By George Vrechek from correspondence of the late Lionel
Carter. This article originally appeared in four installments of Sports Collectors Digest
beginning in October 2003
You’ve all heard about the "good old days." As in: "Why when I was a boy, baseball cards were a penny and you got a stick of gum to boot. We traded cards without caring about the value. Not like today with collectors overly concerned about value and condition. Yes, things were a lot different then. There are just too many products these days and they cost way too much."
One way of checking out the "good old days" is to go back and read some of the letters and publications from the time. I’ve had an opportunity to do just that. Hobby pioneer Lionel Carter was nice enough to loan me two boxes of material: one contained old hobby publications, the other contained correspondence to Carter from other collectors from 1940 to the 1980s. The hobby publications were certainly interesting. However I enjoyed going through the stack of correspondence. The comments are more direct, you see the process for acquiring cards, and get a better sense of what it was like to be a collector then.
Who else but Lionel Carter would have saved seemingly every shred of hobby correspondence for 50 years – neatly laying them flat in a stack? Carter started collecting in 1933 and gradually learned of other serious collectors. He always focused on baseball cards in the best condition. In his effort to complete sets, Carter ran ads and wrote letters – lots of letters in that the internet wasn’t quite ready yet and long distance phone calls were a major event. Letters to Carter came from just about any long-time collector that you can imagine: Jefferson Burdick, Preston Orem, Charles Bray, Bob Jaspersen, Woody Gelman, Frank Nagy, Buck Barker, Bob Solon, Frank Barning, Dan Even, Gavin Riley, E.C. Wharton-Tigar, Elwood Scharf, Bill White, George Husby, Larry Fritsch, Bill Mastro, Don Steinbach, Harry Kenworthy, Dan Jaskula, Bert Sugar, Steve Vanco, Lew Lipset, Jack Smalling, Howard Leheup, John Rumierz, Jim Nowell, Irv Lerner, Vic Witte, John Stirling, Wirt Gammon, Charles Brooks………and I’m just getting warmed up.
The card prices then were certainly hard to imagine today and there were no premiums for star players, but there were incredible similarities to today’s hobby. People were upset with increasing prices; sets were too long, poorly designed or too numerous. Collectors were looking for a fair trade, a good deal and were aware of market values. Even Jefferson Burdick complained about having to pay "book" value for a card; and he wrote the book!
There were at least 500 letters to Carter from 1940 through the early 1980s. The stack of paper I waded through was 7 inches high. Most letters were hand-written; the rest typed. None were off a computer. A few were on interesting letterheads from hobby related organizations or the writer’s business. Some writers were 14, some were 80. Wantlists as such were surprisingly brief. Many exchanges started as a result of ads Lionel Carter placed in publications or articles that he wrote for hobby publications. Therefore a fair number of people got in touch a few times to trade or sell cards and then might not be heard from again, or might be heard from years later. There were quite a few letters from editors of these early hobby publications. Several people exchanged letters with Carter over 20 or 30 years, Bob Jaspersen and Buck Barker in particular.
Some writers were very organized and to the point, some rambled. A few wrote to complain about something Carter wrote or the hobby in general. Carter can be very critical. But his articles were always well written and with a sense of humor. There were a few snits over fair trades or the timeliness of responses. A typical letter might start by apologizing for a delay in responding, updating as to health, commenting on other hobbyists’ activities, and then getting to the point of: do you have any cards that I need? Nobody seemed to just throw cards in an envelope, not calculate their value and not expect anything in return. However, Carter was always interested in mint cards so the correspondence was likely slanted.
Ed
writes to Carter in 1940: "I received the baseball cards and have been able to
select the 57 cards due me. The remaining 21 are in my hands awaiting your
decision on the following swap suggested (below). I note that you sent some of
the 150 and 350 in Sweet Caps. My collection in these series is restricted to
And now about the suggested swap. As I mentioned in one of my previous letters, I have 524 of the American baseball players, assorted, that I’d like to dispose of. I offered you a ½ cent price on them and you agreed that it was a very fair valuation. The batch comes to $2.62. I’ll let you have them on a trade on any of the wants on my list which is enclosed, cards coming from you to be accepted at Burdick’s catalog value. When you remember that the American Caramels are mint and the ones supplied by you probably not be so, that is better than four to one on the 2 cent listings."
I thought this oldest letter from the pile said much: Collectors used the American Card Catalog first published in 1939 for both categorizing cards and pricing them in trades. They were concerned about condition, price, and even back variations. They didn’t think too much about non-sport cards ("the English swap"). They were interested in older cards. Although trading for 1910 cards in 1940 would be like trading for 1973 cards today. Also to put things in perspective, the $2.62 should be price level adjusted to about $33.70 in today’s dollars so that you don’t think they were really going to the mat over 2 bucks.
1946 "I guess you are surprised to hear from me after such a long time. I got out of the army a few weeks ago…I haven’t looked over my collection since I’ve returned. My brother, Sid, was taking care of it until he went into the army. From what I did see it doesn’t seem as much was issued during the war. I guess it was because of no gum.
1946 "I will be looking forward to receiving the Exhibit cards…I have accumulated some scarce Zeenuts… Several times I’ve started to list the duplicate cards that I have to trade, but in each instance have failed to undertake the task." Later in 1950 "I still owe you 34 cents from the last trade we made."
1947 "These cards (various T205s) are in very good to fine condition with the exception of Collins – his card is poor – creased. If however you require these cards in mint condition to replace poorer ones then of course I can be of no help to you. I have been collecting cards of T205 and 206 for years and feel that I will never complete these sets and would gladly give anyone any card in my collection if I thought I could be of any help." Carter adds a note that he wrote again 3-7-56
1948 "Sorry to be away so long but have been operating and delivery babies day and nite. Need 1933 Big League 56, 73, 238. 1938 Big League 242, 257, 265, 267, 269, 275, 281, 286."
1948 "As a collector of silks, leathers, gum, soda and cigarette cards for the past few years I have accumulated many duplicates which I would like to trade. I would be happy to trade using the catalogue prices as a basis. If you are interested in trading I would be glad to exchange want lists. Hoping to hear from you." Carter adds a note to this 1948 letter that the next exchange is 2-13-57.
1948 "I suppose you have seen my ads announcing that I am
breaking up my entire collection of over 8,000 different cards. Since I could
find no buyer with the cash to swing the whole lot, I am selling in sets. Your
ad sounds as if you are interested in Goodwin #162 Champions. I have that set
complete in what I think is very nice condition and it was a tough job to get
all fifty and a few cards here and there. The price is $22.50 and I’ll send on
approval if you say so." (Egads! Just the 8 baseball
cards in the set book at $13,000 today - Vrechek) "Also have World Champions 2nd
Series complete sets in fine condition which are bringing far higher bids
(relative to catalog) than the 19th century."
1950 "I am quite a new collector in the card collecting field, collecting baseball cards. Mr. K. Schoeneman has helped me to obtain quite a number of the T206 set. In fact at the present writing I need three (3) cards to complete the set….Of course my problem is one which most card collectors of this set (T206) do experience and that is that I need the following cards namely – O’Hara, Plank, and Wagner…. Obliged by your good judgment and information, I surely shall be, and with regards, remain Sincerely William H. Arthur"
.
1950 "You were kind to remember me with
Connie Mack’s picture. I was in
1951 "The Empire on Parade is a
1951 "I am keeping the four G&B cards, in return for
which you may have any two of the Ramly cards, and
I’m returning the eight Goodwin Champions….As I possibly mentioned in an
earlier letter, I am interested in 19th Century baseball players
only. Altho I have hundreds of the T205 and T206
cards, and many of the
1956 "Thank you for thinking of me and inviting me to your get-together of collectors on April 7…keep me in touch with plans for the July convention. I should like to participate, if possible, as well as to meet other collectors."
1953 "I have the Topps cards from #221 to #280 inclusive with the exception of 252, 253, 257, 261, 265, 268, 271, 275. A total of 51 cards. Will sell these to you for $1. I will pay the postage." (6 of the cards listed were never issued. - Vrechek)
1953 "Here are a few you may need. Send me whatever they are worth to you."
1954 (Yes 1954) "It continues to anger me the great number of sets put out on major league players. No wonder you draw the line before you get to minor league pictures. I am just the opposite as I like to draw the line before I get to major league things…I have most of the easy to get PCL sets…I believe I have by now the most extensive collection on PCL materials in existence. I estimate that I have upwards of 8,000 pictures of PCL players in PCL uniforms…I would just as soon hold off on the M D cards, as I don’t have many traders of them, and I think they are going to become quite valuable in the near future. I know Buck Barker has the Signal cards enclosed."
1954 "Do you know you can buy complete sets of Topps and Bowman BB from Sam Rosen on NY? Did you ever get a catalogue of baseball items for sale from Goodwin Goldfaden of LA?"
1954 "Just a quick answer to give you a tip –Samuel Rosen of New York City is selling 1952 Topps #311 to #407 mint for $2.50…It is the only way you will ever get them." (That wasn’t $2.50 each either but for the whole series. Why didn’t Jay "tip" me off?)
1954 "I’ve sent 97 Baseball Players, 97 NHL Players and 4 cards that were on the want list that you sent me. Please find enclosed statement showing a balance due of 546 points. As there were 59 cards I needed for my collection I’ve given you a special bonus of 30 points." (His elaborate point system by type of card seemed to be: you give me 3 cards and I’ll give you 2.)
Sends Lionel a complete set for free. 1954 "Sorry I have taken so long! There are 41 cards and I know that they are
not all perfect so I will give them to you for 75 cents." 1954: "I have over 800 cards from 1933 to 1941…my price is kinda high…I have been getting as high as $1 per card." 1954 "I was very much surprised to note you say in your
letter ‘I’m driving a hard bargain’ rather odd coming from you. I hardly think
such is the case at all – let me convey some additional facts on some past ways
I’ve sent cards your way"…etc etc He goes on and on
and on, but winds up with "No hard feelings but I just can’t understand how you
figure I’m driving a hard bargain – I never had such in mind I’m sure. Best,
Larry" And in 1955 "The reason I sold my "E" card collection was not one
reason…I had been losing interest in cards for over a year or so – had to push myself
last year to go after the new sets – this year when they came out I wasn’t at
all enthused. There were a few sets I wanted very much. I offered real fancy
prices for them but got nowhere over the course of 2 years – felt I wanted them
to reach a goal on all the sets I wanted in my collection – without them I just
lost interest I am going to keep my Batter-Ups and Diamond Stars because of
their holding memories of my boyhood days, might keep 2 or 3 of the other
Bowman sets – the rest I’ll put in Bray’s sale soon but will wait til you come over and we’ll see if you want any of the
stuff first. Hope you can make it soon.." Then discussed his interest in stamps. In another letter "If
you want the cards listed on reverse side of this sheet you can have them for
$80…condition is very nice…cash only." The reverse
listed 192 Batter Ups, 110 Tip Tops, 102 Remars, 23
Sun Breads, 26 Glendale Meats, 9 Stahl Wieners, 20 Dan Dees, 24 Signal Oils –
about 13 cents per card, but probably a little pricey for the time. 1955. Barry is a youngster looking to complete his 39 Playballs. "I have many in these series but it seems they
are all the same numbers. For instance I have 12 of Paul Dean and 8 of Joe
DiMaggio." "Youres was not the first letter
suggesting I keep my cards. However, although I will probably regret it later,
I am still selling. There are a number of reasons, the main one being the
service angle. Then I was in jail, and had to borrow $100 to get out. You’d never
believe me if I told you what I was in for, so I wont." 1955 "The enclosed cards are about as perfect as I have seen
and should be satisfactory to you. However if you do not need them now just
return them." 1955 "I have only been collecting baseball cards for the
past few months…I have #80 of list 172, a complete T201, 80 end panel T202s;
about a quarter of the gold border series; a complete T206 except 143, 148,
368, and 383; complete R713, R715 and R716; T232 complete for 1952, 1953, and
1954 and some T3s..I am just a novice at card collecting and certainly
appreciate any help I can get." 1955 "I need the subjects in sets T205 and T206 listed on
the attached sheet with exception of Wagner and Plank in T-206" (Must have had
them already.) 1955 "I have 1939 – 44 different 6 cents each or all for
$2.50; 1941 (colored) 32 cards $2; all of the above $4." 1956 "I have about 1,000 1952 Topps,
but they still have to be sorted. Also have Old Mill, Sweet Corporal, 1956 "I tried to find the best centered cards of the lot
which is a rare thing these days in cards. Send me what you think they are
worth in cards. I have quite a few of these B&W. If you like I will send
you all of them and you can pick what you want and send the rest back." 1956 "Thank you very much for your recent letter. I am a boy
of 15 years. I have been collecting gum cards since 1949….Here is a list of
cards that I need for my collection: Bowman 1948 #8, 36, 38, 1949 Bowman #216,
1952 Bowman #218, 1952 Topps #318-322 323 333 336
etc…I am especially interested in securing number 216 in the 1949 Bowman
series. I would at least like (to know) who the picture is of if you don’t have
a double to trade." (216 is Schoolboy Rowe) 1955? "Am enclosing a set of 1954 Baseball Colored Cards
(33) Red Heart Dog Food for your consideration. Would appreciate your remitting
for same as soon as possible as I am leaving on vacation and naturally need the
money. Also please remit in cash (bills) at my risk." 1956 Regrets being unable to work out a deal with Bob Jaspersen to "relinquish his interest in the Sports Fan and
have it made a part of Hobbies Magazine." 1956: (June 28th) "You probably won’t believe
this explanation of why you didn’t receive your money, but honest to God this
is the truth! When you sent me the cards I was all set to pay you, but I
happened to have a date that day your cards arrived and that took all my money.
