Monday, December 31, 2007
Happy New Year's From T206Collector.com!
We are starting off the New Year with a couple of sales of signed T206 cards from our collection -- a signed Lefty Leifield
batting pose and a signed Fred Snodgrass catching pose. Check out the Sales & Links page at the top of this website
for more details and get free shipping if you mention that you saw these cards first on my website.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
J.W. Morey Interview
Thanks for all of the kind words on the Jeff Morey Interview (click Interviews & Articles link above to listen or
read). One of the things that Mr. Morey made clear to me was that he was not alone in his pursuits of signatures, and
that his was a shared pursuit in the larger context of a very active hobby. There were many collectors getting deadball
era cards signed. And so it is not surprising that they will make their way into the market, especially now when interest
in them is at an all time high. But, in short, I'm just happy so many people seem to really enjoy the interview.
If you enjoy collecting autographs or just want to learn more about them, I recommend the Autograph Review,
Mr. Morey's bi-monthly publication. Subscriptions are just $14.95 a year, with a dollar discount for each additional
year up to three years, and are available by writing Mr. Morey at 305 Carlton Road, Syracuse, NY 13207. Back issues
are also available -- eight random issues for only $9.95, plus $3.00 postage and handling.
Thanks again for visiting this website and I hope you enjoy your stay here. I hope to keep adding to it, so please
keep checking back!
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Interview Post-Production
I am in the final stages of post-production on the telephone interview I conducted with a hobby legend on Thursday.
I was able to record the conversation and convert it into downloadable and streaming audio versions that can be listened to
on a computer or .mp3 player. I also created a transcript of the interview that can be read from any computer.
As soon as it is complete, it will have its own separate page on this website and will include some signed T205 and T206 cards
from his collection. Stay tuned...
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Coming Soon...
...An interview with a hobby legend. I will be conducting an interview with one of the great collectors in the
coming days and will post the questions and answers on here, along with some examples from his collection, soon. Stay
tuned....
Monday, December 24, 2007
See You Later Walter!
The original owner of the Walter Johnson signed T206 card has decided to hold on to it for now. Apparently, he has
been the recipient of some pretty tough e-mails about letting the Johnson go. As such, he will keep it and I wish him
nothing but the best. I hope he enjoys it as much as I know I would have!
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Christmas Came Early This Year
Every year, children across the world wake up early on Christmas morning to see what treats Santa left for them under
the tree. Well, this year I feel like one of those children, except Santa hasn't even come to our house yet and it's
not even Christmas -- it's two days before Christmas.
Last night, I completed negotiations with a very generous, old school collector -- a huge admirer of the "Train" -- who
was, in the end, most concerned with a proper forum for displaying his prized baseball card: a signed T206 card of Hall
of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson. This collector worked with me to send me the card because collecting cards sometimes
isn't just about seeing how much money you can squeeze out of someone -- sometimes it is about respecting the grandeur and
history of a card, making sure the card is going to someone who will adore it and at the same time ensuring that T206
collectors have a place to go where they can enjoy the card, too.
In many ways, the modern card collectors website serves as a museum to the collecting public; where you can see
up close and personal cards that were heretofore invisible and unknown. And that is really the way that I view this
website. I want this to be the place people turn to in order to view signed T206 cards and other autographed deadball
era favorites.
Thanks for surfing and reading!
Saturday, December 22, 2007
T206 Injustice -- Fiene Gets Two; Mack Gets None?
Born on December 22, 1862 in East Brookfield, MA, Cornelius Alexander McGillicuddy, a.k.a. Connie Mack, would have been
145 years old if he were alive today. One of the greatest managers of all time, it is hard to understand why so many
of Mack's contemporary managers were featured on T206 -- e.g., John McGraw (3 cards), Hughie Jennings (3 cards) and Hugh
Duffy (1 card), to name a few -- but Mack got no T206 card. Some have suggested that the reason for this is similar
to the reason that Plank has such a short lifespan in T206, i.e., that there was a Philadelphia Athletics licensing issue
of some sort. For whatever reason, Mack fans need to look beyond T206 (to E96 or Cracker Jack, for example) to find
a baseball card rendition of the "The Tall Tactician."
