New Auction Wins

 I recently received my auction winnings from The Collector Connection March 2023 Auction. 

The Collector Connection is a great smaller auction house that specializes in lesser grade, lower priced cards and memorabilia.  These types of auctions are perfect for me as I don't have the budget to compete with the bidders in a major auction house like Robert Edward Auctions (REA).  

Don't get me wrong, The Collector Connection has some great featured items in their offerings, but the majority of their auctions are more in my league so I really like checking out what they have to offer.

I was checking out the auction with only a few days left in the auction and I put a bunch of little lots in my watchlist.  Then after going through the whole auction, I went back to my watchlist and chose a few lots to place bids on.

I then went on to something else and completely forgot about the auction until really late at night.  I was still up around 1:00am so I grabbed my computer and checked the results of the auction.  I found that I had won all four lots that I placed high bids on!  Nice.  I paid right after I received the invoice and waited for my winnings to arrive.

Then I forgot about them again.  A couple of nights ago my family was watching some tv at night and there was a knock on our front door.  We all looked at each other and said, "who would be coming to our door this late?".  I got up from my chair and checked the door.  There was nobody there.  Then I looiked around the front porch and noticed a couple of small packages were left on our table we have on the porch.  I brought them in and saw that one of them was for my wife, and the other one had a return address and name that I recognized.

It was the owner of The Collector Connection's name.  Then, of course, I remembered that I was waiting for my auction winnings.  The mailman had delivered the two packages to the wrong address, and one of my neighbors who had received them, brought them over to our house to deliver them to us.

Here is what I won in the auction.

I won a lot of five autographed 1980 Topps baseball cards.  I'm very slowly accumulating signed 1980 Topps and building the set with signed cards.

I also won a lot of two 1951 Topps Red Backs.  I bid on these win a low bid and then thought to check my want list to see if I already had thenn or if I needed them.  Turns out I already have both of them so these two are going into the dupes box.

Then I won two lots of 1970's Topps Football RCs.  There a several vintage football card RCs that I have been wanting for some time now so when I saw these two for decent prices I bid on them.  One is a 1973 Ken Stabler RC and the other is a 1975 Dan Fouts RC.  

I'm watching and bidding on some lots in other auctions right now.  I'll let you know how they go and if I win anything else, I'll post it here.

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.











REA Spring 2019 Auction

The 2019 Robert Edward Auctions Spring Auction is now open for bidding and I wanted to share a few of my favorite items with you.

I've gone through the cards that interest me in the current REA auction and pulled a bunch of cards (and a photo) that are some of my favorites.  Lets start with the photo shall we.

This is an original Type 1 photo of Negro League legend Josh Gibson that was used for his 1950-51 Toleteros rookie card.  I'm including an image of the actual card (also in the auction) for comparison.

 

 

Here is the 1893 Just So Jesse Burkett Rookie.  This card is interesting in that is has been restored, but it is so rare (2 known) that it doesn't really matter.   When it was originally discovered it was just the photo part of the card. The entire mount was missing.  The owner found a different Just So of an actress card and had professional restoration done attaching the original photo to the actress mount.

 



 



I don't necessarily collect 19th century cards, but I do like a lot of them.  I particularly like the N172 Old Judge Mike "King" Kelly cards.  Here are two nice examples side by side.  An SGC 6 and SGC 3.5.  I actually like the image on the 3.5 more than on the 6. 

 

Another awesome 19th century set is the 1887 N175 Gypsy Queen set.  They are more rare than their Old Judge counterparts.  I like the Gypsy Queen logo at the top of the cards.  This example is a really nice one as it is a horizontal, two player and HOF card all in one.  It features HOFer Tim Keefe with his teammate Danny Richardson.  It has a nice strong image as well which is another big plus for these cards.

 

 





Now let's move on to the 20th century and the prewar cards that I like in the auction. 

This one would fit right in to my collection as it is a nice low grade card.  I still won't win it, but I'd love to own it.  The 1911 E94 Hans Wagner gold background version.  I'm drawn to the gold versions of this set. 

 

Another set that is related to the E94s is the M131 Baltimore News Newsboys set.  This set uses the same images and checklist as E94 but all the cards have the blue background.  They also have additional type on the reverses that say "The Baltimore News Newsboys Series" at the top.  Here are the four examples in the auction.  Click the image to enlarge it.

 

 

 

My favorite Ty Cobb card, the 1909 E102 Anonymous issue.  The pose with Cobb leaning on his bat and the striking background color make for and amazing card in my opinion.

 

 

Well, let's get to the more common (or not really) T206s.  First up would be a couple southern leaguer Dutch Revelle cards that would be a great start to a back run for someone.  First, the blank back example.

 

 

Then the uber rare Brown Old Mill example.  What?!  Talk about a rare card.

 

 

Also, one of my favorite HOF poses is the Clarke Griffith with bat and this particular example has the rare Cycle 460 back.  This back seems to be a bit more rare than it is given credit for at the present time.  And I happen to like it quite a bit. 