After that I had the money, but I forgot about you and the rest of our fellow
card collectors, because I quit collecting cards for awhile. However, the other
day (another unnamed collector) called me and told me that you were mad at me
because I hadn’t paid you, that’s when I remembered I
still owed you the money. He also told me that you were going to tell all your
friends that they shouldn’t do business with me, well I would appreciate it if
wouldn’t tell your friends this because I have started collecting cards again
but that still doesn’t settle the matter about your money, well it will please
you to know that you will receive your money some time next week (Thank God, he
finally added a period, if not a check! - Vrechek) I hope that even though it
took me a year and a half to pay you for the cards that we can still do
business. And I know this will never happen again." July 9, 1956 "Enclosed you
will find a payment in full for the cards I bought from you, it seems like 20
years ago. All kidding a side about a year ago. I hope
that you will write me and let me know whether we can do any more business. I
know this will never happen again, because I will pay in advance before I
receive the cards. Well thanks again for being so patient." (I didn’t see any
further correspondence.) 1956 "I received your letter last week.
Sorry I didn’t answer it sooner but I was busy being a junior in high school…I
started collecting last year..I
don’t have too large a collection. The biggest reason it isn’t very large is
where to get the money…My 1941 PlayBall set lacks
only #54 and #60. My 1956 "I am enclosing a few gum cards from your list, which I
do hope you can use. Please accept them with my compliments…I can understand
your wanting cards in perfect condition. I also try to have my collections in
as good condition as possible. Being in the mail order stamp business with my
father, we often get requests for "super superb" condition, mathematically
centered, lightly cancelled, etc. However, with stamps, most collectors are
satisfied with just good copies as there is usually a stiff premium on the
superb material….I am 19 years old….I have yet to meet a collector, personally,
of insert cards, but I am going to the Tri-State Hobbies Convention next month
in Concord NH and hope to make some contacts. Since 1956 "Last fall you mentioned a new card publication
"The Sports Fan" which I subscribed to and received the first issue in
November. Since then I have heard nothing….Do you have any facts on the
situation? 7 days later he sends a card that the January and February
issues arrived yesterday. "Have you noticed that the American Beauty and
probably Cycle cards in the T205s are trimmed slightly less in both dimensions?
As I remember, these were 20 for 5 cents and packed differently than 1956 April "How are you? Seems like ages since I’ve heard or
written to you. I had a note from S. Rosen saying he has the first series of
the new Topps baseball but that Bowman has
discontinued all card sets – too bad, I always liked the Bowmans
over the Topps. I saw a couple of the new Topps the other day. Can’t say too much for them as it
seems like they’ve got the same old poses for the 3rd year in a row
with diff. backgrounds…Do you wish any of my bread cards? I still have them
all. If you don’t want any I’ll let ‘em go in one of Bray’s sales." 1957 "I found a few you need. As for the gum or cigarette
cards from 1905 to 1930, I don’t have any…I am only a boy of 14 years old. I
assume that you are a collector and not a dealer, but I’ll ask you anyway if
you would like to buy a lot of assorted cards from 1951 to 1956. I am trying to
get rid of my doubles." 1957 "In T206 backs I have them complete except Ty Cobb. Have others you want in mint or near mint. Have
T202 and T205 complete. T206 Need Wagner, T207 need 15 my wants about like
yours in this." Later in 1957: "I’ve already broken up my collection so will
continue. Have sold $2,400 worth in the last 2 or 3 months and I can’t see any
hole in my collection at all. Figure it will bring about $30,000 when all sold.
I have not sold any of the better items yet." He then quotes prices for what he
has available: R319 Complete $120, R321’s fine 50 or 60 cents each, R331
complete set 50 cents each, C56 50 cents each, "also have hundreds of other
sports sets." 1957 "The 1957 Baseball Register will be ready the latter
part of May or early June. It will be priced at $4.00 in paper-binding, $6.00
in cloth-binding." 1957 "I would like to trade or sell a complete set of 1956 Topps football and a complete set of 1951 Topps Baseball (red backs)" Carter notes on the letter that
he offered him 1948 to 1953 cards at 2 cents each and 1954 to 1956 cards at 1
cent each. Later in 1957:"I am enclosing
$2.25 which will cover the amount due you for 15 sample cards $1.90, and 32 Topps and Bowmans at 1 cent
each." Greasby was born in 1892 and has
some old cards but collects cigar bands. He’d like Carter to write for their
hobby club. 1958 "You may recall that we have corresponded several times
in the past and once, I remember, when I was in Canada in 1953….Would you like
to make an exchange of cards?" His want list is enclosed. His collection became
one of the most significant ever. 1957. Kay offers her collection for sale, asks for postage
beyond 3 cents, Topps Doubleheaders are 3 cents each,
Wheaties 2 cents each, 1951 redbacks
and bluebacks 5 cents each, 75 of the Topps Ringside cards are $1.75 in total, 1951 Connie Mack
All-Stars are 5 cents each but not in very good condition. Kay asks Carter if
he’d like to be editor of their bulletin, since he has a mimeograph machine. 1959 "also read your interesting article on Topps 1958 issue. I’m interested in obtaining the scarce
cards: 443, 446, 450 and 462…Dealers in Undated late 50s? "I am an avid
baseball fan and sports collector….I am not quite as
fussy about the cards but I do want them in rather good shape." Undated, "Preston Orem once told me that he just threw away
around 15,000 cards of Topps and Bowmans
because he didn’t want to go to all the trouble of sorting them!" Undated: "Enclosed find one 5X7 photo of Cubs 1889… and one
5X7 Cubs 1907..Now these are 60 cents a piece." 1958 "I feel the 20 cent per card price (for 1933 Goudeys) to be quite high…but to assure myself of having
them I’ll pay the 20 cents…50 to 75 cards would suit me fine at this time…If
you can, I’ll appreciate your picking out the best conditioned cards in the
lot." (No sense wasting time looking for Ruths or Gehrigs in those lots - Vrechek) Late 1950s: Correspondence with the mother of collector Jimmy
Lacey (22 years old). Carter helped her sell his cards for much more than
she was offered. Early 1956 "Many thanks for your card advising the
convention has been cancelled. Really sorry
for this and I can imagine all the preparations you made prior to this
cancellation…I do remember in 1947 when we came out here from the East, we
stopped over in St. Louis, and the wife and I had a most pleasant visit with
Charles "Buck" Barker. No matter where I go I always
manage to contact someone with whom I had correspondence with or dealings in
the past." 1957 Price List; 1952 Topps high
numbers are 15 cents, will buy for 10 cents. The next year
his sell price goes to 30 cents, but will still buy at 10 cents. 1958 Offers to buy 1952 Topps high
numbers for 1 ½ cent each – "providing they are in good condition." – But I see in his price list
that he is selling them for 5 cents each, pretty good margin. A nickel will get
you a 1951 team card or All Star as well. He identifies the #131 to 190 ’52 Topps whitebacks as not available
at 3 cents. These are mighty tough to find today. His 1958 Topps
Basketball 80 card set goes for $1.60. A 1954 Topps
baseball set will cost you $5. 1959 Tenenbaum is a dealer in old
books. :"…in the relationship of the dealer to the collector. The dealer has to
show a profit for his time and money. He will naturally gravitate to those who
will give him most of that profit. I have also noted,
that the dealer is most invaluable to the collector, and the smart collector
realizes that. For he knows that the dealer is only interested in making a
living, while a brother collector will gouge the eyes out of a fellow
collector, when that fellow needs something that he has. I have seen that too
often to be mistaken, and have seen them get prices from each other that have
made me blush in shame. I find this game most profitable in dealing with those
collectors who will buy all and everything which they haven’t got along their
collecting line. If a man collects baseball cards, I like to see him collect
everything in baseball cards. The fault that I find with you, is that you only
want to collect certain types of cards, and to cater to a collector like
yourself, I have to expend too much time, in trying to suit you...There is no
money in my selling four cards." (I didn’t see any subsequent correspondence .) 1959 "By the way the four missing numbers in Topps 1958 was not done on purpose. Topps
listed them on the checklist but couldn’t get the photos in time. On the next
printing they got ‘em in." And later in 1959 "I
visited with Jeff Burdick over the weekend. The catalogue is really coming
along. The hobby owes Jeff its undying gratitude. He has certainly given us
collectors hours of pleasure every week by his organization of the hobby. I
found 20 clipper ship cards recently. I suppose that this is the apex of my
collecting. Regards, Woody" 1958: "Enclosed is 34 cents for the cards you sent me.
Thanks a lot." Price List from 1959 is in Carter’s pile !952 Topps Highs are 50 cents
each.1960: Looking for exhibits and how to tell the year of printing 1961:
Looking to complete his 1948 Leaf set Buried
in the middle of the 7 inch pile of correspondence I came across several
letters and postcards. The handwriting was a little difficult to read and the
lines sometimes slanted upward to the right. But the words were clear and of
great interest to me since I had spent such effort in researching the writer:
Jefferson Burdick, the "father of card collecting.".
Burdick visited the Carters in July 29 (1949?) Crouse Ave,
Syracuse written on the back of a Graybar Electric Sales Sheet dated 8/12/48
Regarding different E121s "Saw 44 of them and kept 5 for myself….Ty Cobb Mgr, Det Am. Batting
(view to hips), Lou de Vormer – C, NYA portrait. This
is almost the same as one I had, must have been taken a few seconds between.
Practically only difference is in one mouth is closed and in other is slightly
open…" Postcard Sep 4 1950: "Lionel, On the E121 list – I don’t see
how you can ignore the numbered cards entirely as, after all, they are the same
series…I doubt Bray gave you enough data to do an accurate listing job due to
diff. positions of same player that wouldn’t show up in the name alone…Forget
the E220. Not enough known about them but try to weed any of them out of the
121 list. I suspect a few of them got in it. Condense all lists as tightly as
possible, the 121 is a pretty long one anyway. Sincerely,
Jeff." Sept 24 (1950s?) "Here are 32 cards
that may help with the listing. Have stamped a B on the backs
so that if mixed with others they can be sorted out easily." This note
is written on the back of a printed page that precedes the catalog of 1939.
(Burdick wasn’t big on wasting paper) The page written by Burdick includes:
"Old cards are bits of history, and share in the love which all Americans hold
for reminiscences of years gone by….Do not stick cards to the pages. Cards
which are tightly stuck down in albums should be discounted when buying because
of the labor of removing cards and the probable damage to them. Warm water and
careful drying and pressing is the usual process, but
same damage is unavoidable …. All advance subscribers to this catalog will
receive the first issue of the new volume free…Full details of dates and
subscriptions will be in the first issue which is scheduled for August 1,
1939…The Bulletin is issued to help collectors and dealers. It is THEIR
magazine, and all contributions and suggestions will be highly appreciated and
will receive utmost consideration. It is issued on a non-profit basis, and the
only motive is to promote the hobby of card collecting." March 30 (later 1950s?), now on Wolf Street, Syracuse This is a great letter that is hard to
excerpt but it responds to Carter’s complaint to Burdick about a collector who
shall remain nameless who Burdick suggested visit the Carters. Apparently he
did, wasn’t that interested in the cards, over-stayed his welcome and had too
much to drink. One Burdick sentence will have to suffice: "Collectors, in
general, are a pretty good lot but in the final analysis are no different than
any other cross section of the population." Carter has a page out of a letter from Burdick to Buck
Barker that Barker forwarded. "Why not let Carter (King of the Mounties) do an article on mounting. It’s a problem. I’m struggling
with it at the museum and haven’t yet solved it. Of course, much of my stuff
will be pasted down – all the plain back and printed general backs are being
pasted. But can’t do that with descriptive backs and there are many long sets
of those that will be tough to handle." September 21 (1959?) from Burdick describes his arduous journey by bus from NYC to May 12, 1960 Written on 1960 ACC stationery About the just published ACC "I guess there are a few errors
scattered about but what the heck – who is 100% perfect?…The
printer who set the type was only a little one horse outfit but he did pretty
good. For the actual printing and the binding he turned it over to a real high
class place…But even so, out of about 300 I checked there were 3 defects…(Buck
Barker) did a lot of work and I thought it all pretty good although I’m not a
real judge of the technique of baseball writing…. But I began work on that book
last Thanksgiving… It’s not just writing it. You have to dig up the data to
write and that means hundreds of letters to people all over the country. Then
their mass of replies has to be sifted out and arranged in
some order – and try not use anything that isn’t absolutely correct.