On this same date in 1964, 43 years ago today, Lou Fiene passed away. Known as “Big Finn,” Fiene had a
very short career as a pitcher for the Chicago White Sox, from 1906-1909. Having recorded just 26 games and 138.0 innings
pitched over his brief Major League career, Fiene was out of Major League Baseball before his 25th birthday. He played
his final game on August 15, 1909. Given the brevity of his career, it is surprising that the manufacturers
of T206 cards decided to include two poses of Fiene. Click the Signed T206 Galleries page at the top of this website
in order to view both of them signed by Lou Fiene himself, probably autographed in the late 1950s.
That Lou Fiene gets two T206 cards and Connie Mack
gets none may be one of the greatest injustices done by the manufacturers of T206 cards. (Obviously, if the T206 publishers
were facing lawsuits from Philadelphia then the injustice is certainly justified.) Coincidentally, Fiene
died on Mack's birthday -- today -- December 22, just three days prior to Christmas.
Click below for Mack and Fiene's stats pages on Baseball-Reference.com:
Friday, December 21, 2007
Authentic Philosophy
Would you prefer to have an authentic, but trimmed T206 card with sharp corners and no creases; or the same card with
creases but no alterations? I will always side with the creased card. For me, the card should reflect its natural
state of progression from the factory. It should not have been prettied up by someone.
Don't get me wrong, removing glue or gunk from the back of a card, or erasing a pencil mark, is not a card being prettied
up, in my mind. Rather, that is undoing, to some degree, the ugly alterations of gluing a card into a scrap book
or writing on a card. It is not altering the factory issued card in any way, and it is not trying to improve the natural
age of the card. The intent is not to remove creases or restore factory condition. The intent is to remove the
subsequently added junk. And no chemicals, mind you. But that is a different story of which I have already opined
at length below.
Turning back to the original question. Mastro last April had two Planks -- the Lionel Carter I purchased and a
beautiful AUTH Plank that had been professionally restored. I'll take the beater every time. Otherwise, all you
have is a semi-reprint; a recycled paper card. Though it is interesting to note that restoration is common and accepted
practice in the art world. I've never really understood that -- or how this practice never made it into the realm of
acceptability in baseball card collecting.
Suffice to say that if the societal standards change and restoration gains credibility in baseball cards (hey, you never
know), then those of us with the beaters will make out okay. But if restoration loses credibility in the art world,
then all those owners of restored paintings would lose out. I'll take the baseball side of that coin any day.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The sale must go on...
I am not one of those collectors who buys, holds and never parts with until death. But I usually only sell to fund
a new purchase. As such, the question becomes: how far in advance do you sell your T206 cards in order to ensure
sufficient funds for a potential T206 auction purchase?
When I sold most of my T206 cards in April, I had little confidence that I was going to be able to get Lionel Carter's
Plank from the Mastro auction. But I sold the cards in advance of the auction nonetheless. I guess my theory was
that the cash is a fairly satisfactory consolation prize for a card missed at your final, threshold, max-bid price.
Plus, you have to take risks to reap certain rewards.
But, you have to be careful. If you sell a card that is hard to replace, you may never see it again, let alone at
a price approximating your sale price. So, in these cases, I hedge my bet a little -- I sell the T206 cards I can get
back without too much trouble, but I hold on to the better cards until I win. And then if I do wind up winning, I dump
the remaining cards that I was more reluctant to part with to cover the cost.
It is a fine line between sell/generate funds and hold for future funding purposes. And, thankfully, it is a lot
of fun either way.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
You buy some; you sell some
And my Christmas baseball card purchases have caused me to have to sell some old Christmas baseball card receipts for
this year's tree. Basically, out with the old, in with the new. When I get my latest installment of signed cards
in (hopefully this week), I'll be making a lot of noise on here about them. Stay tuned....
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Show Me Your Miscuts And Your Ghost Prints
Yes it is true, I don't care much for specs of print "variations" like nodgrass, et al.; but I have a hard time avoiding
reasonably priced T206 miscuts and ghost prints. I particularly like when you can see more than one card on the front
of a T206 card; especially when the card reflects two different images.
T206 ghost prints are even more interesting. I'm not talking about a wet sheet transfer where you can see some
red ink on the reverse of a Ty Cobb Red Portrait. I'm talking about a bona fide image of another player on your card.
Where it actually looks like a ghost's image was affixed to your T206 card. There are some very spooky ones floating
around -- sometimes you can't even identify whose ghost you're looking at. And that lends an additional layer of mystery
to an already peculiar card.
But let's not get carried away here. Are interesting printing phenomenon worth more than the same card without
the phenomenon? Most of the time, the answer will be yes. But how much more is debatable. Why is it that
T206 variations like these are valuable, but if you find the same printing defect in a 1957 Topps card then it destroys its
value -- its miscut with a printing defect in an ugly sense. I can't really answer that question, but I think
it has to do with the little we know about the T206 printing process versus how much we know about how Topps has produced
(and continues to produce) cards. Images that suggest how the T206 printing process was accomplished are interesting
to T206 historians. Since there is no lack of information (and a shorter history) about Topps cards, Topps collectors
don't care for those defects. Of course, this is only the faintest hint at a theory.
But beware -- beauty is in the eye of the beholder with T206 miscuts and T206 ghost prints. What is one man's Wagner
is another man's Unglaub. I bought an interesting miscut T206 Tinker bat off at a show for $200 once because I was sure
I would be able to flip it for much more than that on ebay. Two unsuccessful relists later, I took a $50 hit on that
particular investment. But if you like the card, and are going to keep it as part of your permanent collection, then
it is worth what you are willing to pay for it. And then you can enjoy it all the same.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
nodgrass, Shappe, Murr'y => Wh. C'res?
Let me get this straight. 100 years ago a spec of dust landed on a few printing plates of the T206 set, partially
obstructing the text in some players' names during printing. So we get nodgrass instead of Snodgrass,
Shappe instead of Sharpe and Murr'y instead of Murray. Not surprising. Hey,
there are print bubbles even with today's hi-tech printing machinery. But what is this you say? People actually
pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for these? Are you kidding me?
These are not rare variations. This is not the intentional act of the publisher changing a misspelled name like
Magie to Magee. Or changing a team designation for Demmitt and O'Hara.
Or even Kleinow, Smith or Elberfeld. This is a minor unintentional print defect that was never corrected. The
dust blew off. The printing plate was cleaned. No big deal. Not worth a penny. Nobody misspelled
Snodgrass's name.
I understand that there are T206 collectors out there that feel the need to acquire every known variation. Rest
assured, your set is complete without these minor printing defects. If you pick one up, enjoy it. But if you are
paying meaningfully more than the non-defect version then you are wasting your money -- unless you can find someone else that
thinks it's cool. But don't come here looking for me to care or pay you for it. Because I don't and I won't.
And if future generations of collectors agree with me, then you will get stuck in a high stakes game of musical chairs without
a seat. But at least you'll have a card with poor quality writing on it. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Soak 'Em If You Got 'Em
There are many pre-war card collectors with expectations that their cardboard has never been soaked in water, with no
visible, smellable or tastable evidence of that practice. If you think all of your cards, even the graded ones,
have never been soaked -- think again. The reason so many of the high grade cards retain their sharp corners
and clean borders is because they were pasted into scrapbooks years ago, and then subsequently carefully soaked off. Many
of us, myself included, are just happy that the card looks, smells and tastes the way it does today, regardless of its 100
year history.
