examples with bad damage around the crease from being folded in the past though.

This being the only Jersey City card in the entire T201 set, I have finished this set's checklist. Woohoo!

Moving on...

Here is a new T206 with a back stamp. You'll be hearing a bit more about my fascination with these cards in an upcoming post, but now I'll say that I was quite happy to pick up this fine example ot Nichols.

As you can see there is a large H stamped on the reverse. It appears that the stamper wasn't pleased with his first attempt and decided to stamp another two times.

Next we have a couple more 1949 Remars, Loyd Christopher and Bud Foster. These cards are not exactly difficult to find, but I really like the fact that they represent the Oakland Oaks Pacific Coast League team of the late forties and early fifties. Plus the 1949 set has a nice card of Billy Martin and the '46 and '47 sets have Casey Stengel in them. I'm finding these cards fun to collect because they are so affordable and I can pick them up now then for something different than my usual pick-ups.

This last pick-up is very special to me.

I've been picking up cards with a certain type of back stamp for a while now and I was able to pick this one up from a very nice hobby veteran named Ted Zanidakis. He is very knowledgable when it comes to the T206 set in particular and has completed the set several times and handled thousands and thousands of T206's in his time in the hobby.

This Mike Powers example has a rare Hindu back with a purple number 42 stamped on it. I love T206's with these purple number stamps on them (again, more about this in an upcoming post). I've also always loved the Powers cards, so this is a happy addition to my collection.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my new pick-ups. I had a really great time at the show and hope to make it to many more in the future. I feel lucky to live close enough to drive to the show for a day and still make it home afterwards.

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

Pics of the Month :: September 2008

2008-09-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

I hope you enjoy this month's pics everyone. I almost missed the end of the month again, sorry about that. Please let me know if there are any players you would like to see some pics of and I'll try to locate some of them for you

Whoa! Everything is spinning....I'm feeling Dizzy!

Dizzy Dean, Cardinals 1934 World Series against Detroit

Dizzy Dean, 1936

Dizzy Dean 1934 - 37

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

All pics were borrowed from www.baseball-fever.com