Anyway, Lionel, by next Catalog time someone else will have to carry the ball.
4 of 6 on this job are past 60 and that will make us too old for another one,
if indeed, we are here at all." November 28, 1960, Four page letter to Carter
complimenting him on his writing abilities, the difficulty in getting published
despite such abilities and the economic realities of having a book printed
yourself. "A book is just a pound of waste paper unless you can sell it… Orem
and Payne are listed as co-publishers of the Catalog but actually they have no
financial interest in it at all…only the 4 of us are in it financially…No, I
don’t have all the sets complete. A lot of people think I have everything, but
I don’t. Lack a lot of R300, Batter Up, lack 2 of the 34 Big Leagues and 2 of
the Diamond Stars (batting average backs.)…I know of only 6 Wagners
here at the Museum and Public Library, Bray, Wagner, Gammon and 1 that turned
up last winter. A kid here in the Bronx had it…I didn’t know January 23, 1961 "The doctors gave me a ‘totally disabled’ rating"…Burdick
regrets not being able to travel with the Carters. "I’ll just get out one of
them ‘trip around the world’ card sets and I’ll be there – a magic carpet
without leaving my easy chair… I guess I told you that costs for our Catalog
are now around $6,000 and the figure will be more, of course, before all are
sold. You will probably figure that 3000 copies at $4 is
12,000 and so there is plenty of margin yet. But a lot of copies are sold to
bookstores at less than $3 a copy and we don’t know how long the 3,000 copies
will last. Maybe 10 years, with a lot of advertising spread along every year.
Maybe a lot will never sell…." Regarding being at the Museum: "I usually go up
on Tuesday and Friday…In a few years a lot of us old timers will be gone and
you will be senior collector and top authority. Speaking of us going – Glidden
Osborne of May 29, Burdick suggests that August 22, 1961, Another great letter about cards,
variations, checklists, increasing prices and the catalog. "I haven’t
tried to collect all the new cards of past ten years but get a few that
especially interest me. Have few of the long baseball sets but I agree with you
in that it is being overdone. Its too much for some of the younger collectors
who don’t have that kind of money to spend on cards…Once an idea clicks,
everybody gets in the game and tries to cash in on it." November 24, 1961 "Lionel- For nigh onto 2 months now the world has been
waiting for a report of the latest Carter safari. The tension has been mounting
terrifically and has reached the breaking point in this area. Naturally I feel
a strong interest in the journey (having strongly considered being a member of
the troop) and I know others must be concerned….We want to know how you found
old man Orem and how is the book going? I have bought quite a lot from his
collection this summer. His prices were a little uppity on some things (low on
others) but I paid them gladly as I feel I’d never get another chance in my
lifetime at most of that stuff. He had a remarkable collection considering he
had been at it only 5 years….I feel the book business will be a disappointment
(to him). It’s a tough racket for anyone. A lot more money is lost on books
than is made. Only the retail book dealers can save him and they are a hard
boiled lot….Orem sold his Hans Wagner for $150. Nagy in December 10, 1961, Burdick writes a nice letter to Carter commenting on the
long vacation that Burdick would have been physically unable to make, mentions
Carter’s work and then adds: "I worked over 23 years at my last job and a lot
of 45 to 50 hour weeks…All that time I was doing a lot of card work too and it
meant a tight schedule as I couldn’t work late hours at night as most do. I
have to get a full 9 hours sleep. At that time I went to bed at 8 PM, read the
paper for an hour and slept from 9 to 5:30 or 6 AM…You’d better think twice about
selling the collection. There is quite a bit of loose card money about these
days and there are probably several others like ( a
certain collector) who would snap up a
good collection like yours for 1000 or so. I guess April 28, 1962 Burdick writes about the challenge of getting to Charley
Bray’s in May 23 (most likely 1962) Burdick’s handwriting is more
restricted. "The enclosed sugar bag will show you my present address.( July 7, 1962 Handwriting is even more restricted. The
Carters had hoped to see Burdick on one of their vacation trips but it hadn’t
worked out. "I’m planning on moving sometime late this year. Just when and
where to is not yet known and I may even abandon the
idea but at least I want to get somewhere else if at all possible…Will be looking
forward to writeups of the (Carter) trip. Almost as good as being there. Another
unique Carter service. Don’t plan on me flying to Burdick died March 13, 1963 Buck Barker was one of the key editors of the American Card
Catalog. His interest was in baseball cards. He was a fan. Buck was generous
with his cards and unconcerned with condition. His handwriting was playful. He
started each of his numerous letters to Carter with a different friendly
greeting. There were even a few pictures of Buck included. 1959 "Waiting for a letter from Jeff.
He says he is living in a hotel on 1961 " April 2, 1963 "So sorry to hear about
Jeff. I thought he was just discouraged." 1965 "Dear Old Banker, Lend me your ears – no, a banker
would want interest." 1970 "Dear Lionel de Agincourt, Your clips (from newspapers)
were so interesting I can’t say "no". Will let Ray Medieros and maybe George Tinker see them too. Been reading your good stuff – latest from Bray (Card Collectors
Bulletin, editor). Did Broder (yes, the Broder of Broder cards - Vrechek)
say he got that thing out after Woody (Gelman) told
him not to?…Working on a good Zeenut
deal with Dobbins. Can use M116 Bereen, Kane, Smith,
White, Walsh in that order. Adios, Buck" What a name
dropper that Buck. 1971: "Dear Fellow Has-Been, Have decided not to exert my
self on cards now, (being over-hobbied to say the
least) except to obtain 1) one card of each player 2)one card of each set 3)
favorite sets 4) Latin American players 5) Favorite players 6) Anything else
that really strikes my fancy." (Favorite players were Minoso
and Ashburn) He ads the names of 3 hobbyists who rub
him the wrong way and 3 the right way. He is working on E cards, T-207s, M116s. Jaspersen wrote in Palmer method,
long letters written sideways on note pads; numerous letters over many years.
Bob was the editor of Sport Fan magazine. Lionel Carter was a writer for SF. 1955
"You’re responsible for 2 new subscribers (to Sports Fan) Mr. Bray and one Mr.
C.C. Barker of 1967 Bob writes about visiting Charles Bray. "We poured over
a number of his own cards, although he said he had disposed of his personal
collection a couple of years ago. Since then though he’s picked up some old
numbers that he is hanging on to…He said you were promoting a convention for
card collectors." 1973 "When a collector dies, his survivors
simply fail to notify the hobby press. I hadn’t learned of Preston
Orem’s death until months later." He goes on to describe delays in learning of
the deaths of Fred Imhoff, Jim Armstrong, Jim Lacey,
Frank Jock, Walt Corson. "Sport Fan was never intended
to be a money-maker. When we started it back in 1951, it was only because the
Trading Post had died, and the hobby was left without a single publication….Two
days ago, I received my first copies of the new Sports Collectors Digest. Do
you get it, Lionel? Just between you and me, it is the best of all the hobby
papers. It is head and shoulders above all in appearance. And after reading through
the first 4 issues, I say down and asked myself: ‘Just why would anyone even
bother to subscribe to the other papers?’ And unlike some of the others you
don’t need a magnifying glass to read it." (I really didn’t make this letter up
just to get this article printed – Vrechek) 1975 "You asked me in your letter the date
of that gathering of collectors at your home, which you referred to as the
‘first convention of sports collectors.’ That gathering took place in
1958..I believe you said Buck Barker was there. I’ve
never met Buck." 1979 Bob writes "Just a note to explain why your coverage of
the Chicago Convention didn’t make the current issue (of Sports Fan)." (no room, yet in that the publication is only 10 pages). "It
was too well written to boil down to size." He adds "The California Convention
was certainly different than the one you and I attended 9 years ago in Jim Nowell’s home." PS "You mentioned in your letter, Lionel,
that you didn’t like our small "type." We need that "small type" because of our
"long-winded" writers. Only kidding, old buddy." 1980 Bob thanks Lionel for "the interesting piece in
nominating Charles Bray for the Frank Jock Memorial Award." Apologizes for
cutting some of Carter’s last article – didn’t censor it but didn’t have enough
room on the page. "Anytime I have an issue that carries the Lionel Carter
byline within its pages, I feel the readers are getting something special." Bob writes in June 1980 that he plans to attend the National
in Feb 1981 " I had a note from Lew Lipset of August 1981 "Sorry to hear Bob Wilson has disposed of his
collection…Interesting to hear about Ed Golden (Carter had traded with him in
1936.) Is he still collecting or did you say he had sold out? I often wonder if
John Wagner still has an interest in cards." May 1982. "I’ve thrown in the towel. I notified my managing
editor that I wanted out, so he drew up a retirement package….I am hoping to sell the bulk of my collection because I have
too much stuff that is of no more interest or use to me. I’d like to find some
dealer out here to back up his truck and haul it all away." Bob Jaspersen
and Buck Barker both died on the same day December 18, 1982. 1956 Law Office stationary "I collect all insert cards, but
primarily sports. Started on April 1st, this year.
Already have over 9,500 with more coming in every day, plus several thousand
duplicates…Have all the catalogs, bulletins etc. Had Mr. Bray send me two years
back issues of the Bulletin and summarized the prices brought at the auctions
so that I have a fair idea of value now…Goldfaden is
a fabulous and incredible dealer in old baseball records, etc. He does business
in a garage with no windows; wooden frame; how he stands it in the summer I
don’t know. Overflow is in his house garage, and he leaves his car out." 1957 (very efficient) "Answering your two letters at once.
Will watch for the Signals you need; thanks for the good break you gave me on
the cards. I have the E210’s in strip cards, really the same or better types,
but understand the numbers, players, etc are different, not like E121, where
blank backs are just the same." The one page letter has about a dozen more
topics in it. Later 1957 same idea of many to-the-point topics in a one
pager "No, never got 8-9-10 of Treasure, presume it folded, our Western Hobby
News has apparently collapsed also, as I do not get any more. Do you collect
Mayo?" 1958 "Actually not as many runs now as in
1910-1911, palmy days of real b.b.
I analyzed all this, want more runs than now, but fewer home runs, more stolen
bases, etc. Also I claim Keeler could not make present majors…Big bums like
Sauer and Snider are now the stuff." 1959 "Cards received, your
valuations just about what I would figure." The rest of the letter is too
exhausting to excerpt other than "Barring injuries, a limit of about 14 men
should be put on a game, 18 to 25 men in a game is just ridiculous." 1959 Had quite a session with Bray, Burdick, Gelman etc..Jeff
B. is a prince, an astonishing one-track mind, on nothing but cards. Rather
surprised to find I have more Red Cross and Victory bb than Burdick and Bray
together…so (they) do not have everything, by a long shot. No Museum for me
ever, shudder to think of pasting the cards down with
library paste as they are doing. Burdick will not admit it rots the backs of
cards but it does…Actually cards a stepchild at the Museum but B. does not
realize it." 1959 "Only take poor on Goodwin and Buchner.
So your wife paints too, mine painted and prepared the whole house. She also
lays cement, etc. Returning postcards, I only collect inserts." 1961 On Author and Publisher Preston Orem letterhead on this
and all subsequent letters "I am not a dealer and never will be although sales
are over the $8,000 mark with still quite a few left…Future writing will be
highly controversial subjects and expect to publish through a New York firm.
The baseball writing interesting training and I enjoyed the research but has no
commercial value as very little interest in bb history." His
book in entitled "Baseball 1945-1881 from the Newspaper Accounts. A fact
filled book, spiced with early day box scores…" 1962? "Will publish no more books although
second Baseball book and volume on March 28, 1963 "I was just about to write to Jeff at the
hospital when your letter arrived with the sad news. A really dedicated man if
I ever saw one and altruistically, to a harmless, unexploited (or at least,
comparatively), type of collecting." John D. Wagner, John Wagner sent Carter a box of tobacco cards out of the
blue just after WWII. Wagner’s name was among the dozen or so collectors listed
in Burdick’s very first issue of Card Collectors Bulletin in the 1930s.Wagner
applauded Carter as a veteran and collector. Carter politely declined the
cards, returned them, but then traded with Wagner and others for tobacco cards.
Wagner was born in 1899 and had been in the Air Force. Wagner sent Carter a response to a Who’s Who in Card
Collecting Questionnaire: "Both of my Wagner T206 cards came from NYC area. The
first found among a large lot had from dealer back around 1938 on approval.
