1910 T209 Contentnea - Two Series
 

My only pickup at the National was a boomerang from my first collection (see below). I doubt he has been tampered with much. :) We don't see enough Contentneas (both series) so show one if you would like to.

Concerning the set.
(Taken from my friends at Oldcardboard.com)

Year(s) Published: 1910
ACC Designation: T209
Set Name: Contentnea (2 sets)


Set Summary
Contains exclusively middle-east-coast minor league players
Two subsets: First series (color) and Photo series (B&W)
Backs identify set along with ad for Contentnea cigarette brand


http://luckeycards.com/thompson.jpg

Congrats Leon!
 

Congrats Leon on reacquiring that iconic T209-2 B.E. Thompson card!

Here is my lone T209-2 of John Tiedeman, which Ted Z. was nice enough to sell me back in early 2013.

Many thanks again Ted Z!

Patrick

Love both the color and the photo series. My only example of each.

<a href="https://ibb.co/Ltm2m9d"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/Xs1v1Fx/fullsizeoutput-2d.jpg" alt="fullsizeoutput-2d" border="0"></a><a href="https://ibb.co/zSg6Gyf"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/Q6VDr2m/fullsizeoutput-31.jpg" alt="fullsizeoutput-31" border="0"></a>
<a href="https://ibb.co/ZJTWmSL"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/xs5JHYC/fullsizeoutput-3a.jpg" alt="fullsizeoutput-3a" border="0"></a><a href="https://ibb.co/6mSFykg"><img src="https://i.ibb.co/JKTHc95/fullsizeoutput-38.jpg" alt="fullsizeoutput-38" border="0"></a>

Here are some raw ones:

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...C74009C52.jpeg

The Enigma of Contentnea
 

This bad boy has already been shown, but his story, or lack thereof, qualifies him as "The Enigma of Contentnea"

No one with his name as spelled on the card has a record of playing anywhere.

His jersey states that he played for Fulton, but the caption says Rocky Mount.

There was a contemporary team in 1909 called the Fulton Railroaders, but they played in the Kentucky-Illinois-Tennessee League, which is not represented in the Contentnea set (basically a set of players in North Carolina League(s)). Fulton is in Kentucky, a good distance from Rocky Mount.

However the Rocky Mount team in the Eastern Carolina League at the same time (1909) was also known as railroaders, the Rocky Mount Railroaders.

It may be safe to assume that he was a "Railroader" therefore, regardless of where he actually played.

Now for the icing on the cake. If in fact he played on the 1909 Rocky Mount Railroaders, which is what I suspect, he had a much more recognizable teammate that began his career in Rocky Mount in 1909. You may have heard of him. His name was Jim Thorpe.

If Jim Thorpe had been chosen for inclusion in the T209 Contentnea set instead of Bourquise, the card might be familiar to the majority of prewar card collectors and worth a few bucks more than Mr. Bourquise, the enigma of Contentnea.:cool:



Attachment 361625 Attachment 361624

Attachment 361627

Here's my two....

Ricky Y

Great cards everyone and very nice National pickup Leon. T209-2 is slowly taking over as my favorite set to collect with my T210 pickups now slowing to a crawl. Here are two Richmond Colts from my collection. I really like the examples with fans present at the time of the photograph session!

picture
 

here is another one

I collect only Virginia League players, and this is most of what I have. This is not one of my top collecting focuses, but I would like to add a Danville player to my meager T209-2 collection.

Hey David,

If you are ever interested in selling, there are 3 of yours I would certainly be interested in. Thanks Dave

Leon--Glad you reacquired B.E. Thompson, although I almost picked it up myself!

These are among my favorite cards, and Fred Stoehr is one of my favorite players from Series Two. I love the poses from ballparks that provide us wiith a better sense of what the game was like 109 years ago.

For anyone who would like to see more examples of both series, please visit my T209 Contentnea website: https://t209-contentnea.com

Cheers,
Mike

pack

I can attest to Mikes website being TOP notch. Very informative and like he mentioned, scans of every card.

Mike, did you happen to pick up the Stoehr item on the BST if you dont mind me asking?

Jon what an amazing pack! One of four I am currently hunting for! Any smokes in it:D

Here's my two.

I'd love to find a Blackstone, but it seems to be a tough one.

http://www.net54baseball.com/picture...ictureid=27213

Here are my first four T209s, in the album page that has been their home for the past 25 years.

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...02FBEA091.jpeg

The pack is empty. Came from Leon’s collection if I remember correctly.

I only know of one other which originally sold on eBay 15ish years ago, was purchased by a collector, traded to another, and now finally belongs to another board member.

T209 cards
 

One more needed to complete my Contentnea color set.....Booles.


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...jects1bk_2.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...gimclafl_1.jpg



And just for the fun of it, here are some B & W cards........


http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...ubjects1bk.jpg

http://photos.imageevent.com/tedzan7...1910x8xBxW.jpg


I sold Tiedeman to Vintagecatcher…...Hi Patrick.



TED Z

T206 Reference
.

Yes, I believe it was mine before. It still amazes me how inexpensive the super rare packs are compared to other things.

Thank you for the information Jon. I was curious what a Contentnea cigarette looked like. I have seen an Old Mill. Being so close to North Carolina, maybe I’ll luck out an find one someday!

All--

This is an interesting thread, and thanks, Leon, for starting it. A few observations.

Steve--Yes, Blackstone is one of the scarce cards in the set.

Jason--I was fortunate to pick-up the Shag-Stoehr letter, and the other items. They all appear to be from Stoehr's estate since it's his hand-writing on the back of the Spider Clark postcard.

And I have attached a scan of my Contentnea pack that shows both sides. Enjoy!

Cheers,
Mike

Awesome I’m glad to hear you acquired the lot. I thought the day after I inquired about it that you are a Stoehr fan. It was marked as sold and I regretted not giving you the heads up that day. Glad it all worked out. Nice pack as well. Should have know where that one has residing;)

Nice card. Who is this guy Thompson? What was his role in baseball?

Howard, ask your dealer about it.

Follow the instructions on the back of the card.:D

Howie--

This link to my website will provide you with basic information about Thompson:

https://t209-contentnea.com/t209-con...-photo-series/

He was a local Wilson, NC tobacco farmer.

Cheers,
Mike

Great info on the set on your site Michael. I have one T209 B/W. I always was drawn to this set, especially the cards with full body poses and stadium backgrounds, but the world of other PreWW2 cards always stepped to the front of the line, so this card remains my lonely only.

Brian

Frank,

Next time I buy weed, I'll ask my dealer about it. :D

Michael,

Thanks for the link. You learn something new every day.

Hey Mike
I am glad you left the leftovers for me. :)

I also like the behind-the-player scenes and this is my only other Contentnea for now..

http://luckeycards.com/t2092.jpg

Nobody but nobody knows more about this set than Mike, and he's taught me enormous amounts about it over the years. I've got about 180 of these, by far my favourite cards. Here's my Thompson, the other "key" besides the super tough cards might be the one two-player card of Presley and Pritchard. I'll try to dig up my copy, surely the hobby's ugliest, and post a scan... Love these!

I just completed the first series (upgraded a few cards Sunday night too).

I have emailed Michael this already but Booles is not Red Booles.

I believe the two are related but they cannot be the same player. Baseball reference has combined their stats (also SJ Boles on baseball reference is actually Red as well they just spelled his name wrong). An LJ Booles (from New Orleans) was with Raleigh and pitched for them the same time (same days) Red was pitching in the majors (ditto for the time Red was in Shreveport). