On March 11, 2018, an eBay member listed the above Ty Cobb Broad Leaf 460 as a 7-day auction. As you can imagine, it caused quite a stir in the T206 collecting community. I was notified within minutes when a friend sent an email titled simply, “Did You See This?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Not even a year earlier I had written an article about the only Cobb Broad Leaf 460 in existence. I got online to take a look at the card, fully expecting the find reasons to doubt its legitimacy. I pulled up the listing, and my initial gut reaction was, “Holy crap. This is real.”
I took a closer look at the edges and read the seller’s description. Anytime a significant front/back combo shows up for sale in raw form, the main thing you want to look out for is the possibility that the card has been re-backed. There are two types of re-backs. In the first type, the front is real, but the back is fake. In the second, the front is real and features a huge star like Cobb, Young, Johnson, etc and the back is also real, but was taken from a common player’s card and affixed to the Hall of Fame front. After looking closer at the card, I felt more confident that it was legit. The back was clearly real, which eliminated the possibility that someone had bought an $800 Cobb, created a fake Broad Leaf 460 back, and combined the two. The seller’s description also rang true. I’ve read hundreds of eBay descriptions written by scammers, and this one didn’t raise any red flags for me.
A thread soon developed on Net54. Not surprisingly, a majority of posters were concerned about the card being a fake, or more specifically, a fake back affixed to a real front. I was a little surprised at how many posters felt certain the card was no good. Plenty of well-known collectors who have handled tons of T206s flat-out called it a fake. There tends to be a good deal of skepticism among collectors on Net54 with any new find a raw card, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. In this case, I don’t blame people for being skeptical. The seller didn’t have any recent feedback, and more concerning, they hadn’t listed any common players or backs.
The auction ran for two days, and the Net54 thread raged on. On March 12th, a Net54 member posted the following message he had received from the seller:
Hello xxxxxxx,
As I stated in my listing yes, I would refund high bid if and only if, card is a fake or rebacked (word of the day) lol. I have an offer of $21,000 to end auction and 2 collectors flying out to view card before making an offer. Both collectors are aware of the $21,000 offer. Good luck bidding.
regards,
xxxxxxx
On the 13th, the auction was ended by the seller. It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened, but we didn’t have to wait long to find out where the card had ended up. In the meantime, a friend of mine, who had been corresponding with the seller, sent me the following pictures of the other cards in the collection the Broad Leaf 460 Cobb came from. It’s a small collection, but man is it packed with some tough cards!
On March 23rd, Brian Dwyer of REA posted the preview of the Spring Auction, which would be headlined by the Cobb Broad Leaf 460! On April 13, 2018, the auction opened to the usual fanfare of an REA offering. Before I even had a chance to put in my initial bids, the lot was at $20,000.
When the auction ended last Sunday, (May 6, 2018) the final sale price was $60,000 after the juice. My opinion probably doesn’t mean that much, as I was just a spectator, but I feel like the buyer got a great deal on this card. Obviously $60k is a lot of money, but for T206 back collectors, it doesn’t get any better than this. In my article titled T206 Hall of Fame Front/Back Combo Power Rankings: The Elite: Top 10(Which is a fun read that I recommend checking out), I ranked the Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait with Broad Leaf 460 back as the #1 most desirable front/back combo in the T206 world.
It was a lot of fun to watch this saga unfold. It’s something of a feel-good story for all involved. I imagine the consignor is very happy to pocket $50,000 for a card they didn’t initially realize was anywhere near this valuable. The seller got an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime card at a very nice price. And all of us onlookers got a great show!
I touched on this piece in last week’s article. It’s the closest thing we have to an uncut T206 sheet. Clearly it’s significance goes well beyond that fact though. It’s hard to believe that such an item exists given how rare the T206 Wagner is to begin with. In my opinion, this “card” is the most desirable T206 (or related item) out there. Some people might prefer a Wagner or the Collins With Bat Proof, but I’d take this strip every day of the week.
Legend has it that this card was found in the attic of a home that Wagner had once owned. The attic contained many of Wagner’s personal items including baseball gear and uniforms. In fact, this card is said to have been found in the back pocket of a pair of uniform pants. The generally accepted theory is the strip was given to Wagner in an attempt to secure his permission to use his likeness.