 

 

Last but not least are a couple of my favorite Zeenut cards.  First is a very historically important and rare card of Jimmy Claxton.  This 1916 Zeenut is the first American issued baseball card featuring a black player.  It was a great timing of events that resulted in the issuing of this card as Jimmy was only with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League for one week in 1916.  That week just happened to be the week that the Zeenut photographer was with the team taking pictures and he got a shot of Claxton that eventually made it on the featured card.  This is not the most well known card in the hobby, but has great significance making it a favorite of mine.

 

 

The next Zeenut that is one of my favorites is the 1922 card of legendary athlete Jim Thorpe.  This is one of only a few cards of Thorpe from his playing days and his only card featuring him in the Pacific Coast League.  He is pictured with the Portland Beavers. 

 

 

Well, there you have it folks.  Some of my pics to showcase some of my favorite cards in the current REA Spring auction.  Here is a link to the auction so you can peruse the offerings yourself.  REA Link.  I highly recommend taking a look at the auction, even if you don't plan to bid you'll see some amazing items.  Now, I just focused on the cards portion of the auction, but there is amazing memorabilia as well if you're into that stuff. 

 

Let me know what your favorites are.  I'd be interested to see what I missed.

 

Enjoy the hobby all...it's an amazing one.















Brooklyn Mini Follow Up

Well, the Love of the Game Auction ended a little while back and I wanted to revisit the Brooklyn Mini that was sold.

I posted about the card below and wondered what it would sell for when the hammer fell.  It was at $600 when I wrote that post but I knew it would keep climbing before the auction closed.

 

Well, the final price with the BP came in at $1,560.00.  That's about right for one of these beauties. 

 

They don't show up that often and I really like these minis a lot. 

 

Let me know what you think.

 

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

From eBay to REA

Robert Edward Auctions (REA) recently completed their Spring 2018 Auction.

 

One of the highlights for me was an extremely rare backed T206 portrait of Ty Cobb with the red background.  The back of this card has the very elusive Broad Leaf 460 back.  This is considered the fourth most difficult back to find an example of out of thirty nine possible backs.

 



Image courtesy Robert Edward Auctions

The 460 refers to the number of subjects noted on the back of the card.  Some list 150, some list 350 and some list 460 (and there is mixtures of these as well).  Broad Leaf 350 cards are also very scarce and hard to find examples of but the 460 is more difficult. 

 

To put the rarity of this Cobb in perspective, there was only one previously known example of this particular front/back combo in the hobby before this one was discovered.  The gentleman who did find this example was out on a trip looking through items being sold at the house this card was in.  He knew it was an important card as he already had a T206 Ty Cobb red background in his personal collection, but didn't know this back was so rare. 

 

He decided to sell this Cobb, keeping his other example, and listed it on eBay.  When knowledgeable collectors began asking him about the card and people started talking about it possibly not being legit, he realized there was something more to this card than just the fact that it's a Cobb.  He pulled the listing and contacted REA.

Image courtesy Robert Edward Auctions

 

After speaking with the auction house he sent this Cobb card to their offices to be examined.  REA card experts all took a look at it and determined it was legit.  It was sent to SGC to be graded and authenticated and came back with the numerical grade of 10/1 poor.  There are several condition issues with this card including the very clear horizontal crease in the middle that contribute to this grade. 

 

There are now two of these amazing cards residing in SGC holders in the hobby.  The gentleman decided to consign this Cobb and several other cards he owned in the latest REA auction.  The Cobb opened at $25,000 and garnered 19 bids ending at $60,000.  I actually thought it would go for more considering what it is: A Ty Cobb red background, one of the most popular cards from the T206 set, the most popular tobacco set in the hobby, with one of the rarest backs possible, of which only two are now known. 

The latest sale of the T206 Cobb with Ty Cobb back in the last Heritage Auction realized $408,000.00.  Now I know, that one was graded PSA 3.5 and the Ty Cobb back is ranked tougher than the Broad Leaf 460, but I'm still surprised this BL460 didn't go for more money. 

What do you guys think? 

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



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...

100th Philly Show - A Great Time Was Had

Ever since I knew I was going to be moving back east from CA, I was hoping to get a chance to go to the Ft. Washington Show.

If you've never heard of this show, you should check out the website here, especially if you live withing a few hours drive of Reading, PA. I know what you're thinking, "Philly Show, Ft. Washington Show, Reading, PA? Which is it man?" The show has moved around a little bit since it started in 1975, so it's been known as a few different names. You can read a little about it on their website.

I got a chance to go to the show last night and it was awesome. There were a lot of national dealers in attendance as well as many auction houses including Mastro, Huggins & Scott, Clean Sweep, Hunt, American Memorabilia, and Heritage Galleries. PSA and SGC were there taking submissions while GAI had a space reserved but nobody was there.

Now, I had heard that this show was a treasure trove of vintage cards and memorabilia, but I had no idea what I was in store for. There was so much stuff that I almost didn't make it through the whole show in the three and half hours that I was there. I walked around slowly taking it all in, the cards, the gloves, the game used jerseys and bats, the pennants, the programs, vintage hats, Spalding guides, trophies....I could go on and on for a while here, but I'll spare you the boring reading part and move on.