This is the one Jeff (Burdick) got from me for the museum at no cost but he
insisted on the going rate of $25 so after check bouncing back and forth three
times at least kept it a long time before finally cashing it. The second one
was found among 1,200 BB T206 around 1940-1 in Wagner goes on to say: "Never been much of an organized
collector – duplicates passed on as one of a kind enough. Completing sets never
tried too hard. No idea how many once had." 1957 letter to Carter: Wagner is following up with a widow
of a collector. "She has an idea its worth lots of money and wanted to take it
to NYC to dispose…Wow, what a shock she will get if cards are all common T206." 1958 On the trail of a large accumulation of cards 100 miles
away. Owner thought he had some valuable cards and Wagner "would be glad to pay
full catalog or better..so
feel sure in about a year or so may hear from him." Another antique dealer he
found had "several cartons full" of cigarette cards, "but mostly in poor
condition. 6 of which did not have so paid $2 for these and few others….he had
50 cents tags on a few 1933-4 cards don’t know where he derived at those
figures but just passed on them…Another party…told me she has 26 albums of all
kinds of cig. and advertising cards." Wagner went to
see her but shop had just closed and had to stay overnight in town. "next day when got to see things the good ones or those she
had mentioned were among the missing." Wagner describes several other hunts and
near misses he has had in his efforts to round up cards. So it wasn’t by chance
that he found the Wagners as earlier described. He
was at this a long time and was cheerfully persistent. He collected postcards
and other collectibles as well such as coins, war memorabilia, and political
items. 1959 "Have found the coin shops have some nice cellophane
envelopes just the right size for all small cards." 1967 "Have been doing little in
way of collecting the past 10 years..came
near selling all my earthy possessions only to snap out of it." And "It’s the guy that gets there at the
right time that get the loot." Numerous short notes with month and day but no years on
one-half piece of paper along with results of auctions and purchases by Carter
in Card Collectors Bulletin. Bray ran the Bulletin after Burdick and charged
15% commission on auctions. Some of the transactions were close to $40 in
total! Easily among the biggest numbers I noted in any of the correspondence. "I mentioned to Early 1960s? "I don’t look forward
going to "Had a quick trip to And "Bought a few things from "Haven’t heard from (Gordon B.) "I have not quit collecting. Have some nice old cards…that
were not in the big one (auction). This is amazing to me. There is always
something new to collect." Many letters on small notepads in pencil, several pages 1958 "Had a nice visit with Bray and Burdick at the museum.
But unless Burdick was there I doubt if you could see any cards if you wanted
to right now. The only cards ready now are the 19th century cards in
29 albums. It will take Burdick about a year to get the cards in albums. I
doubt if he will mount the gum cards. Talk of having them together in a large
cabinet." He discusses dealers Rosen and Gordon B. Taylor. 1958 "Just a report on the Topps
BB 1958. I am running into trouble getting some numbers that are cut good. For
example #16…there are about 10 numbers that run this way." He is still working
on those Diamond Star high numbers. 1963 Howard writes to Carter shortly after Burdick’s death
in 1963 that he "Was sure surprised and sorry to hear your news about Jeff
passing away. I visited him once in Carter wrote a hobby obituary on Leheup
in Sport Collectors News March, 1975: "Howard E. "Slim" Leheup,
74 "Howard….. (had) his own ideas of fairness, honesty and courtesy for in any
deal with Howard, he always insisted that you get the better of the transaction…I
don’t know when I first began writing to Howard as the earliest correspondence
in my file is 1953, but I would guess it was back in the days before WWII. I
believe Howard once mentioned that he collected the white bordered and gold
bordered cigarette cards as a kid." He was a general collector who decided to
concentrate eventually on sport cards. He bought cards from dealers in 1949 "Yes I recall that we had some transactions back in
1946. At the time you had no duplicates that I needed…I believe I gave you a
list of baseball sets in which I still needed a lot of material including green
bordered Red Suns…and asked you to let me know whenever you received any
duplicate material. Months went by and in one of the issues of the Bulletin I
noted you ad listing material you had for trading. Lo and behold listed in
there was a green bordered Red Sun. Imagine my disappointment. So I just figured
what’s the use. Perhaps you figured because you paid cash you had no further
responsibility. I believe that if I sell someone some of his card wants he
should make an effort to reciprocate. If he’s not able at the time then later
on when he does receive some material the other fellow can use….I find that I
sold you $10.23 more than you sold me. That seemed pretty well one sided so
naturally I didn’t pay anymore attention to your want lists." March 1954: Mosser picks up where he left off in 1949 "Perhaps I did
not explain the situation to you very clearly in my previous letter "reminding
Carter that he has sold him $1.95 more stuff than Carter has sold him so that
Carter needs to sell him some more stuff. However Mosser
has gone loosey-goosey on the strict accounting by
allowing Carter to buy "without obligation on the buyer’s part" certain 19th
Century cards, T25s, T129s and issues since 1948.He finishes with "Well I hope
I’ve made the situation clear." March 1956: "Dear Mr. Carter"….What follows is a very
technical description of differences in names, positions, and teams involving
the Cracker Jacks Series of 144 and 172. Mosser is
helping Carter with a checklist intended for the American Card Catalog. November 1956: "Dear Lionel….Very glad to hear from you." He
apologizes for the delay in writing. "Some collectors can’t stand for such
delays and when you do get around to writing you find you are on the black
list." He then continues the findings he’s made on the Cracker Jack check list. February 1957 "Dear Lionel….Many thanks for those 2 E cards
and I’m enclosing 60 cents in payment – some stamps left over from the
Christmas mail….With Best regards, Paul" January 1961 Mosser has
made 4 trips to No date on letter, but appears to be from the mid-1950s: "I
am a new collector of all types of sport cards. I have most of the recent sets
but lack plenty of the older cards. I really lack cards from bread etc. I saw
in one of your ads in the Sport Hobbyist about selling Remar
Baseball cards for 10 cents each…." Carters note at bottom states that he sold
Nagy 12 Indian Gum cards for 50 cents (in total.) Diamond Stars and Playballs were 25 cents each though No date, but looks like it may be 1962. Nagy is asking
Carter to write for the publication he and Charles Brooks have worked on the
"Sport Hobbyist." "Since I wrote last to you I have completed my T206 including
Plank and Wagner and with it I am like a kid with a new toy." No date perhaps 1966 "I went to Phila
once and visited Walt Corson and ended up buying his complete collection as you
know. Last week I received a letter from his wife letting me know that Walt
died on April 9th. Its been only about 2
weeks before that, that I bought all of Walt’s Reach and Spaulding Guides." No date: Offers to help Carter organize a convention of card
collectors. 1954 "One reason I have so very few cards is that they don’t
have many sets out this way like they do where you are." 1956 Now in "Went up to Phila last Sunday and
I’m sorry to say I didn’t contact either Jones or DeNardo.
I only spent about 5 hours there and most of it was
taken up with my folks…A funny thing happened when I was there. I though I might have some old cards lying around somewhere and
sure enough I went through the cellar and found some. Some I remember
you sending me,,..and the
others I picked up around 1935 or so, any way I am going through them and will
send you the dupes." 1976 from "Many a time I thought of just giving up on the whole thing
and sell out but …since going to the big convention in 1960 "Collecting is a lot of fun – all
types of hobbies. In my opinion they’re all equal as far as interest
value goes. Each has its easy items, hard ones, and near impossible ones and
these elements don’t change either regardless if there’s a million people or
only 100 collecting one type of hobby." Early 60s? "Do you have an extra
one of Williams in the ’54 set? I consider this their biggest goof, since it
had no rhyme or reason behind it…Down here we had nothing but Piersalls. Only one Williams in the whole
town." Undated "Yes, the Card Collector caters mostly to the
younger set, Sports Gazette is a rather sloppy job, and Sports Hobbyist NEVER comes
out on time, BUT you forgot to mention just one thing. What would happen to our
hobby if these sloppy, late card papers never came out at all?" 1960 "As far as I know I am the only
collector in 1960, Fred is editor of the "Sport Collector" and writes "We
will give you 5$ and a 1 year subscription if you will write 6 articles for us.
1 for each issue. John Sullivan is one of the other
writers." 1962 Sends a Zeenut to complete a
trade with Carter that he had forgotten to even out in about 1954. 1964 "I have been a swapper of cigarette cards for …60
years…I have not a single American card amongst my duplicates, but I have
stacks of sets and odd cards issued in Britain and South Africa." Undated 1967? Mastro
orders $21.18 worth of cards from Carter – one of the bigger transactions I
saw. 1976 "As you know Jake Wise had 125 different V355s in his
collection, and I liked these so much I decided to keep them for myself rather
than sell them as I did so many other of Jake’s items. Shortly after acquiring
Jake’s V355s I was able to obtain one additional card with 9 more to go. That’s
the way is stood for better than 2 years. Within the past 2 months I’ve
acquired f more. Only 4 to go. I gear myself toward
completion. If I feel I have little or no chance to complete a set, I won’t
bother starting on it." 1976 Keeps trading despite leg amputation. "Every adult
collector in Many letters from Williams regarding trading 1981 writes complementing Carter on an article, "Made me
recall my first collecting experiences, and they were all pleasant ones, better
than some I have with so-called collectors today, who are more profiteers and
hoarders. The newest trend seems to be buying up young "stars" in hopes of
capitalizing on their fame at a later date. We’re creating mini stockbrokers
out there….If I don’t like the treatment I get from a collector or a company, I
simply don’t deal with them again. Dan wrote in 1961, 1980 "I designated 1981 "You were among the first dozen ball card collectors –
I was in the first 50, I’d guess. Like most of us pioneers I am now pretty much
on the sideline." 1980 Looking for the National Chicle
set "…have come near to memorizing every player who is in the set….It is the
one that has elusive qualities.." 1981 "When I hear from the great ones like yourself, I feel
I have finally arrived." 1981 "You inspired me to stay in the
hobby. I became very disenchanted with the sports collecting community
three or four years ago; I grew tired of collectors who never answered letters,
wrote scribbling messages on torn sheets of paper, or received so much mail
that they couldn’t remember one collector from another. I also was sick of the
money-hungry dealers, the outrageous prices, the
hording of material." 1984 "I have very few regrets about selling my collection –
the only resentment I have is that except for you and 2 or 3 other folks who
were "old timers" not one of the collectors who bought priceless? stuff from me has shown the least bit of customer loyalty." 1958 "I would like to go visiting card collecting friends –
Carter, Leheup, Bray, Burdick, Wagner, Corson for a
start, but I keep putting it off like answering your letters." 1981 Golden at age 80 writes that "his swapping days are
over, but I do buy packets of 1981 cards when I visit the stationery store."
"Maybe I have a Mantle." "Recently fell down in the street (sober) and
cracked my hip – they put a pin in it and I’m as good as new." Then he gave his
predictions for the upcoming baseball season races.
What
you haven’t read are letters from Carter. Unfortunately his recipients probably
weren’t the archivists that Carter was. Lionel shared with me some of his
writings. Written June 1991: After describing the DeLongs
in Colfax and the card games with baseball cards, Carter writes: "In 1938 I
wrote the first baseball card article that was ever published in the general
hobby section of the Kaw Chief Stamp Journal out of He describes the "junky 1941 Goudey
set" and by the 40s Charles Bray was running card auctions in the Bulletin.
"When I returned to the states I would bid on sets of cigarette cards…won a set
of mint T201s with a bid of $5." (The double folders run about $5,500 in
ex-mint today. However, using the CPI and putting ourselves back in time, $5 in
1945 for cards issued in 1911 would be the equivalent of spending $50 today for
a set of cards from 1969. Still a pretty good deal – Vrechek) "After being discharged in 1945, I would bid
on sets of tobacco cards, compare the condition of the cards in my purchase
with those in my collection, then put the worst copies back in the next sale.
Often I’d sell them for more than I paid for my set! It was while doing this
that I chanced upon a card of the ever rare ‘Plank, Phila.
Americans.’I did lots of swapping. I was constantly
mailing small packages of cards to other collectors, particularly with Eddie
Golden and Harry Lilien in
Other items from Carter: "Most kids preferred the Goudey cards so that I ended up with several cigar boxes of
DeLong which no one liked (Traded them off for cards
I didn’t have later.)…But it’s a lonely hobby when you are the only one in it,
and the only "dealers" were the candy store and drug store proprietors" Upon
finding out about Burdick: "Burdick’s paper was a mimeographed paper of 5 or 6
sheets on which he listed card sets, collecting news, and names of collectors
who ‘found’ him. Of the latter I was the 35th collector to contact
him. Today to my knowledge only John D. Wagner and I survive…In June 1949
Burdick turned the Bulletin over to Charles Bray, who had come upon the
collecting scene in April, 1944 in handling the auction of the collection of
Alfred O. Philipp and the Bray Mail Auction became a
regular feature of the Bulletin…Collecting cards in those days was really fun,
the cards weren’t worth much, so no one worried about the value, it was just a
swap of card for card ordinarily.. or it was until Topps and Bowman cards started coming out in the early
1950s and the younger collectors wanted to swap those cards for an equal number
of cards issued in the 1930s. No way!" "In 1946..finally met my first
collector face to face: Larry Brandt..We’d buy
several boxes of each series as it was offered in the stores then we’d open all
the individual packages (one card to one stick of gum for 1 cent in those
days), heap the cards on the floor in a big pile and throw the wrappers and gum
down the incinerator. We’d flip a coin to see who got to pick the first card,
then we’d each pick a card in turn, selecting not the star players but the best
centered cards regardless of the player." "Collectors were known as ‘hard to swap with’ or ‘easy to
swap with.’ One of my favorite swappers was ‘Buck’ Barker of St. Louis, who was
a real character and one of the best liked collectors. Buck would mail cards to
me from my want list and I’d try to locate cards from his want list from other
collectors’ duplicate lists, being careful not to add the cards he sent to my
collection until we had agreed upon a swap to him in return. Invariably I would
finally give up and send the cards he had sent me back to him, bringing my
indebtedness to him down to zero for a few months until he came up with some
more cards I needed….Buck would write all over the backs of his cards, even
change the team names on the front of the cards…He was always changing his
collection around by teams…came to Chicago and swapped. I gave Buck a list of
second hand book stores…Buck went downtown and came back that evening with
stacks of rare candy and gum cards of the period between
1910-1915!" I’d guess that what I have included in these articles is
less than 2% of everything in the 7 inch stack of correspondence. I’ve tried to
be representative while covering certain "legends" as thoroughly as possible.