As you can see, there are many differences between the way the cards in the strip look and the ultimate finished product. These differences are not too surprising given that this piece was a “Proof” which was given to Wagner before all of the details were ironed out. The lines between the cards caused quite a discussion on net54baseball.com back in 2010. The lines are odd because, as we know, T206 sheets were ultimately not printed with lines between them. There was a bit of back-and-forth between people who had viewed the card in person and were confident that it was one continuous strip of paper, and a vocal minority who theorized that the strip was made up of 5 individual cards which were carefully pasted together. In this theory, the lines between the cards was actually a seam. Ultimately, it seems that the people who held this viewpoint had not viewed the card in person (at least for the most part) and just couldn’t accept that the lines were printed on the cards. However, there were many differences between the strip and the ultimate finished product, so it doesn’t really make sense to make such a determination based on the printed lines. Lots of minor details were changed between the time this strip was printed and the time the first T206 cards were released in cigarette packs. On June 12th 2010, Wayne Varner made this post on net54:
Ted Z and others, I can shed a little light on this proof strip. Back in 1978 Bill Zimpleman, Mike Wheat, Ken Blazek, and myself, Wayne Varner were on a buying trip in the Pittsburgh area and we purchased this strip from a gentleman who had purchased Wagner’s house. We bought a number of items he found in the house. I cannot remember all the details, but after we purchased the strip, we had a drawing, and I won the strip. I sold it in 1980 to Barry Helper, who to my knowledge owned the strip until he passed away*. I can tell you from holding the strip many times, it is not cards pasted together. Could that have been done at the factory and then potographed to send to Wagner, possibly, but not likely. However it was done, it was definitely done at the factory, and has the proof lines like all the proof cards I have ever seen. I have seen the strip on several occasions since Barry passed away and it is in the same orginial condition as when I owned it from 1978 until 1980. There is no question it is orginial and unaltered no matter what anyone says. Hope this helps a little.
Wayne Varner
SHOEBOX CARDS
Mr. Varner was the first collector/dealer to own the card. He mentions that the thought Halper owned the strip until his death, but actually, Sotheby’s auctioned off the Barry Halper collection in 1999, 6 years before Halper passed away (in 2005). The next few years after the Sotheby’s auction were quite eventful.
Sotheby’s auctioned off the strip in 1999, as part of the Barry Halper Collection. It sold for $85,000.
In late 2000, the strip sold for $93,000 in a Steve Verkman Cards and Memorabilia auction.
The winning bid was placed by the “Shop at Home Television Network”. They bought it with plans to feature it as a prize in an upcoming giveaway they were doing. It was won by a 15 year-old from California named Jordan Marquez. Unfortunately, Jordan was hit with a hefty tax bill as a result of winning the strip, and was forced to sell it. It was consigned with Mastro Net in 2002, where it sold for $78,665.
After that busy three year stretch, the strip stayed out of the spotlight for a while. However, it wasn’t too long before it surfaced again. In May of 2010, the Wagner Strip was on display at Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia to promote it’s inclusion in the upcoming Hunt Auction, which took place at the All Star Fanfest. The winning bid of $316,250 (after the juice) was placed by SCP Auctions on behalf of one of their clients.
The Wagner Strip has not sold publicly since 2010. The T206 market has been quite strong in the intervening eight years. I imagine the strip would sell for quite a bit more if it were to hit the auction block in the near future.
This week I’m excited to team up again with Jamie Blundell to tell the story of quite possibly the coolest T206 ever printed. Dubbed the “T206 Rosetta Stone” by net54’s resident T206 Freak, Johnny V., this card is truly one-of-a-kind. Whatever you choose to call it, it’s clearly the most impressive example of T206 Printer’s Scrap in existence. Its simple front gives no indication of the craziness awaiting you on the reverse.
The front features Southern Leaguer Dom Mullaney of Jacksonville. The back has so much going on that it’s almost impossible to pick up with the naked eye. Here is a full list of everything printed on the back of this card:
Brown Old Mill back (The rarest of all T206 backs)*
Upside Down Miscut Piedmont 350 back showing parts of 4 backs
El Principe de Gales back
Upside Down El Principe de Gales back
Upside Down ghost image of Cy Young (Portrait)
Yellow ink pass for Cy Young (Portrait)
Yellow ink pass for George Mullin (Throwing)
Below is a really cool graphic made by T206 collector Chris Browne. He isolated each individual component of the back for easier viewing.
This is one of my favorite T206s in the entire hobby. It’s crazy to think this card survived all these years, while none of the other cards from the same sheet did so. Someone must have salvaged the sheet this card was printed on, cut up the cards, and saved them. My guess is the main reason this particular card survived while others didn’t is the image of Cy Young on the back. I can imagine most of the other cards being discarded due to being both exceedingly strange and depicting a nondescript Southern Leaguer. The presence of Cy Young on this card no doubt elevated it to a higher status within the collection it resided in.