I was able to pick up a few things on my wantlist, which is very exciting for me. I'll scan them and get you some images to look at soon. I wanted to get a quick post in today while everything was still fresh from last night. I wish I could go back, but I don't have the time the rest of the weekend. I'll try to post again tonight, or tomorrow with some images and some more details about the trip.

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

The Beckett T206 Wagner

The Beckett Wagner is just one of 546 new T206's to enter the hobby from a new find that came from a non-collector who had inherited the cards years ago.

The Wagner, along with the other cards from the find, are currently up for sale in the Robert Edward Auctions Spring auction. I have to agree with REA when they state that this is a very attractive low grade example of this hobby gem. I have a particular soft spot for cards that are beat up pretty good. I like to know that they were enjoyed long ago, that someone handled them and showed to friends, carried them around with them, had a bunch of them in a box and they all got banged up over the years.

This card is a great beater as far as I'm concerned. It has evenly rounded corners and even some creasing and a bit of paperloss, but the image is bold and vibrant with a great background color. Even Hans' rosy cheeks are clear in this image.

We all know this is the "Holy Grail" of baseball cards and that it has legendary status, and most people outside the hobby (I assume) attribute this to the rarity of the card. There are, however, a great deal of cards that are more rare that the T206 Honus Wagner card. In fact, there are many Wagner cards that are more rare than this one. But, this Wagner is from the greatest of pre-war baseball card sets; the T206 White Border set. I am not trying to argue that this is not a rare card though. People have different opinions about how to define "rare" when talking about baseball cards. But with around 50 examples estimated to exist of this card, let's call it rare for now.

In the not so distant past this card would bring headlines when it would become available for sale. The Gretzky/McNall Wagner would get national headlines (okay, maybe not headlines, but at least national coverage) when it came up for sale each time. But right now, as I type this, there are TWO of them up for auction at the same time! Simply amazing! The example pictured above is being sold in the Robert Edward Auctions Spring 2008 Auction and the second example, an SGC10 example, is being sold in the Heritage Auction.

But wait, this gets better. The uncataloged Joe Jackson card pictured to the left is quite rare as well. In fact, in Mastro Auctions, Inc. current auction catalog they say that "just two examples, in total, are known to exist". I would say that is pretty rare. This example is the exact one that Mastro is offering up right now.

Well, if in fact there are only two examples known to exist then you can see them both right now. The other one is currently for sale in the same REA auction mentioned above. Regarding the card's rarity, REA says in their catalog that the one they are offering is "the only example of this card we have ever seen".

This is amazing folks. This is one of the things that I love about this hobby. Most people can not afford the T206 Wagner, and a lot of people can not afford one of the Joe Jacksons here, but we can all enjoy them because of these auction houses and the internet.

I have no idea what this Jackson will end up at when the bidding ends, but we all know it will be nowhere near either of the two Wagners being offered. And I don't think that is a surprise to anybody. I guess rarity isn't the only thing that puts value on a card.

I, for one, am very interested to see where the hammer falls with these four cards. Not to mention all the other amazing items in these auctions. There are even three T206 Magie Errors being offered just in REA alone. And Heritage has three of the four biggies from the T206 set, Wagner, Plank and Magie.

Enjoy the hobby everyone. It really is a wonderful place to spend some time.

Barry Halper Auction 1999

I just recently picked up the auction catalog for the Barry Halper sale that Sotheby's had in 1999. I have read about Barry's collection, and have seen several pieces from it in the past, but I never saw the catalog and had no idea what was actually in the auction. I was so curious to finally see the details of the auction, so when I got the catalogs (yes, there are two of them because his collection was so massive) I was very excited.

If you have never seen what this man had in his collection, then you must get a hold of these catalogs and spend some time browsing them. His collection seriously rivaled that of the Baseball Hall of Fame. He had some very important baseball memorabilia.

It wasn't just the cards that have me in awe either, although he did have many great cards. It was the game used items, the personal items of the greats of the game, the shear scope of the collection that floored me.

Remember George Brett's pine tar game? Barry had the actual ball that Brett hit for the home run, the uniform he was wearing, and even the actuall pine tar bat. George did, however, ask Barry for the bat to be returned and he replaced it with another bat that had been used to hit three homeruns in a 1978 AL playoff game against the Yanks. Remember Bill Buckner in 1986? Barry had Bill's glove and shoes from that historic moment. Ever hear of Cy Young? Yeah, Barry had one of his game used jerseys. And what about Cap Anson? You remember, waaaaaay back in the day? Yup, one of his jerseys was in Barry's collection also.

I could go on and on with all the crazy stuff he had. It must have been so amazing to sit in his collection room and just look around at everything in sight. Someday I would like to have an office in my house that is home to the many pieces that I have collected in my life. Luckily for me, my wife wants me to have this room also. Isn't she great.

Barry Halper - 12/03/39 - 12/18/05