I do not think that soaking (or erasing a pencil mark) are alterations, in the baseball card sense of
the word. My opinion is that alteration means altering the card itself. And restoration means putting new
material into holes in the card. Removing scrapbook, glue and dirt with water is neither altering the card or restoring
the card. Erasing pencil marks without disturbing the fabric and fiber of the cardboard is also a good idea. It
takes a mark added after the factory and removes it without hurting the factory condition.
I feel very differently
about using chemicals which, though not
visible, stay with the card. I once had two Polar Bear T206 cards without
any tobacco staining that have snow white borders. SGC would not grade them (I tried twice) because they believe that
they have been chemically soaked. Ultimately, I understand that distinction. And so does PSA and SGC, which will
grade cards that have been soaked only in water. That is also the line that I draw.
And yes, cards with wrinkles may look a little better after a good soaking and pressing. (The crease may be flattened,
though it is still visible in every case I have ever seen.) But how many of you have put cards in screw down holders?
This practice, too, keeps cards from getting warped and worn as they would if they were not in screw down holders. If
you take a warped card and press it without water or anything else other than a stack of books, is that also altering
the card?
In short, if you want to soak and press dry a card to remove bits of gunk from the reverse, please go ahead. And
if you want to erase a pencil mark, feel free. You have my permission. And you aren't doing anything wrong.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Goudey And Play Ball Are Not Pre-War
I may be alone in this, but when someone says they collect pre-war cards and then turn around and show you their collection
of 1930s Goudey and 1940s Play Ball cards, I am always disappointed. And that is because I do not consider "pre-war
cards" to be just before World War II. (For the same reason, Topps cards are not "pre-war" just because some of them
were issued before the Vietnam War.)
When someone tells me they have a pre-war card collection, I expect to see cards issued with something other than chewing
gum from before either of the two World Wars. If Babe Ruth is wearing a Yankees cap in the card, it is not pre-war;
if Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio make up most of your collection, you are not a pre-war collector.
Ultimately, I am willing to concede that the description "pre-war" is a bit vague -- Which war? What about mid-war?
Or even early-war? As such, I will seriously consider changing the titles on my threads and descriptions in
my articles to more accurately reflect that my collection is a "Deadball Era" collection. At least that way, the
reader will know right away what to expect. And if a Goudey collector comes along looking for Goudey cards here, they
won't be misled by my "pre-war" comments.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
T206 Rarities Should Be Your #1 Prerogative
With the advent of ebay, many more people are trying to put together T206 sets than ever before. The practical
ease of finding most of the set on ebay day in and day out makes collecting T206 a lot of fun, because it can truly be a daily
hobby. When you first start climbing the T206 mountain, you think, "Wow, these are so old, they must be really rare."
But they really aren't as rare as novice collectors think. And when the novice collector grows into an advanced collector,
he understands that the truly important pick ups are the ones you hardly ever see on ebay at all. Putting aside condition
or back advertising rarity, southern leaguers will become a draw. But even those are discoverable on ebay in moderate
doses. Trying to pin down Demmitt and O'Hara are truly tough, but you still get a trickling of them on ebay every year.
The occasional Magie shows up on ebay, too. But you never see a Plank on ebay anymore, let alone an authentic Wagner.
Heck, you never see a Doyle error for sale anywhere.
Ultimately, even the Demmitts, O'Haras and Magies will stop showing up on ebay, as they get lodged in long-term collections.
This practice has already started to drive up the price on these cards, which will have the effect of pulling some back into
the market. But as more and more collectors reach 520 and try to stretch for 524, there just won't be enough of those
4 cards to satisfy demand.
The moral to the story is, once you've got a good grasp on collecting T206, and you want to put together as complete
a set as possible, gather ye rose buds while ye may -- and by that, I mean Demmitt, O'Hara, Magie and Plank. Forget
about condition, just make sure they are authenticated by PSA or SGC. After you nail down those rarities, track down
the next tier -- Elberfeld, Lundgren, Smith, Dahlen, Kleinow, etc. Then the Southern Leaguers. The HOFers and
commons will always be there. Tend to them last. And good luck!
Monday, December 10, 2007
A Fool And His Fake Wagner Go Hand-in-Hand
I don't have a lot of patience for those collectors that gamble that they found the deal of the century in a T206 Wagner
on ebay for less than a couple hundred dollars. If you have to ask whether a T206 card on ebay is fake, then you really
shouldn't be buying raw cards off the internet. Educate yourself first.
But what really bothers me about the would-be Wagner lottery winners is that they think they were the only ones
to see the Wagner listing. They don't recognize that there are hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of T206 collectors that
comb through the ebay listings very carefully looking for bargains. And, as a result, those bargains -- if ever found
-- are usually had on the margins; there are precious few windfalls.
The only place where windfalls occasionally (emphasis on occasionally) take place are the poorly listed BINs and the
pre-auction closure off-line deals, where sellers are taking their money before letting market forces set the price.
You can be sure that if a seller of a genuine Wagner let an auction run its course on ebay, the price would likely garner six
figures, no matter the condition.
No you didn't just luck out. No you aren't the smartest collector in the world. You just fed the growing
beast that is internet fraud and you are as much the problem as the criminal listing the auction. Stop looking for the
deal of the century. Settle down with a few raw beaters for $50 or less and get to know the set. Then maybe, just
maybe, you'll stop wondering about that blue backed Sweet Caporal Ty Cobb with the large borders, black font and uniform staining.
(Hint: that one isn't real either.)
Sunday, December 9, 2007
T206 Back Collecting Is Overrated
Don't get me wrong, I have stumbled onto a few of the less common backs in my day (I have a Tolstoi, a Cycle and I even
once traded for a Hindu). But by and large, spending lots of cash in order to acquire a common card with a rare advertising
reverse just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. In my opinion, it's the same as spending hundreds or thousands of dollars
on a common card in super minty shape. At the end of the day, all you've got is a common card.
My theory is, if you've got some non-baseball card friends over for dinner and they ask you to bust out your collection
to show them, you shouldn't have to explain rarity. It should hit them in the face. Is a non-card collecting acquaintance
going to care about the difference between Sweet Caporal and Drum? No. But he'll get the difference between Ty
Cobb and Moose Grimshaw. (No offense Moose!)
Saturday, December 8, 2007
T205 Is The Ugly Stepchild Of The Magnificent T206
Well, we are live and I'm trying to come up with some controversial stuff about baseball cards to keep people interested.
The first thing I will say is that T205 cards are ugly. Tacky is a more specific description. Like the
tarnished gold jewelry of your least favorite aunt who smokes too much.
So, to all you collectors of T205 cards that think they are so beautiful or charming -- let me tell you something:
they're just not. They're hideous. Depsite my best efforts to keep them off my website, I've got two -- a signed
Leach and a signed Doyle. But I really hope I don't get any more.
Monday, December 3, 2007
T206 Super Print Artists
I was flipping back and forth between my Mathewson pitching poses a couple of days ago and I stumbled across something
that never occurred to me before -- the artists of the two Mathewson pitching pose cards had to be different artists.
Then I started to think about the other times two artists made two different versions of the same pose -- and, unless
I'm missing something, it was all in the Super Prints:
Matty (White/Dark Cap)
Evers Batting (blue/yellow)
Cobb Portrait (red/green)
Chase Portrait (pink/blue)
Chase
Throwing (white cap/dark cap)
Chance Portrait (red/yellow)
Differently drawn images of the same player on the same
team.
So, my theory is that a different artist was commissioned to paint the 6 super prints. That Cobb green was drawn
first and followed by Cobb Red. And that the artist that drew Matty Dark was going off of the Matty White drawing and extrapolating
that to the Matty Dark cap -- that he was not working off the original photograph, but just "enhancing" the original T206
art.
Any thoughts? Like, why would they need a separate artist to render the Super Prints? Why not just reissue the
original Cobb Green as a Super Print?