Multi-strike backs are rare enough, but the fact this one features a Brown Old Mill back and a Cy Young ghost (not to mention everything else) makes it an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime card. Since the T206 Wagner already staked claim to the term “Holy Grail”, I think “Rosetta Stone” is a fitting nickname for this incredible specimen.
Unlike many T206s whose provenance is a mystery, we can trace this card from its current owner all the way back to its original owner.
Timeline:
In 1970, this card was purchased by a nostalgia shop called Little Nemo’s in Queens, New York from the original owner’s family.
This card, along with around 180 other tobacco cards was purchased from Little Nemo’s by Tom McMorrow, the future owner of East Hampton Auctions on eBay.
In 2008, after owning the card for 38 years, East Hampton Auctions listed the card for auction on eBay. In an effort to promote the listing, he made the video below and posted it on YouTube, where it still resides. Mr. Mullaney (and friends) was won by the owner of the net54baseball.com forum, Leon Luckey, for a final bid of $9,750.
In addition to the video, Tom gave a little more information about the card’s history in the auction description, which was captured for posterity by the website, t206museum.com:
“This card was one of about 180 purchased in a shoebox from a nostalgia type store on Ascan Avenue in Queens, NY named Little Nemo’s back in the early 1970s. The store had just purchased them from original owner’s family. The collection was fairly typical for what a boy growing up in New York area would have collected back in 1911, weighted towards Hall of Famers (three Cobbs, at least five McGraw, several Matty, quite a few New York Giants in the group) all in Gd to Ex condition with a few lower grade, no reverse stock loss on any, and nothing out of the ordinary but for this one. It looked like a normal kid’s collection of baseball cards, much like the Topps cards I had collected in the 1960s. This card was probably obtained by that child back in 1911 the same way kids obtained their cards for generations, by trading, flipping, or straight out of the pack.”
-T206 Museum July 9, 2008
In August 2015, the Leon Luckey collection hit the auction block via Heritage. On August 13, 2015, with a final hammer price of $19,120, the “Rosetta Stone” found a new home in the collection of Jamie Blundell.
If you’ve been reading this site for awhile, you may remember the article I wrote with Jamie about his incredible T206 Ty Cobb Back Run. If you missed it, that article can be read by clicking on the link below:
It’s really surprising to me that the market wasn’t stronger for this card when it sold at auction. In my opinion, it’s much more desirable than any of the other Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers. Don’t get me wrong, any Brown Old Mill is an amazing card, and isolating the Brown Old Mill back by itself is arguably more pleasing to the eye. I just feel the Rosetta Stone has a mystique unlike any other card, save perhaps the Eddie Collins With Bat Proof.
Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers are incredibly rare. They are all hand-cut and were not distributed in cigarette packages. The prevailing theory is the printers used brown ink by mistake, and scrapped the sheets. The cards were then cut up and saved either by one of the printers themselves, or perhaps by kids from the neighborhood.
A few Brown Old Mill Southern Leaguers have sold publicly in the years since Jamie won the Rosetta Stone. I was surprised to see a couple of them sold for more than the Rosetta Stone:
Sid Smith SGC A sold for $24,000 in REA Spring 2015 auction
J.R. Helm SGC A sold for $14,400 in REA Spring 2016 auction
Dutch Revelle SGC A sold for $20,400 in REA Fall 2017 auction
I want to thank Jamie for sharing the story of this amazing card, and for providing me with much of the info presented above, which helped me put together the ownership timeline.
*Or the 2nd rarest if you consider the Ty Cobb back to be a T206
Today, I’m excited to present a guest article, written by my friend Rob Dewolf. Enjoy! – Luke
Written by Rob Dewolf
Sometimes the best journeys are the ones you plan the least.
Spur-of-the-moment road trips with a college roommate. A weekend getaway with your significant other that comes together in an hour on Saturday morning. A split-second decision that leads to a 1 a.m. trek to the Taco Bell drive-thru.
OK, so maybe a little planning can be a good thing. But one of my best T206 excursions was one I never saw happening.
Because of my age (54) and early interest in baseball cards that continued through high school, I’m among those who can say, “I started collecting T206s in the 1980s.”
But honestly, that “collecting” was defined by picking up a stray white border at a card show now and then or buying a Hall of Famer when I could afford it. So, yeah, technically I “bought” T206s more than thirty years ago, but I wasn’t really “collecting” them.