Until the last note in 1981 from Ed Golden ("Maybe I have a Mantle.")
there has been no mention of star cards. There has been no mention of rookie
cards. I never saw an entire transaction over $50. I never saw a card priced at
more than a few dollars. Most trades or sales were for less than a few dollars.
No one was looking for an autographed anything. I never saw a letter that came
off a computer. I never saw an envelope with more than 13 cents postage. Letters came from
I
would say the best writers I came across were Jefferson Burdick and Lionel
Carter, but there were words of wisdom from many. My thanks to Lionel Carter
for hanging on to this 7 inch pile of paper. George Vrechek can be contacted at vrechek@ameritech.net Lionel Carter died in 2008. A big
OBC thank you to Sports Collectors Digest
(SCD) for allowing us to reprint George's article here on the OBC site and
to the late Lionel Carter for making this information available!Johnston Cookies
David Bush,
N. Grasso,
Larry ? ,
Barry Berglund, Marquette. MI
Unnamed collector
Gene DeNardo, one of Burdick’s
buddies, on stationary for the 1953 American Card Catalog
Miriam Jacobs.
Ernest Keener,
Michael Stagno,
Bob Elmo,
Bob Minor,
Jack Smalling, Ames, IA (later address list
publisher)
Steve Vanco,
Pearl Ann Reeder, Hobbies Magazine,
A Collector who shall go unnamed,
Robert Kelleter,
Roger Harris,
Ed Lancaster, Lancaster, PA (whose 1940 letter to Carter
appeared earlier)
Tom Werner
Walt Corson, ACC co-editor, Glen Moore, PA
Charles Spink, Editor of the Sporting News
Howard LePiors,
1957:
E.C. Wharton-Tigar,
Kay Mills, 16 year old Vice President of "Signature
Seekers: The Nation Wide Club for Autograph Collectors"
Keith Sutton,
Gar(land) Miller,
Richard Roundtree,
Tom Hurley,
Harold Esch, Sports Record Bureau,
THE EARLY DEALERS
Goodwin
Goldfaden, Adco Sports Book
Exchange,
Gordon B. Taylor, NYC
Sam Rosen, NYC
Samuel Tanenbaum,
Woody Gelman, on stationary of
The Card Collectors Company (Formerly Sam Rosen),
Larry Fritsch,
JEFFERSON BURDICK
Charles "Buck" Barker,
Bob Jaspersen,
Preston
Charles Bray,
Howard Leheup,
Paul Mosser,
Frank Nagy,
Ray Hess,
Ed Curtis,
Mike Andersen,
Bob Schwartz,
Allan Larson,
Fred Greguras,
Paul Dykes,
Alf Yates,
Bill Mastro,
Bill Haber,
Gordon Williams,
Dan Even, postcard collecting guru
Gavin Riley, in response to an editorial by Carter
Vic Witte
Dan Jaskula
Danny Shamer
Bob Solon,
Edward GoldenCarter’s first trading buddy from
1936.
Let’s hear from Lionel Carter
Observations
HOBBY PUBLICATION HISTORY
The
following article was published in 7 installments in 2004 and 2005 by Sports
Collectors Digest and is reprinted here with their permission. A condensed
version appeared in the inaugural edition of Old Cardboard Magazine in 2004
The 1930s
By George Vrechek, OBC Member
I have found that collectors enjoy the nostalgia-clouded recollections of their youth and don’t even mind going back to the nostalgia-clouded recollections of someone else’s youth. When most of us got interested in card collecting as a hobby we were fortunate to have checklists, price guides, auctions, dealers, stores and shows to choose from as to how we increased our collections and our knowledge of cards. But what did collectors do in, say, the 1910s or 1930s? I actually don’t have much of an idea of what they did in the 1910s, although that seems like a worthy question for a future endeavor. Fortunately I do have some information as to what went on in the 1930s that helped organize collectors’ efforts.
Any reporting of early collecting has to mention Jefferson
Burdick, called the father of card collecting. Burdick (1900-1963) published,
collected, organized, donated and researched, all in the field of collected
cards. Burdick was a 1922 graduate of
Burdick’s published writings always impressed me as very
efficient. He may have been encouraged in this by Hobbies Magazine.
It appeared that the editor allowed each writer only so much space. Stamps,
coins, rocks and the like all had their assigned spaces. Cigarette cards as a
collectible was a new miscellaneous category near the back of the book with a
little under two pages available to Burdick. He
thanked Hobbies for their kindness and then used the space given him to
the fullest. Burdick opens with "At one time these interesting cards were quite
extensively collected and attic searches would probably reveal many boxes laid
away and forgotten. There are yet, too, some active collectors." You can
quickly tell that Burdick is one of them in that he gives a brief outline of
the tobacco manufacturers and the cards they produced – when they felt like
producing them. He describes the tobacco cards from the 1880s to the 1910s,
calling them "neglected" by 1935. He divides the cards between the pre-1900
"old style" of cards on thicker stock, sometimes being
actual photographs versus the "new style" cards printed on thinner stock.
Burdick mentions that he has seen the catalogs and price guides on tobacco
cards from
Burdick covers albums, silks, leathers, flannels and the
coupons needed to obtain gifts. There is one small illustration: a buffalo
card. The closest he comes to baseball is mentioning athletes on cards. He
finishes by giving complete checklists for two 50-card sets: Indian Life in the
‘60s (as in 1860s) and the Lighthouse Series both by Hassan. Readers are
encouraged to contact Burdick at
Burdick is given one page in January and uses it to list 189 sets from Allen & Ginter, Duke and Sons, Goodwin, Kinney and others. Buried in the listing which includes "Prize and Game Chickens" and "Histories of Poor Boys Who Became Rich" is the only pure baseball set: the "Goodwin & Co. baseball player photos." Burdick again encourages readers to write him or better yet to include a sample card of other issues that "will be returned promptly." Burdick sums up with: "The bare listing of the sets gives but a faint idea of the beauty and interest of these old sets. They rank favorably with other illustrations and prints of the period which are so cherished. They represent a cross section of the art, styles, humor, sports, and other activities of the Gay Nineties and the preceding decade. Lillian Russell was in her glory, baseball players wore big mustaches, and prize fighters were tough guys who were going good at the end of thirty rounds. Some of our Western states were still Territories and a lot of foreign nations of the day have passed out of existence. We wonder if another fifty years will show such great changes."
Burdick took February off and comes back with one page in March 1936. He thanks the many readers who contacted him with a renewed interest in collecting cards. Burdick estimates that there were probably 20,000 cigarette cards that had been issued. He then continues his cataloging ways by listing large-sized cards as Sets A through DD, medium-sized cards as Am through Rm, small cards as As through Ts as well as many other sets. Burdick mentions that the "new" cards seem more attractive but the old designs intrigue many "perhaps by the somewhat revealing ‘leg shows’ of the old actress cards." The listings include Set X Baseball folders triple Hassan, set Y Baseball folders double (50) Fatima, Set Z Baseball team (photos) Fatima, Set Ps Baseball players (400) gold framed cards, Set Qs Baseball Champions 1910 Fireside, Set Rs Baseball players (brown background), Set Ss Baseball Players (white framed cards), and Set Ts Domino Baseball Discs Sweet Caporal.
No one else seems to have written about the
Carter’s first column appeared in the Kaw Chief Stamp
Journal of
In the second article in February 1937, Carter writes:
"Since the last column, several bits of very interesting information and
important news have reached us…. Edward Golden of
A year after the first Hobbies Magazine article
Burdick began publishing himself with the Card Collectors Bulletin
beginning with a two-page issue mimeographed on one side dated
Burdick continues with 4 or 5 page issues from February to
April 1937, listing sets, prices, adding collectors’ names and writing about
the hobby. Not surprisingly, for those familiar with Burdick, each of the
issues came out exactly when he planned to the 23 paid subscribers. Burdick
starts by giving even the subscribers numbers with #23 being a Noyes Huston of
One of the important features in these early issues was including prices for cards in a set. In Issue #1 Burdick writes:
"The question of values is one on which there has heretofore been little attempt at agreement. For the good of the Hobby some price schedule should be worked out. The following suggestions are my personal ideas formed after considerable dealings and correspondence with dealers and collectors throughout the country. It should be remembered that they are suggestions only, and I wish to hear opinions all for the purpose of stating more definite prices in set listings of future Bulletins.
I am told that certain cards have changed hands at from 50 cents to $1.00 each. I doubt the justification of such prices and I think it ridiculous to expect the Hobby to thrive with such ideas in effect. Cards at the present time are distinctly a minor hobby….Supply and demand varies for different sets, but I would place a basic catalogue price of TWO CENTS each for want list and approval purposes and as a basis for trading. There are exceptions in both directions. This price is for cards in FINE UNDAMAGED CONDITION. Many cards are quite common are usually found in worn condition and so are not worth two cents unless perfect." (Hence the apparent origin of the expression "I wouldn’t give you 2 cents for that….bent up old 1933 Goudey Ruth.")
In issue #2 Burdick lists about 100 sets with prices per
card as a "checklist of tobacco cards issued since 1900." He adds "50 copies of
this Bulletin will be printed. About half will be sent out immediately and half
reserved for future orders." As to advertising he writes: "A collector asks to
purchase space in the next Bulletin in which to list his individual wants.
There is no objection to this but, it will be necessary to charge two cents per
line (6 lines per inch) to cover the additional cost." (This may have been a
little rich or more probably Burdick didn’t have the room in that the first
small ad didn’t appear in the Bulletin until 2½ years later.) He then lists the sets. Set #521 is called
"Baseball Series (players) white borders, Sweet Cap; Cycle; Piedmont; Old Mill;
Soverign; Obak, etc Same designs on baseball Caramel cards. Several hundred
designs known… .01"
(As in 1 cent each.) The #520 gold borders run the same. The 16 large
In Issue #4 of April 1937 Burdick writes: "No plans for additional bulletins have been made at this time. It is quite probable that later on sufficient material will be gathered for other issues. If, and when, such issues are ready all who receive this Bulletin shall be notified….The card column in Hobbies Magazine is yet to begin, but it is hoped that room may be found soon."
The card column Burdick referred to finally appeared as "Card Collecting" in Hobbies in May 1937, a year after his last article. Burdick writes about the ‘80’s – the 1880’s. Similar to today’s insert cards, someone had the idea of inserting a $5 gold coin in a very small percentage of cigarette packages. Soon every package of tobacco had card inserts with the practice peaking in 1890. However inserts disappeared as quickly as they had arrived as competition relaxed.
Burdick continues his history with an article in August 1937 on how inserts reappeared by 1909. Turkish tobaccos were the fad and Burdick writes: "the important thing to us is that the early importers of Turkish tobaccos were small independent concerns. To increase popularity of their new brands they turned to inserts." Burdick explains why the inserts disappeared for the second time in 1915. Given the small space available to him Burdick can’t really write much about individual cards let alone sets.
The last article I found in the 1930s (before getting bleary-eyed from reviewing microfilm) was "Card Collecting" in September 1937. Burdick’s subject this time is variations: "Nothing seems to intrigue a collector so much as a mistake….In the small baseball cards with team symbol in top left corner we find Dougherty of the Chicago White Sox but the sox are red, like the rest of the background and not white. In the extra large cards we find Doolan of the Phillies with the name spelled Doolin. Both these errors were corrected." We find Burdick was into the details and sounds like he is interested in baseball although he spends an equal amount of space on variations involving cowboys, aviators, and prize fighters. Burdick writes: "For extreme specialists, and there are such, every minute difference such as color of ink, and factory number, make a new variety. In some sets there is seemingly no end for such a collection…Collectors who love to search for mistakes and varieties will be well pleased with card collecting. There is plenty of proof that we all make mistakes or at least change our minds."
Hobbies Magazine was crammed with information
on many hobbies although none that I saw with the detail presented by Burdick.
Collectors had the opportunity to entertain themselves in the middle of the
depression at many antique and hobby shows across the country. The Hotel
Sherman in
While Burdick’s first column in Hobbies ran nearly two pages with an illustration, the last three articles in 1937 were still buried in the back of the magazine and were about one-third of a page each with no illustrations. Apparently Hobbies didn’t give Burdick a permanent column or perhaps Burdick felt that the space allowed would never be adequate. Burdick’s column does not appear in Hobbies after September 1937.
