New T206 for the Howe McCormick Collector

[benkenobi13]

I picked up this O'Hara for you yesterday. Send me an email at benkenobi13@yahoo.com

[Rob D.]

Nice gesture. Good job by you.

[Jantz]

I've contacted Ed before in the past on T206s with this stamp that were up for sale on Ebay. He is usually pretty quick to reply. You'll probably here back from him soon.

Echoing what Rob said....Nice gesture.

Jantz

[T206.org]

Way cool of you! Ed is a totally worthy and appreciative guy.

Ed, what's the McCormick tally these days anyway?

[Howe’s Hunter]

Again, I am very appreciative of this. This and every instance where someone sees one and lets me know, picks on up on my behalf, etc. It's nice to think that so many people I've never had the opportunity to meet are so helpful.
With this one, the count goes to 142. Thanks again.
Ed

[ethicsprof]

Congratulations Ed on 142!!! I remember when you could count them on one hand.
And kudos to Joey for being a prince of a fellow.

best,
barry

[caramelcard]

Hmm, Gainsville, Florida

Did he only smoke piedmonts or are there several backs with the stamp Ed?

[Howe’s Hunter]

Of the 142 I own, there are 7 with a Hindu back, 17 with an Old Mill back and the remaining 118 are all Piedmont.

In my saying I have 142, I forgot the 5 my wife told me to bid on and she would pay for my Christmas gift. Don't know if she has paid yet or not, but that would be another 5 Piedmonts.

There are 18 cards I know the location/owners of, and of those 15 are Piedmont, 3 are with a Hindu back.

Finally, there are 24 that I know exist, but have lost track of who the owner is now (eBay auctions that I didn't win and haven't been able to contact the new owner), there are another 12 Piedmonts, 3 Hindus and 9 Old Mills.

That gives a total of 189 cards I know of that exist with his stamp on the back. Really hope he didn't smoke that much, as at the time, he was only 14. For this many to have survived paper drives, careless mothers, etc., he must have had many, many more.

[caramelcard]

Thanks Ed.

Very interesting. All three of those backs were known to be southern issued backs as we've seen from advertising. Very cool project you're working on!

Rob

[wake.up.the.echoes]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1910-T206-Frank-Homerun-Baker-light-stamp-back-EX_W0QQitemZ350293748044QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Base ball?hash=item518f22694c


edit: sorry if i broke the rules by putting an eBay link on here. definitely wasn't promoting the auction. just saw that it got listed today and figured i could alert Ed. in case the link gets removed, the auction is for a home run baker t206 and i think shoebox cards is the seller.

[DangerJim]

Ed

Have you ever been able to trace the route of any of the cards back to the original owner? That would be truly fascinating as is your quest to reassemble the collection.

I have to believe if Howe were around today he would be honored to have his collection pieced back together and would probably have some great stories.

In the meantime, I always look at backstamps in case I see one.

Jim

[canjond]

Of the 142 I own, there are 7 with a Hindu back, 17 with an Old Mill back and the remaining 118 are all Piedmont.

In my saying I have 142, I forgot the 5 my wife told me to bid on and she would pay for my Christmas gift. Don't know if she has paid yet or not, but that would be another 5 Piedmonts.

There are 18 cards I know the location/owners of, and of those 15 are Piedmont, 3 are with a Hindu back.

Finally, there are 24 that I know exist, but have lost track of who the owner is now (eBay auctions that I didn't win and haven't been able to contact the new owner), there are another 12 Piedmonts, 3 Hindus and 9 Old Mills.

That gives a total of 189 cards I know of that exist with his stamp on the back. Really hope he didn't smoke that much, as at the time, he was only 14. For this many to have survived paper drives, careless mothers, etc., he must have had many, many more.

Ed - just curious what leads you to believe these were collected when he was a youth. If anything, I would think that a 14 year old kid would not have a stamp that had his address on it in 1910. Rather, I could see him compiling this collection later on in life and stamping the cards then. By chance, did you ever send an email to Lionel asking him if the name was familiar. For all we know, this guy may have been a good friend of the early pioneers!

[Myachelydra]

Nice gesture. Ed, continued luck in your quest.

[Howe’s Hunter]

but from birth to 1918, I know where he was. Birth records show he was born the son of John McCormick at 500 W. Main St., Gainesville, Fl in July of 1896. His army discharge papers in 1919 list his home address as being in Acuta, FL (the handwriting on those forms is hard to read, but that is the best I can make out from the scans I've recieved). So his cards had to be collected, and stamped with that home address between 1909 and 1919, between the ages of 13 and 23. The next record for him show he, his wife and daughter living at the same address listed on the discharge papers (that was the 1935 census) and his occupation was 'sales'. No more records exist until a death certificate filed on July 31, 1976. So to have stamped those cards with that address, there was a narrow time from birth to around age 23 he lived at that address. I do have the one card that uses his first name (Urich), middle initial (H) and the same 500 West Main address, but also lists him as an Agent for the Saturday Evening Post. I've talked to several who thought maybe as a "delivery boy" for the post, he had to stamp invoices to those he took the paper to, and probably had several stamps for such purposes/ That part is a wild guess.

[Leon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/1910-T206-Frank-Homerun-Baker-light-stamp-back-EX_W0QQitemZ350293748044QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Base ball?hash=item518f22694c


edit: sorry if i broke the rules by putting an eBay link on here. definitely wasn't promoting the auction. just saw that it got listed today and figured i could alert Ed. in case the link gets removed, the auction is for a home run baker t206 and i think shoebox cards is the seller.