That changed in 2012, when I decided to cautiously pursue a T206 Polar Bear subset, which seemed like a good fit for a number of reasons. First, it’s only 250 cards. I figured from a mental standpoint, that number wasn’t overwhelming (520, I’m looking at you). Plus, having been born and raised in Ohio, I feel a connection to Polar Bear backs because Factory 6, 1st District, which is listed on the backs of the cards, was located in the Buckeye State. Add the fact that Polar Bears aren’t common like Sweet Caporal or Piedmont but are readily available, and I felt good about the undertaking.
After about a year or so of enjoying and nearly finishing that challenge, I decided to keep plugging away and collect an entire set of T206s, minus the Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and Joe Doyle error. (A fortunate series of events down the road led to the acquisition of a Plank, but that’s another story – one that can be read by clicking this link: Lionel Carter’s T206 Eddie Plank)
My next step toward a set was to knock off the Southern Leaguers. Because nearly half my T206 set was going to have a Polar Bear back, I decided I wanted the SLers subset to have an “uncommon common” back, i.e. not Piedmonts. This left Old Mills and Hindus as my choices. The Hindus, because of their scarcity, seemed too daunting a challenge, not to mention that only 34 of the 48 Southern League subjects come with a Hindu back. The Old Mills, however, much like the Polar Bears I had been collecting, were uncommon yet attainable.
The timing of this decision was nearly perfect. Not long after looking for a starter lot of Old Mill Southern Leaguers, a near-complete group in mid-range condition came up for auction. I was able to buy it, and after filling in the holes and picking up the last few Polar Bears I was missing, my T206 project was at 298 cards.
Fast-forward to about a year later. My set was “complete” at 520 cards (the Plank deal hadn’t happened yet), but I wasn’t ready to quit on T206s. After considering a few different possible projects (another set, this one in lower grade; Cleveland players with tougher backs; an all-portrait set), I settled on expanding my southern-league horizon. Wouldn’t it be cool, I thought, to have all of the Southern Leaguers with all of the three different backs? A total of 130 cards, 48 each with Piedmont and Old Mill backs, 34 with Hindus.
The Piedmonts weren’t too tough, even when waiting for strong mid-range examples (Side note: This is one of the truly nice things about collecting T206s. There are so many of them out there, you have your choice of what condition you want, and unless you’re collecting PSA 8s, you rarely feel you’ve hit a wall).
So, while picking up Piedmonts at a steady pace, I started on the Hindus, buying one here and one there and not being as particular on condition as I was with the Piedmonts and Old Mills. In addition to there not being as many Hindu SLers as there are ones with the other two backs, it’s a challenge finding all of them in strong, mid-range condition. Sure, you can pick up a type card in a 3, 4 or 5 holder without much trouble. But when you’ve got 20 or so Hindu SLers crossed off your want list, finding that final dozen in nice shape is a fun hunt.
I was fortunate during my entire T206 journey, and in particular the southern-league side trip, to have Jim Rivera helping me. Jim is a friend — not just a “hobby friend” (whatever that means), but a true friend who has forgotten more about T206s than many collectors know. Jim has a particular fondness for the Southern Leaguers, and at one point his collection of not only T206 SLers but also those in the T210 Old Mill and T211 Red Sun sets was something to marvel at.
After working a deal to buy seven of Jim’s extra Hindu SLers, coupled with the handful I already had bought, I had a good start toward completing the SL trifecta. Months followed of buying one here and there and upgrading when I could.
More than once I bought lots of 10-20 cards in auctions only to get the two or three Piedmont or Hindu SLers I didn’t have. Another big plus to collecting T206s: Because they are so popular, they’re about as liquid as cardboard can get, meaning if you buy a large lot of T206s because you need only a few, finding buyers for your extras is relatively easy. (Assuming you didn’t overpay in the first place.)
My march to completion, while not conducted at a breakneck speed, was at a comfortable pace. Southern Leaguers are always are popping up on eBay and in auctions, and rarely do you feel any of them are “must-haves” that cause you to overpay (unless you’re impatient, which – as you’re about to learn- I can be).
Finally, the Piedmonts were finished and I was one Hindu away from being able to say “Mission accomplished!” (Wait, does anyone really say that anymore?) Regardless, my white whale took the form of Dutch Jordan, one of the more popular Southern Leaguers, which I figured would lead me to paying a bit more than the normal rate, but this card was not one that I counted on being tough to buy.