As he had advised his Card Collectors Bulletin readership of perhaps 27 subscribers, Burdick didn’t return with a fifth issue until nearly a year later. In Bulletin 5 of March 1938 Burdick reported "a satisfactory advance in card collecting can be reported – not a boom but a slow and steady growth. Several collectors have gone after cards via advertising and many fine collections are being built. Most collectors are finding the Bulletin prices to be a fair indication of values for sale or exchange." He makes no mention of Hobbies Magazine. Subscriber #30 is Howard Myers who shortly thereafter furnishes a surprisingly complete checklist of T206s. The next issues in 1938 are all five-pages increasingly jammed with detail on card sets and prices.
Issue 6 of June 1938 welcomes three new subscribers: Jack
Holland of
Lionel Carter, now twenty years old, had been searching for other hobbyists. Carter found collector Edward Golden in 1936 and Golden let him know about Jefferson Burdick’s publication. Carter was delighted in finding Burdick and a handful of other subscribers including future trading buddies Harry Lilien and John Wagner. Carter is most likely the only subscriber from the 1930s still alive today. Carter quickly subscribed to the Bulletin and obtained the five prior issues, the very issues on durable 8½ by 11 yellowish paper that I have read to research this article. Carter discontinued his efforts on the Kaw Chief Stamp Journal and began contributing information to Burdick’s Card Collectors Bulletin. (Carter struck out on his own with a small publication in 1940. He got out four issues before being called off to World War II.)
Issues 6 through 8 from June to November 1938 show the gradual evolution in Burdick’s enthusiasm for the hobby. No one else seems to have written a word of text in any of these first eight Bulletins. Early on he writes that he has done about all he intended to by listing the tobacco inserts, then he writes that no other card listings are contemplated except those of candy and gum cards (including those of course issued with ice cream, cracker jack, etc.) You can tell he is addicted. Carter zeroes in on baseball, Burdick expands. Burdick lists more tobacco cards, corrects previous listings, lists coffee cards, soda cards and bread issues. He even lists all the other card types that he won’t "be listing" such as old trade merchandising cards, Bible cards, playing cards, foreign cards, etc. (except he winds up listing Canadian issues anyway). While Burdick doesn’t have room to list individual cards in the Bulletins, you are encouraged to write him to borrow his individual card listings for a short time.
Burdick gives three tips for happy collecting:
Burdick reports on prices. "It has been noted by several that the Bulletin prices need revision of some sort. This is quite natural as information on supply and demand is being accumulated continuously." He mentions the idea of prices for individual cards desired from want lists versus buying a dozen or more cards in bulk. He mentions discounts for poorer conditioned cards. If several cards are needed he recommends buying lots. If a few cards are needed, the want list or approval method is best. "It is hoped that a permanent ‘United States Card Collectors Catalog’ may be printed at some future time incorporating a new pricing system and furnishing much additional information about the sets….Only a few sets of these Bulletins are now left (subscribers must be up to about 45) and when exhausted must be replaced in some way" (no copy machines at work in 1938).
Other subjects include listing about 150 recent (since 1930) candy and gum cards, album mounting methods, and the increase in card collecting. "No boom (which is not wanted) but a gradual spread which is absorbing supplies as fast as they are found. Dealers of all kinds are watching closely for card finds."
The Bulletins stop momentarily after November 1938. Burdick devotes his efforts to producing The United States Card Collectors Bulletin in 1939. This "Bulletin" was professionally typeset and had prices for cards in each of the listed sets. It had 72 pages with 3 punch holes. Future updates and corrections (which turned out to be numerous) could be added to the binder to keep the catalog up to date. The bi-monthly Bulletin returned with the same style of paper (6 inch by 9 inch green paper) so that the issues could be added to the original 72-page production. Burdick mentions feedback he has received on the United States Card Collectors Bulletin in his August 1939 Volume II Number 1 of The Card Collector’s Bulletin (Burdick had been a little loose as to when and where he used the apostrophe). He reported producing 500 copies of which 100 were sent to the initial subscribers. The cost of everything to produce the catalog was about $300. Receipts from purchasers and advertisers were expected to be about the same. When all 500 copies were sold Burdick would break even. The method of describing sets was not the N, E, T and R system that we know. Burdick had categories for tobacco and "candy and gum" and listed sets in each category by numbers getting up to about 709.
The six yearly issues of the Bulletin could be ordered for 30 cents per year which was "intended to cover the bare cost of production and postage." Burdick reports each year thereafter that the Bulletin has enjoyed another year of continuous publication. Many of the early Bulletins contain numerous additions and corrections to the 1939 catalog. The reader needs to buy the catalog to keep track of the set numbers that Burdick uses to report changes. He provides checklists of individual cards in a few sets including very recent issues such as the 1936 Goudey game cards. The Diamond Stars are covered as well: "There are but 96 designs as numbers 97-108 repeat various earlier designs. The series was issued in 1934, 1935, and 1936 with players’ statistics revised for each year. A complete collection contains 156 cards."
Other miscellaneous bits of news as you page through Volume II, No. 1 that has grown to 10 pages:
This is the first Bulletin with anything written by anyone other than Jefferson Burdick and the first issue with any advertising – three ads that took up less than half of one page.
The news continues:
An editorial by Donald Van Brakle (subscriber #11) praises Mr. Burdick in "the matter of valuation. In his adoption of one cent as a basic or minimum value he has made a wise choice. While every collector will naturally hold a divergent opinion on certain series, in general I find myself in close accord with his scales of RELATIVE valuations…He has wisely avoided the pitfall (of pricing cards for which some are willing to pay 5 or 10 cents). The law of supply and demand does not function satisfactorily in a field like this where the supply of material new to collectors is scanty and uncertain, the floating supply is exceedingly small and usually taken quickly out of circulation, and demand is satisfied as soon as a few collectors have been supplied…He has been immune to two temptations that might assail a less honest compiler. One is the assumption that certain series of which he has or has seen few subjects have a high value. The other is the deliberate undervaluation of certain items which the compiler needs for his own collection. On both counts Mr. Burdick’s performance is beyond reproach. Mr. Burdick deserves all credit for his pioneering in this field, for his intellectual honesty in his dealings with fellow collectors and in his preparation of the catalog, and for his single-minded devotion to this hobby to the exclusion of personal gain." Mr. Van Brakle had Mr. Burdick pretty well analyzed. (It was nice of Burdick to give him a full page to share his opinion.) His opinion was echoed by many over the next 24 years.
The final Bulletin of the decade offers an observation by Burdick that the year 1939 "has continued the slow tempo of the past two years in new card issues. Most issues were gum cards and the trend has been to larger sizes. Lionel Carter advertises in this issue looking to fill his wants in Batter-Ups, Big League, Sport Kings and many other sets. The guest editorial is by John D. Wagner, one of the first 14 subscribers to the Bulletin. Again the subject is card valuation and the focus is on the almighty penny. "Cards when bought in large lots of 500 to 1,000 or more should always be had at a fair discount of say a third or half of catalog value at least. One must always figure on numerous duplicates as well as many poor copies…I feel that 1 cent per card is a safe guidepost when dealing in unseen accumulations. It seems to me that the early (prior to 1900) cards should be worth close to list price even in quantities. I would say 1 cent each as a basis for large lots of the 1910 era, 1½ cent for the 1887-1900, and $3 to $7 per 1,000 for the recent gum cards. To those of you in search of cards why not try your local paper. Results may indeed surprise you. (I would have certainly been surprised had I gotten a response to an ad that I was looking to pay ½ cent each for Ruth, Gehrig or any of the other 1933 Goudeys.) Often when the owner is allowed to set the price you may get the cards at considerably less than your own offer might be. Should a hobby magazine be tackled you can rest assured they will cost more than catalog prices. So don’t be surprised to hear from parties who will put a $1 per card tag. I have had several and one with even $2.50 per card. All this means nothing, of course, and we are darn near crazy to fall for this stuff, so these may be eliminated altogether."
In four years the hobby’s visibility went from the first small article in the back of Hobbies Magazine to a well-written and organized catalog followed by a regularly issued newsletter with prices, ads and editorials. Except for Lionel Carter’s articles there has been nothing written about individual baseball players, let alone other sports. All card set subjects are treated with equal enthusiasm by Burdick and many other early collectors. Prices are escalating, but a dime will buy you most any card you can find. After many years of being "laid away and forgotten" as Burdick wrote in his first Hobbies article, the cards were coming into the light.
When we last left our heroes Jefferson Burdick, Lionel
Carter and the rest of the card collecting/hobby publication gang in December
1939, Burdick had just completed issue number 3 of the Card Collector’s
Bulletin that he founded in 1937. A few other collectors had begun writing
for the Bulletin and running small ads. As I read the yellowed pages of
the Bulletins from 1940 to 1945 retained by Lionel Carter, I imagined
that I would see a disruption in the hobby during World War II due to paper
shortages, players as well as collectors going into the service, and the lack
of new card issues. Reading the bi-monthly issues I found, although World War
II impacted the hobby, life went on and hobbies and sports remained useful
diversions. There was a tremendous flow of information among the few active
collectors. Articles in the Bulletin were serious, thorough, and
accurate. Subjects included scarcities in the T206 set, correspondence from
collectors in
Burdick begins the decade by inviting his subscribers to allow him to list their names, addresses and a few lines about their collecting interests to publish in the next few issues. There is, however, a one cent charge per listing to help defray additional postage costs – seriously. These guys watched their pennies. Fifty collector listings subsequently appear. The majority are not sports specialists. Instead they are collectors of post cards, greeting cards, British cards, "post cards showing Presbyterian Churches," tea tags, and Americana. Included in the listing are:
The Bulletin of the Cartographic Society of
Advertisers include Lionel Carter looking to complete his
T206 set, although at the time the set was called the #521 series. Burdick
congratulates Carter "on his ‘Carter Council Chamber’ paper.
Subscriber Harry Lilien reports his research on early
tobacco cards and quotes from "George H. Duke/Master Builder by John Wilber
Jenkins (G.H.Doran 1927). "Duke began to popularize his cigarettes in 1885 or
1886 by putting photographs of stage celebrities in each package. Then coupons
were placed in the packages entitling the holder, for a given number, to a
crayon picture of some historical notable…. Later pictures of baseball players,
sovereigns, rulers, and flags of all nations were placed in cigarette packs.
Boys began to make collections of cigarette pictures, to trade and preserve
them, and the craze extended to every town and village…. While Duke sent out
sign painters who blazoned the names of his products on walls, barns and
billboards, Allen and Ginter stuck to tradition, putting in each package of
cigarettes a bright picture of a lady in tights. It was a spectacular fight, a
battle of tights and paintbrushes" Duke started manufacturing tobacco products
in 1865 and began making cigarettes in 1882 by buying the newly invented
cigarette-making machine. Burdick added: "It was hardly correct to imply that
nearly all early cards showed actresses. (Certainly none of Burdick’s
subscribers professed in their write-ups to have the slightest interest in
actresses. They stuck to more wholesome subjects such as post cards showing
Lilien returns with three more articles after finding the
trade magazine Tobacco. This journal was sent to retailers and reported
card issues, albums, and censorship. Cards designed for the retailers to
advertise cigarettes quickly evolved into insert cards put into the packs of 10
cigarettes. Information from 1887 and 1888 issues included: "Portraits of
baseball players used to advertise Old Judge cigarettes attract much attention
in the midst of the present baseball furor." Lilien deduces that the photos
(Old Judge) preceded the colored litho types (A&G). The small colored cards
were issued at the same time as albums to hold the cards, but by 1892 were
virtually eliminated. "The small flare-up of cards about 1899 were mostly issues with cigars." Tobacco gives the dates of
issue of various sets (mostly non-sport) that seemed to come out at a rate on
one new set per week in 1888, 1889 and 1890. (Sound familiar?) Censors in
Burdick reports that Dixie Lids has a new issue of Defend
Burdick resists including any personal information in the Bulletin for 20 plus years, but he is suffering from the effects of crippling arthritis and will be classified as a 4-F 41 year-old when the war comes. The 24 year-old Lionel Carter had already been drafted and sent to the 112th Horse Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army. Burdick reports that Carters Council Chamber hobby publication has consequently (as it turns out - permanently) suspended operation. Carter reports "at the end of my year of service, I shall be pleased to hear from all my friends." The year turned into over four years. Burdick later writes that when Carter’s publication resumes the "Bulletin will have outlived its period of usefulness, and growing aged and decrepit, will gladly step aside and pass the torch to younger and more active publication. (The Bulletin kept going another 40 years.) Editor Carter also hopes to establish a real exchange proposition – something vitally needed…. Many times in the past a card club has been proposed but has been tabled due to sheer lack of time."
The April 1941 Bulletin covers three sets of recently discovered mint "Abdul Tobacco" non-sports cards. The backs of the cards include a copyright date of 1881. "The copyright attracts notice as this is 5 or 6 years before such cards are believed to come into use." Burdick investigates and gives several reasons why this issue may be a fake including the observation that they would have failed to comply with the requirements of the copyright law in effect at the time. Although he acknowledges that the 1881 date may have been the date the "Abdul" name was copyrighted and not the date of the card issue. Always the gentleman, Burdick adds: "This represents the charitable viewpoint." Also: "There may have been strong temptation to produce some ‘rare early’ cards." In the process Burdick also writes "nearly all old sets were in series of 50 – that being the number of packs in a carton. Originally a carton contained a full set but that practice was abandoned after awhile."