There is no harm in helping fellow board members. The only small thing about posting publicly is that quite a few people see it. It might be better to do a PM to alert folks of things they want (for future reference). It is a proven fact that, many times, when something is posted about while live, it goes for more money. Also, there is no steadfast rule against posting a live auction link. We have debated it multiple times and for various reasons there just can't be a rule against it. I have lost a few good items due to it but that is the way the cards fall. Once again, it's always a very nice deed to help others out when you can. I would never ever discourage that sort of behavior....kind regards

[T206Collector]

<<<but also lists him as an Agent for the Saturday Evening Post. I've talked to several who thought maybe as a "delivery boy" for the post, he had to stamp invoices to those he took the paper to, and probably had several stamps for such purposes/ That part is a wild guess.>>>

I think you're spot on here. A few years ago, I wrote an email to the Saturday Evening Post, as follows:

Dear Sir:

I collect tobacco baseball cards from 1909-11. Back in the early days
of collecting, collectors would sometimes stamp their names on the
back of these tobacco cards. I have come into possession of a
baseball tobacco card with the following stamped on the reverse:

John A. Anderson, Agent
The Saturday Evening Post
114 UNION AVENUE
Bath, Penna.

I was wondering if you could provide any insight into this stamp. Is
there any way to check/verify employment records for the Post going
back over the past 100 years? Was 114 Union Avenue in Bath,
Pennsylvania a significant office for the Post? What does the title,
"Agent" mean?

Any information you could provide would be much appreciated.

Thanks for your attention.

And the response was:

In the first half of the 20th century (and maybe the end of the 19th),
magazine subscriptions were sold door-to-door and distributed weekly mostly
by "POST Boys". These were boys between the ages of about 10 to about 14 who
made a little money or earned premiums (toys, sports equipment, bikes, etc.)
for doing the distribution. There were also adults who received the copies
and passed them along to the kids. I think all were called "agents". Since
this is a tobacco card, this may have been one of the adults.

The Curtis Publishing Company (then owner of the magazine) was located in
Philadelphia until the mid-1950's. It then moved corporate to New York and
in the late 1960's to here, in Indianapolis. If the records ever existed,
they are long gone. I assume the address was probably Mr. Anderson's home.
Perhaps, the county clerk for Bath, PA could give you some history of the
address.

There are several books on the history of the Curtis Publishing Company and
The Saturday Evening Post. You should be able to find them at you local
library.

Based on this, I think the agent was a kid and, tobacco product notwithstanding, not an adult.

Love the Howe McCormick pursuit. Reminds me of my autographed T206 card pursuit.....

[jeffshep]

I would study the manner in which the cards were stamped - are they all stamped at the same angle with the same colored ink and stamper? This would lead you to believe he did this all in one sitting, and not as they trickled in, perhaps through purchases of cigarette packs. Do any of the card fronts display a slight reverse image of the stamp, similar to a wet sheet transfer? If so then he was probably stamping and stacking as he went along. Is the card wear similar throughout the collection? Just a few questions to kick around - it's an amazing endeavor, good luck with it!

[Howe’s Hunter]

On all the Piedmont's, the stamp runs at an angle similar to the frame of the back. They go from running off one side to running off the other, and I have found two that are different than all the others. Those two run top to bottom (or opposite of what you would see a library book spine on a shelf). All the others read top to bottom, but upside down. (the example of the two oddballs are in the SGC article). All the Hindu's and Old Mill's run like a book spine, top to bottom, but centered in the card.

Overall condition of the cards would probably grade fair, but you don't know how much of that is because of McCormick's treatment of the cards, or the treatment since they left his hands. I've got a Hindu backed Sullivan that looks like it was a rat treat, and is missing almost every corner entirely, while I have seen (but don't own, and probably never will) a green back Cobb, that if not for the stamp would probably grade an 6 or 7 (it was graded by GAI and got a 2, but it is a very, very nice 2).

I've not seen any with a wet transfer. And the look of the stamps being all over from side to side, but following the same pattern leads me to believe this wasn't a "I'll sit down tonight and stamp all my cards" type project. I've posted this link before, but it will give you an idea of what the first 30 looked like in terms of condition and where the stamps were

http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s81/T206ster/?action=view&current=7a2e9b2a.pbw

[judsonhamlin]

I have a couple of the Post "agent" cards as well and a couple of years ago posted on the possibility of a connection, but never thought about writing the publisher now about records from "back in the day". So nice work, Paul! I do note that the back stamps are essentially the same for the two agents with different addresses - the font size and type are consistent; which suggested to me that the Post was the entity for distributing these cards. Anyone else have these cards?

[Howe’s Hunter]

delete

[Howe’s Hunter]

Here it is in color. Always thought the green ink was a bit strange, considering all his other stamps were black-ish/purple-ish

[Pilot172000]

I just happened upon a McCormick in my collection today. I read this thread years ago and never thought about about again until just now when I came across my Molly Miller with an Old Mill back. It had a piece of tape and when O looked closer it had the stamp on it. Pretty cool.

[Howe’s Hunter]

Thanks.

[whelenfan]

That is an incredible story and kinda makes me want to branch out and start a type collection like that. Good luck!