Now, admittedly, the ease of closing the books on a set or subset, unless the card you’re seeking is truly rare, really is dictated by timing. A Hindu Jordan really shouldn’t be any tougher to find than a Scoops Carey or George Paige. Often, it’s just a matter of being fortunate to have one come up for sale at the time you’re looking to buy. And I realized this when weeks turned to months and no Hindu Jordans hit eBay or the auction houses.
In fact, in a bit of irony, a blank-backed T206 Jordan became available in a Robert Edward Auction while I was searching for a Hindu. I bought the blank back, which is maybe a thousand times rarer than a Hindu SLer, thinking that perhaps down the road it might be part of a trade for a Jordan if I was unable to buy one.
As more time passed, that gaping hole caused by Jordan’s absence became more and more annoying to me, particularly because I had been in contact with a T206 collector who had multiples of a Hindu Jordan but didn’t want to sell one. Finally, it got to the point where I emailed him to see whether he had interest in trading for my blank-backed Jordan, thinking it would bring the Hindu Jordan and another T206 or two in return.
I’ll spare the blow-by-blow account of the negotiation, other than to say the pursuit of cardboard pictures of dead baseball players can cause an otherwise fairly smart person to do not-so-smart things. Such was the case when I agreed to trade the blank-backed Jordan straight up for the Hindu. This, after the owner of the Hindu said he reluctantly would do the deal.
Even though I knew I was trading a card I had paid $2,000-plus for at auction for a card that would sell for $600 on a good day, I made the deal. Was it dumb? Monetarily, of course. But I assumed that the satisfaction of completing a pretty challenging subset would help numb the fact that I was committing a financial blunder.
And for a while it did. But eventually, whenever I looked at the Hindu Jordan, I felt a different kind of annoyance. And it had nothing to do with money. I’m kind of old-school, so I can remember when card collectors made trades based not solely on money but on what one party had available and the other party needed. I knew that on the surface, that’s kind of what happened with me and the Jordans, but deep down, I knew I had acted foolishly, simply because I was impatient. I’m certainly not crying foul, because I agreed to the deal. I was to blame for any annoyance I felt. But I also knew there was a way to rectify the situation.
Eventually, as I knew one would, a Hindu Jordan came up for sale. In fact, it happened not more than a few months after the trade. I was in worse condition than the one I traded for, but I didn’t mind a bit. Bought it without hesitation.
I no longer wanted the “first” Hindu Jordan, so I mailed it back to its previous owner, not expecting anything in return. I received an email about a week later, saying he appreciated the gesture “more than you know” and that he’d return the blank-backed Jordan. That was more than two years ago. I guess somewhere in the USPS system is a lost blank-backed Dutch Jordan searching for a home. I hope he’s well.
Looking back, my T206 projects were a lot of fun. I really enjoy the Southern League master set and still casually watch for a few upgrades. Plus, the experience left me with my own set of “Jordan rules”: Don’t get too emotional when it comes to baseball cards, and stay patient.
Written by Rob Dewolf
Some Southern Leaguer oddities that Rob added to his Master Set
I’m very excited to share a interview I recently conducted with Paul of t206collector.com. Paul has put together a mind-blowing collection of autographed pre-war baseball cards. As you could surmise from the name of his website (t206collector.com), Paul is a T206 collector at heart. However, as you’ll see in the Gallery below, he doesn’t pass up a chance to add a significant signed card from any of the other sets produced during the era. In my opinion this collection belongs in a museum. After you read the article, please take a couple minutes to scroll through the Gallery below. I’m always blown away when I look at Paul’s cards. It’s almost beyond belief that this many signed Pre-War cards reside in a single collection.
Without further ado, here is our conversation:
What was the first signed card you acquired?
I met Mark McGwire in October 1987, right after he broke the rookie record for home runs in a season. He signed my 1985 Topps Olympic card. I still have it.
What was the first signed tobacco card you acquired?
In or about 2004, there were four signed Rube Marquards from the same collection listed on ebay over a couple of weeks. I won them all. Two of them, my hands at sides and my portrait, I still have. The others (dupes obviously) were traded or sold over 10 years ago.
Was there a specific moment when you decided to steer your collection in the direction it has ultimately taken?
I would pick up a signed T206 Snodgrass batting and a signed T206 Doyle Batting between 2004 and 2007, but my interest took a serious turn as a result of the Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 Cards in 2007.
When did you decide “I’m going to get as many signed T206s as I can?”
I didn’t see that as a realistic goal until 2007, when The Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 cards began hitting eBay. I thought about getting all the dupes too, but quickly ran out of money!
How many signed pre-war cards are you able to add in a given year? Has it varied over the years? I’m assuming it has gotten tougher as they have all dried up (thanks to you, haha)?
Exactly. It’s about 1 per year over the last seven or 8 years. Normally I already have the poses signed that come to market. Goodwin just had 7 signed T206s last month. But, I already had them all (and had previously owned many of them as well, but had upgraded).
Do you have a favorite card in your collection?
That is a really tough one, and it changes periodically. I love my signed T206 Lajoie, T206 Clarke, T206 Doyle Batting, M116 Sporting Life Wagner, M101-2 Speaker,1914 Cracker Jack Marquard, T201 Leifield and T201 Wheat, among others.
Do you have one or more favorite stories of how you acquired certain cards?
Being connected with an old time autograph collector who sold me the signed Lajoie and Wagner, as well as a signed T206 Baker and signed T206 Crawford batting, was outstanding. I literally flew from NYC to North Carolina over the Christmas Holiday to visit with the collector and peruse his collection. It was amazing.
Did you make any fun trades along the way?
Yes, my trades for the signed T206 Clarke and T206 Young both came from the same pre-war autographed card collector. I had some rare signed Goudeys, T201s, T202s, and T205s I was able to trade him.
With all the amazing stuff in your collection, is there anything else left to search for? Are there any “white whales” you are still after?
I need a signed T206 Cobb. That’s the “white whale” and I have gotten pretty close a few times.
Because your collection is so advanced, do you find yourself getting bored in periods of time when you aren’t able to add anything new?
Yes, that does happen. It’s during those down periods that I find interest in different unsigned sets for a period of time. That rarely lasts more than a year or two, before I am selling everything to make a run at a new signed T206 that I just have to have!
If so, do you have any other things you collect to pass the time?
Unsigned T206s and some caramel cards.
Do you have any big plans for the future with your collection such as showing it in a museum or anything like that?
That would be cool, but I do not think there are too many museums that would be interested in showcasing it. Instead, I’m happy to keep the collection in my bank’s safe deposit box, and share the scans online with anyone who is interested!
That meeting with the collector in NC sounds amazing. Is there any more you can tell us about that meeting? Like what kinds of stuff he had, or stories he might’ve told you? I know you may not want to say too much in the interest of keeping his anonymity, but if you can tell any stories, I’d love to hear them.
It was crazy from a travel perspective – flying from NYC to Charlotte to have him (a complete stranger) pick me up at the airport and take me to his house to look at baseball cards. Ever since I started speaking with Jeff Morey in 2007, I have had a tiny little want ad in his “The Autograph Review” or “TAR” mailing. In December, a guy who also subscribes to TAR found out about the NC guy’s collection and connected me for a finder’s fee. The NC guy is maybe in his mid 60s, a dentist, with a passion for baseball and music autographs. Most of his stuff he bought at auction or in old baseball card catalogs over the past 30 years. Most of his signed pre-war (he had Cobb, Cy Young, Tris Speaker) were obvious fakes, but he had struck a little gold now and again — he had bought the M116 Wagner from a memorabilia shop in Texas in the early 90s. What he didn’t sell to me, and what was authentic, he consigned to Robert Edward Auctions. He made over $100,000 in the April 2017 REA, mostly driven by some sick early, pre-Ringo Beatles autographs. He has a bunch of lesser items still being listed in the October REA. And a few smaller lots were listed in Sterling Sports Auctions.
From that collection I got the M116 Wagner, and signed T206s of Baker, Lajoie and Crawford Batting. Many of the other cards in my collection come from Jeff Morey’s collection – a dozen or so signed pre-war cards he didn’t consign with Mastro in 2001. The great balance came out of the 2007 Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 Cards and a Hunt Auction that November.
Sorry, no stories of getting the signatures myself. I was not even 8 when the last T206er died (Marquard)! I wouldn’t own an unsigned T206 for another 17 years, or a signed T206 Marquard for 24 years!
Is there anything that I didn’t think to ask, but you think people would be interested to know?
On our wedding day, after the ceremony, but before the dinner/toasts, my wife pulled me aside and gave me a T206 Groom card – as I was the groom that day. Now that was awesome!
Please take a couple minutes to view the complete collection below in the Gallery!
*All of the scans used in this article and the Gallery below are courtesy of T206collector.com. Please check out the site!