Burdick reports on using cellophane for mounting cards: "A plan adopted by some is crystal mounts, a prepared cellophane tubing made in various sizes especially for blocks of postage stamps. They fit many sizes of cards and are said to be injurious to paper and printing. Your better cards deserve the cost of much better mounting…. Tests by the National Bureau of Standards show that any type of celluloid or cellophane is harmful for use as protective coverings. However, the best grade of cellulose acetate is recommended and is being used to protect documents in the National Archives…. Still we suggest that collectors test to determine results under varying degrees of heat, moisture, pressure, and to make certain that they obtain the correct grade of material." (Where have we read of these same issues in plastic sheets?)
The Bulletin has been running Howard Myers’ still accurate 1938 checklist of the "#521 Series" (T206s) and Burdick writes: "The scarcest cards are Plank and Wagner. Amounts of 50 cents and $1.00 are being offered for these. All Southern Leagues are also uncommon and worth 5 cents to 10 cents each according to condition. A few others are also worth premium rates." These prices are a bit academic in that there weren’t a lot of Planks and Wagners to sell – neither Burdick nor Carter had one. I don’t imagine you could have actually picked up the pair for $1.50 anyway in 1941.
Subscriber John P. Wagner reported that on
Wirt Gammon contributes a newspaper clipping: "Wagner
refused $1,000 a week to go in vaudeville with Cobb and Lajoie. ‘I’m no actor.’
John Gruber, late official scorer in
The first issue after
"VALUES. A book dealer in
Having run several articles by Harry
Lilien on the question of "What was the earliest insert card?" Burdick
adds his thoughts in the February 1942 Bulletin. He comments on sources
of information feeling that trade magazines from the period of issue are more
reliable than magazines or articles written later. The least reliable source
would be newspaper articles "in recent years as experience has indicated such
writers all too often
The 10 page April 1942 issue of The Card Collector’s Bulletin includes articles on the small number of new card issues, upgrading cards through exchanges, exhibit cards, book match covers, checklists of Obaks and Baseball Comics, a long editorial by Burdick on the lack of commercialism in the hobby and a short note that subscriber Charles Bray had purchased an old collection from someone in New Orleans and was offering it for sale. Bray ran a 5-line ad offering "mostly small 19th Century issues…at reasonable rates." In this modest manner Bray began selling and later auctioning about any piece of cardboard under the sun through the Bulletin. To this point the largest advertising space in a Bulletin had been less than one page. Things were about to change. It was ironic that in Burdick’s editorial he applauded the lack of commercialism in the hobby "But guard must be kept, as commercialism like inflation creeps in without warning. Opinions may differ, but we believe that present conditions are for the best interest of the hobby and should not be changed." The long editorial got his readers’ attention and in the next issue Burdick reported on the mostly favorable feedback from readers. Burdick begins hinting about his future involvement: "In spite of the many difficulties, we hope to continue publication during the war and thereafter as long as feasible. Quite a number of checklists still await publication although most of these are now of the scarcer sets not largely held by most collectors."
Other excerpts:
In his spare time Burdick issues a 1942 supplement to the catalog. He explains the reason for increased prices and that he has had inquiries from people wanting to buy cards in large quantity at low rates. "Years ago it was possible to buy in that manner to some extent but today nearly everybody obtains at least a general idea of value before selling, and snap bargains are the exception." (Sound familiar?) But then he goes on to report that: "During 1942 at least four collections have changed hands at $70 or more each." (about $820 in today’s dollars). Burdick’s general guide at the time is that "selected items from want lists" and complete sets are selling for double catalog and a minimum of 5 cents per card. Short sets are at 1.5 times catalog and mixed lots and collections at catalog – except that harder to find cards in T206 for example are running $2 or even $3 each! Cutouts and actresses are of modest if any value. "Many collectors will pay a bonus for the last few cards needed to complete a set. In England the first and last cards of a set, in fine condition, are priced higher as being on the outside they are subject to more damage….In these days much is heard of the investment value of hobby material. It is a safe prediction that these cards will prove as good a value as any. There will always be a strong interest in them and values have been gradually rising in a healthy manner. Any good collection if properly handled should eventually realize as good returns as the better stocks and bonds. Values seem surely destined to go considerably above their present levels with the next few years." Jefferson Burdick, December 1942.
In 1943 Burdick writes: "The Bulletin does not customarily devote great space to the matter of prices, but at present they are prime topics in all lines…The current season has been notable for the unusual quantity of cards which have been offered collectors. This has been due to the considerable advertising done by collectors and what we may call a streak of collectors luck- fulfilling the ‘never rains but it pours’ adage. While we believe that untold numbers of old cards are still hiding in old stored collections, the recent rate of turn-up is not liable to continue, and the general trend, we believe, will be for supplies to gradually decrease in the coming years….We cannot emphasize too strongly that present rates are real opportunities for collectors."
A few months later Burdick writes: "In these days we hear about a 30 cent dollar and while the actual purchasing power of a dollar may not have shrunk by 70%, it is quite evident that there is a material shrinkage. Government price controls on most of the necessities of life have kept their prices from rocketing. (Remember the high prices of World War I)…There is the probability that decreasing (card) supplies will be coupled with greater demand from at least two types: soldiers returning to civil life and resuming their collecting, and the increase in foreign demand when the present financial restrictions are removed and normal free trade is resumed…Card collecting is an international hobby."
War news on hobbyists: Lionel Carter checks in from
In the December 1943 issue subscriber C.G. Sturtevant recalls his card collecting days as a youth in the 1880s. "I clearly remember my enthusiasm in collecting picture cards of all kinds. Many were the advertising giveaways, and for those we used to worry the drug and drygood stores about crazy. Thread companies and patent medicine firms had a big variety. Unground coffee had many series. Many were the sources of cards gotten free….By the summer of 1888 I had accumulated a couple of thousand which I kept more or less assorted in shoe boxes. Constant handling caused wear but was preferred to pasting in albums. During the summer of 1888 a collector showed me several of the small tobacco or cigarette cards of flags and rulers. Ours was a small town where cigarettes were not sold, which accounts for my not seeing them until about two years after they had appeared in other places." Moving to a cigarette-using town, Sturtevant quickly gathered the tobacco inserts left behind in stores even arranging with store owners to give him all the cards left behind in the store. "I cannot begin to tell you what a fine lot of cards I received here during the winter of 1888-1889." The cards multiplied, were put in cigar boxes with rubber bands, but eventually were completely soaked by a driving rainstorm. He turned to stamps but then swapped them all with a boy from the East who had a great box of mostly Allen & Ginter cards. But quickly they stopped inserting cards, Sturtevant entered the Army and returned home to find "relatives and other kids had left little of my collections. Throughout the years since I had often thought of the cards and became much interested when the Card Catalog was published. I cannot again recover my losses and so must confine myself to mostly recollections and reminiscences."
Auctions,
etc.
Partial checklists of certain tobacco sets are provided thanks to the joint efforts of readers Bray, Wagner, Van Brakle, Gammon, Ross and Wise….Burdick also writes about advertising cards, the various Allen & Ginter sets, and foreign cards, particularly Canadian and English cards in that Burdick subscribes to some of their publications (Cigarette Card News and Cartophilic World) and has a number of English subscribers to the Bulletin.
The first of what will be many obituaries of long-time
collectors appears in August 1943, that of James N. Colkitt of
Other notes of interest in the "war" Bulletins:
In August 1944 The Bulletin returns to 6 pages that are 8 ½ by 11 rather than 10 half-sized pages. Gum cards in the last auction brought only about 1/3rd of catalog. Burdick predicts that they will increase in value and popularity in coming years. He suggests buying in lots rather than just going after want list items in that you can upgrade sets and get something for your duplicates, perhaps putting them back in the next auction. Readers have noted the difficulty in finding that final card or two for a set. Burdick describes similar experiences and logically attributes it to the last cards issued in a long series (high numbers), errors and corrections (the initial error is usually scarcer), and advises to never give up the search – it is what makes collecting interesting. He also says that you undoubtedly will be taking chances in buying certain lots, but that the pleasant surprises outweigh the unpleasant ones. He surmised that despite the interest in cards that many are still going the way of "the current scrap paper drives." Bray organizes the 4th Mail Card Sale with 131 lots from various owners. A set of 12 bidding rules is added.
Catalogs are out of print and Burdick advises that there won’t be another until after the war because of paper and printing shortages. He also feels that the numbering system will have to be redone. (T206s are still known as the #521 Series.) Burdick updates the status of certain subscribers in service or returning from service, including Lionel Carter. "After three long years fighting in the South Pacific, PFC Carter was home in November (1944) and we enjoyed a fine letter from him just before he left for reassignment." Wirt Gammon has an article on baseball cards in the Sporting News. Walt Corson has a detailed article on Baseball Blankets and the years of issue. Charles Barker’s name appears for the first time in August 1945 reporting the existence of ballpark souvenir sets.
As the war is about to end Burdick describes his trip by
train to see "the Charles Brays, whose beautiful home has become a rendezvous
for Eastern collectors for more reasons than a mutual interest in cards….We
recommend this trip down the Lackawanna Trail of Eastern Pennsylvania for its
beauty and pleasure, either way by train or auto. The mining sections, the
mountains, and at the end, the Delaware Water Gap, are things that all should
see. Pulling over the high Poconos, the smooth gliding train, the changing
scenic panorama, with an undertone of rhythmic puffing of two powerful locomotives
make a touching combination." I drove through this area of
The Bulletin made it through World War II without missing an issue, still at 30 cents per year, still with Burdick writing nearly every word. There is yet to be a photo, drawing or anything other than typed pages duplicated onto whatever paper was available; but it was all great stuff.
1945 to 1953 – Burdick to Bray
World War II ends and The Card Collector’s Bulletin keeps rolling. The December 1945 issue includes the recollections of Harry Lepman as a boy in the 1910s: flipping, matching, 20 cigar boxes full of cards. Other subscribers remember blowing, twirling and other ways of winning cards. Burdick recalls cards that came with chewing tobacco got sandwiched while in the bag and frequently came "mint" but bent. The Bulletin has grown to 14 pages and Burdick returns money to a number of advertisers that he didn’t have room for in the publication. Lionel Carter is just back from the Pacific and runs a full-page want list ad offering to pay 5 cents per card. Paul Masser offers $25 for a Wagner.
A new catalog is now possible and is scheduled for release in 1946, 7 years after the first catalog. Seven years becomes the schedule for future catalogs: 1953 and 1960. In typical fashion, Burdick shares all financial information about the catalog with his readers: 128 pages, 1,250 copies, cost around $1,000. A catalog will sell for 75 cents but they will throw in a year subscription to the Bulletin. Advertising revenue gets the catalog to a breakeven, eventually, in that it will take awhile to sell 1,250 copies. Burdick introduces the T,E,C nomenclature and the American Card Catalog comes out as Burdick predicted albeit with a few errors and omissions which are reported. The October 1946 issue mentions: "Resumption of card issues is said to depend only on the availability of paper stock and collectors are trying to clear their decks in preparation for these first post war issues."
The December 1946 Bulletin has an article on "varieties and errors." Burdick’s observations include:
· Variations can be caused by printer’s waste that erroneously reaches the public, the correction of errors, or intentional changes in design during the process
· Reprints include A&G plates reused in 1912 for early candy cards
· Counterfeits – "If new plates are made and exact copies of originals attempted, we have imitations, facsimiles, counterfeits and other bogus productions. These can usually be detected by careful examination but so far nothing has occurred in this line as far as known. The high cost of such work, plus risk of detection, make it a hazardous undertaking."
Burdick reports his trip to
C.G. Sturtevant returns with his scholarly findings on the early tobacco cards based on a "Cigarette Photo" article in an 1887 amusement journal. Considerable fuss is made over the revealing "leg-art" pictures of "ballet girls" on A&G insert cards. If you’ve seen some of these cards, you noticed that the legs were quite ample. Large sized photos were originally used to help market the cigarettes and evolved into smaller versions inserted into packs. Anthony Comstock was on his high horse to protect "small boys" from such leg-art lewdness. The net effect was to put pressure on the manufacturers to eliminate the "revealing photos." The photos did "their job of popularizing cigarettes and manufacturers could carry on (in 1886) with designs which would break no laws" – like baseball players.
Burdick chips in again with his research on this
continuously pursued interest in the earliest tobacco inserts. He finds a Frank
Leslie Illustrated Magazine of 1883 that covers a visit to the Allen &
Ginter factory in
In December 1947 Burdick announces in the Bulletin
that he has decided to donate his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in
Burdick regularly updates Bulletin readers on the
status of the transfer of the collection. Long-time subscribers such as John
Wagner, Howard Paul, Fanny Traynor, Harry Kenworthy, Paul Masser, Howard Myers
and Samuel Tanenbaum begin assisting Burdick in his efforts to complete various
sets prior to sending them to the museum. Burdick seeks additional help because
he is "too busy to keep up with collectors in the baseball field." He is
looking to add 2
In October 1948 Burdick reports that John Wagner has given him an extra Hans Wagner card in order to complete his T206 collection to be sent to the Met. Burdick is thrilled in that he had sought this card for many years. "This is the original ‘discovery’ card which Mr. Wagner first spotted among his duplicates. Early lists of the set did not mention this title and it came near being traded off without being noticed. Since then one or two others have been found but the card remains in such demand that several copies could easily be sold at the catalog value of $25 or more." In the same paragraph Burdick is also enthused to be back organizing the actress cards into 2,037 varieties.
Concurrently Burdick works on the next Catalog and updates, trying to get copies of sets such as Sport Kings extra large R340. He also begins work on a small pamphlet as an index of cards at the museum. It isn’t fully developed for another 13 years, but as with most of his initiatives it is finally printed and is used at the museum’s print room to this day.
The vast numbers of photo actresses in the tobacco cards slow Burdick down in his efforts to ship early tobacco inserts. He sends 13,590 actress cards to the Met. Mayor and Burdick also find that it is going to be complex to properly mount the collection in albums. Burdick later reports that they (Theodore Starr of the print department) would be pasting the cards into the albums if there were no descriptions on the back even though he wouldn’t recommend this for a private collection. The "museum cards, of course, will never be sold or removed from the albums." The pasting job apparently is hard to staff in that a few years later "Mr. Starr could not continue and Mr. Mayor has been unable to find anyone to take his place….No cellophane has yet been employed but this can be added later if desired, and a suitable type can be found." A few years later Burdick rationalizes in the Bulletin that "The mounting, unfortunately was begun years ago before the cellophane era and consists of merely pasting on blank album pages. This will seem ruinous to some collectors, but all can be saved if at some future time it is necessary to remount. A moment’s dip in water and all will come free and undamaged. To show the better way, one album uses cellophane. I found genuine acetate very expensive and too thick, and regular moisture-proof cellophane is now off the market."
On
Charles Bray
Becomes Bulletin Editor
The big news in the June 1949 issue is that Burdick is
turning over the Bulletin to Charles Bray who had taken over the auction
portion of the Bulletin several years earlier. "Mentally I have enjoyed
it (putting out 60 issues over the past 10 years). Physically, however, it has
been a bit different and many issues have been gotten out under somewhat
distressful conditions. I have been bothered considerably (the master of
understatement) by chronic arthritis, and in recent years it has precluded any
unnecessary activities….all in all, I am not in proper condition to continue
magazine publication." He will contribute articles in the future and asks
others to do so as well to help Charles Bray, a "square shooter." Burdick later
confided that in the 1950s the new drug of cortisone helped delay what he
imagined would be a crippling disability. In the last 20-page issue of the
1940s, Burdick uses one page to update readers on the 40,000 cards he has sent
so far to the
In the early 1950s a few writers other than Burdick start to
contribute to the Bulletin. Walt Corson writes about the minor leaguers
in the T206 set with finally some references to the players themselves. Charles
Bray describes his visit to the hobby
A refreshing ad is run by subscriber Lowrance Swayze looking to trade 1950 and 1951 Bowman baseball and football: "I am just a poor collector who’s trying to keep from buying any more bubble gum than he has to." Buck Barker runs an ad apologizing to all his friends "if I have any left. If I don’t then the apology is directed to my former friends. I am not dead. I have not been actively collecting for several years. In fact my collection is in storage. However, I will be back someday, and I hope that I will be forgiven. Charles ‘Buck’ Barker, Baseball Collector." The collection of the late W.J. Christie is auctioned by Bray with suggested prices of $14.63 for a T205 set, Mecca double folder set for $3.50, a 1948 Bowman baseball set for $1.34, a 1950 Bowman baseball set for $5.52, and a 1941 Playball set for $2.02 – just typical junk cards at extravagant prices.
Burdick announces plans for a 168-page 1953 Catalog that
will be priced at $2 with 1,400 copies printed. The staff consists of Burdick
as Managing Editor, Bray as Associate Editor in charge of Prices, Gene DeNardo
as Associate Editor in charge of Copy Revisions, and Woody Gelman the Associate
Editor in charge of Advertising and Publication. John Wagner contributes
artwork including drawings for the Catalog Stationery. The staff meets
on
Bray takes the opportunity in the October 1952 issue to discuss pricing in the Catalog. "A lot of people think that because a card is seventy years old it is, ipso facto, a valuable item. It is a valuable item, only if the quantity of surviving copies is considerably less than the collectors who want them and are willing to pay a good price to obtain them….Every group, set and card has to be considered individually in the light of the particular factors which most influence its value." Sets will continue to be priced at a significant (50%) premium over the price of the individual cards. Of course, all the individual cards are priced the same with no particularly distinction for high numbers or stars.
In a 1953 issue Lionel Carter returns with an article on the
front page thanking Burdick ("Thanks to a Grand Guy") for his great work in
putting out the 1953 Catalog and his past efforts. Carter writes: "When
I started collecting baseball cards in 1933, I thought I was alone in the hobby
until I was introduced by Edward Golden to Mr. Burdick’s ‘Card Collectors
Bulletin’ in the spring of 1938. From that moment, my interest zoomed, my
collection flourished. The first catalog proved an inspiration, the second
saving my interest in the backwash of the war service. Moving to
The Rest of the
Story
This series started as the history of hobby publications.
Until the early 1950s the history of the hobby publications and the history of The
Card Collector’s Bulletin were pretty much the same. However in January
1951 Bob Jasperson’s Sport Fan appeared. The publishers were Helen and
Bob Jasperson of
A want ad in a 1969 Bulletin gave me many names of other early hobby publications. Subscriber O.A.Alley, Jr. was looking for The American Card Collector, Association of Sports Collectors – Bulletin, The Autograph Hobbyists, Baseball Card Hobbiest, Card Comments, The Card Hobbyists, Card News and Comments, Diamond Dust, The Foul Tip, Grandstand Manager, Hobbys to Enjoy, Sport Collector, Hobby Enthusiast, Sport Fan Who’s Who, Autograph News, Sport Fan, Sport Hobbyist, The Sports Exchange, The Sports Exchange Trading Post, The Sports Journal, The Sports Line, The Trader Speaks, Treasure Magazine, The Trading Card Gazette, and Western Hobby News. Everyone seemed to have their own preference for the plurals of Hobby and Hobbyist. As you can see from O.A. Alley’s list there were many enthusiastic and sometimes short-lived publications by collectors and dealers starting in the 1940s. Many of them were undoubtedly superior to the Bulletin in its later years.
Collector Dave Hornish provided me information on the Sports
Exchange Trading Post from a 1987 SCD article by Richard Miller.
John Seifert of
Richard Rubin also provided copies of several other
publications from the 1940s and 1950s. Most publications tended to be more like
baseball team fan club newsletters geared to a young audience. Issues were a
few typed pages, probably mimeographed. There were limited references to
collectibles such as programs and guides. For example, Diamond Dust
began in 1945 with articles on major league baseball players and teams. Ned
Catrone was the "club" president. The ad section included subscribers looking
for autographs, scorecards, books, pictures, pennants but not too many cards
since none had been issued since 1941. Baseball Parade also started in
1945. It was edited semi-monthly by Russell Weston of
In 1953 legendary English collector E.C. Wharton-Tigar provided
a two-page article. He had met with Burdick, Bray and Canadian S.C. Hall. He
considered Burdick’s 1953 catalog to be "a land mark in world cartophilic
progress." He noted that in the
In 1953 Sam Rosen of
Buck Barker contributed a fact-packed, breathless article continuing the baseball theme. He recalled the Goudey Fine and Wide Pens were given out by storekeepers with the Batter-Ups and Puzzle cards. You got a card, gum, and a large card thrown in all for 1 cent. He followed with another "breathless" article on baseball card errors and variations and yet another recalling the early days of the Bulletin, noting many of the things I did in the initial article in this series.
Woody Gelman added a short note in April 1956 that, by the way, Topps had purchased Bowman and "plans to issue long series of baseball gum cards continuing with Bowman novelty gum production. Their plans are to produce more issues of cards in their expanding business." In June 1956 APBA Game Company ran a full-page ad announcing their new card game. Write for details and a free card of Duke Snider. The Catalog was sold out, required updating, and a 1956 revision to the 1953 Catalog was announced.
In February 1957 Walt Corson recalled collecting strip cards
"beginning in 1921 until the supply became exhausted several years ago." They
were given away with candy purchases. Most strip cards were issued by Underwood
and Underwood or International Feature Service. Corson had the foresight to
collect and retain them despite their relative unpopularity. By December 1957
Corson reported that he has had an operation for cancer and was selling his
collection of over 300,000 cards in which there were 616 different complete
sets. He had already sold $2,400 worth of baseball cards….In June 1957 Charles
Brooks advertised his monthly The Sports Hobbyist publication….In April
1958 Barker was back with comments on key players missing in baseball sets. He
even wrote a letter to Stan Musial telling him that he owed the kids a chance
to get his picture. Musial then appeared in the last series of 1958. Barker
gave a detailed breakdown of the players included in the T205 and T206 sets.
The T206 minor leaguers were issued a good year after the 150 Series backs of
early 1909. He contributed many articles with an exhausting wealth of
information, all focused on baseball cards over the next several years…Preston
Orem contributed a three-page article on the Old Judge cards…In early 1959
Burdick reported that he intended to move to New York City to complete the
mounting of the collection. Burdick had also been working on a postcard
collection and catalogs the last few years….Bray’s auction was up to 640
lots….Fleer announced they were returning to the baseball card market in
1959….Burdick, Bray, Gelman, Barker and
The 1948-9 Leafs are now listed as a 96 card set. When this set was first issued only 49 cards were known. Collectors assumed that the skipped-numbered set of 49 was cut short by legal action from Bowman. However in 1958 eight more cards surfaced. In August 1960 Lionel Carter reported: "It is our belief that the same dealer/collector who held back the 1949 Pacific Coast League cards for a number of years then turned them loose one set at a time, also held back the 8 cards mentioned above. This exploded the myth of a 49 card set….We were quite unprepared by the bombshell dropped by Lloyd Hendrick of Lawton, Oklahoma who reported 28 unlisted cards of this set bringing the total up to 85 known cards….Since that time ‘Detective’ Hendrick was found an additional card of Dick Sisler….Perhaps all 168 numbers were issued." It appeared that 49 cards were printed in quantity and 49 more were "single printed" and distributed regionally. It took collectors years to find them all.
The October 1962 issue had every color of paper in the rainbow with every page different – Bray’s attempt at high design. Jefferson Burdick had reduced the frequency of articles at this point. He wrote his last article for the Bulletin: "Collecting Notes on an Autumn Day." His subject was collecting and recalled a friend who initially limited his collection to three ferryboat pictures. "There are probably many who limit their collections much more than they should. Even the sports collectors, after a period, reach a point where little can be obtained other than new issues and those -as vast as they are - do not quite satisfy the full-blooded collector. There are but two legitimate limiting factors: available time and money." Burdick went on to describe ways of collecting within your means, expanding your horizons and buying lots. "Rather than quit in a flurry of frustration, the remedy is to expand the interest to balance the time available for collecting. The field is sufficiently large to accommodate all normal collecting needs and a bit of exploration in these untried fields will make you wonder why you passed them up for so long."
The June 1, 1963 Bulletin was printed "In Memory of Our
Friend Jefferson R. Burdick" "Jeff passed away in the University Hospital
N.Y.C. on March 13th and was buried in the family plot in
The directory that Burdick wrote for his collection at the Met was finally published in 1964. Gelman, Carter, Barker, Bray and others continued with articles, but the Bulletin increasingly became an auction publication; some 1,083 lots in one 1965 issue. In October 1968 Bob Jasperson had one-fourth-page ad advertising the sale of the collection of the late Frank Jock – three fourths of a ton of baseball memorabilia. In April 1969 Paul Masser advertised the break up of his collection.
Obituaries appeared for Preston Orem by Barker (12/73) and
Howard Leheup by Carter (3/75). Now in his eighties, Charles Bray decreased the
number of issues from 6 to 4. The issues started to be numbered by the auction
number, reaching #204 in 1982. Incredibly Bray kept going with 400 to 500 lots
but with very little in the way of articles or other ads. The commission
increased to 20%. The last issue that subscriber #23 Lionel Carter has is 7
pages apparently from 1984. It had 298 auction lots and stated "The Card
Collectors Bulletin is issued 2 or 4 times a year." Bray died
The Bulletin from 1937 through much of the 1950s was the leading hobby publication with serious research, an array of information efficiently presented, and well-written articles. Writers and publishers in addition to Jefferson Burdick also showed enthusiasm for the hobby and had a greater interest in the sports themselves. Collectors could pick up 60 year-old cards for pennies and enjoy their appearance and share in their history without too many worries about values and condition. It was great fun.
Contact George Vrechek at: vrechek@ameritech.net. George is always interested in information about the history of the sport card collecting hobby.
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