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09-23-2008, 04:08 PM
Posted By: <b>Rick McQuillan</b><p>Hi Deb,<br /> During the past couple of months I have been fascinated by your ebay auctions with the Katrina damaged T206's. It looks like this was a fairly large T206 collection. Would you be so kind as to give us a little history behind these cards? I'm just being nosy, but I thought that it would interesting to find out how you acquired these cards, who they originally belonged to, and where were they during Katrina. <br /><br />I understand if you don't want to share the story, but I will appreciate it if you will share the story.<br /><br />Thank you,<br /><br />Rick
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09-24-2008, 12:15 PM
Posted By: <b>Debra Johnson</b><p>Hi Rick, <br />The scrapbook was in the attic of the original family’s house at the bottom of a chest, (not far from where Brett Favre’s family scrambled to their attic during the storm). At least ten miles inland, but near a river, the surge went over the roof. The family had evacuated. When the house was mucked out by volunteers, items were bagged and boxed to be gone through later after the house was made livable. When ‘later’ arrived, at the beginning of 2008, the box with the album was finally unearthed, and the lady of the house identified the contents as ‘collectibles.’ The lady had not known of the existence of the scrapbook until it was retrieved from storage. The lady prefers to stay anonymous due to kid/grandkid problems. (Just for perspective on the lengthy recovery time down here, the house next door to me has yet to be mucked and gutted.)<br /><br />In February, knowing I was an ebayer, my elderly friend brought me the crumbling scrapbook of damaged cards in the hopes that I would partner with her to realize some value to help with rebuilding bills. After stumbling upon the Net54 site (from OC site) and posting a question regarding identifying E125's, I knew that was possible, knew I was in way over my head not knowing who were the sharks, so gambled and contacted Lyman Hardeman for help who kindly vouched for Frank Ward and Rhys Yeakley, both of whom continued to step up in the following weeks and months and helped immeasurably. I realize now that 'attic finds' and 'dead grandfathers' (dead uncle in this case), are a running joke among card collectors, so I’m sure I came off as a trolling kook, my apologies to both Hardeman gentlemen (and anyone else who needs one).<br /><br />The original gentleman was raised in the Atlanta area, which explains why the vast majority of the cards were Piedmont, (one Ames hands-at-chest brown hindu, one Revelle Old Mill SL). There were no 350-460 backs. As Ted Z told me, the guy must have quit smoking summer of 1910. No really scarce cards – the collection didn't hit Scot Reader's list until Lundgren Cubs. Most of the T206’s were in ‘poor’ condition, (album marks, Katrina 'patina', and the gentleman put small slash marks behind the team name on some of the best cards, I suppose to mark his private stock --i.e., three strikes against). As far as the total number of cards, I don’t know yet due to some piecing together problems, but the final tally will be close to 700, most of which have been sold, mostly duplicate (and triplicate+) commons. I’m holding on to about 50 beaters. Most were simply worth too much to keep. When I get all of my notes transferred to the T206 database, I’ll post for those interested. <br /><br />Besides T206’s, the scrapbook contained two handfuls of E91's, 2 crumbling T3’s (44,47), many, many Piedmont fish, a handful of Fatima opera singers, a handful of Murad college series, a couple of 27 Scrappers, one theatre card, and one Hassan mongoose.<br /><br /> Thanks, Rick, for your interest.<br />Deb
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09-24-2008, 02:01 PM
Posted By: <b>David Poses</b><p>Deb, Thanks for posting (Rick, thanks for asking the question). I bought a few of Deb's cards a couple of months ago, recognizing that the seller may very well be trying to capitalize on Katrina (she obviously WAS NOT). A few of the scans looked like the names/teams were in black print, but I took a chance. When the cards arrived, I was able to see immediately that the type was brown and was very happy/relieved, so I proceeded to buy a bunch more. I've since sold them (at a loss), but am heartened by the story and appreciate you coming on to the board to explain, Deb. I hope the sales have been going well...
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09-24-2008, 03:12 PM
Posted By: <b>Michael Steele</b><p>Deb,<br /><br />Thanks for the "rest of the story". I purchased one card from the auctions and it was a very positive experience.<br /><br />Michael
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09-24-2008, 08:55 PM
Posted By: <b>Rick McQuillan</b><p>Deb, thank you for the interesting story. Wouldn't it have been great to have discovered these cards before Katrina? <br /><br />Thanks again, I appreciate you taking the time to share your story.<br /><br />Rick
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09-24-2008, 11:55 PM
Posted By: <b>Debra Johnson</b><p>In answer to your question, I've wept bitterly every day for six months.<br /><br />Just kidding... (mostly). Truthfully, I've been very lucky to have been a part of this find. However, there is no doubt that this collection before the storm would have had plenty of whale fodder (cardboard krill?) within. But then again, I tell myself that some savvy lawyer or dealer would have ended up with it instead of me, so I'm happy.<br />Thanks to all net54'ers who have participated directly or indirectly with this find. It's been a great ride, mostly because of the folks met here.<br />Deb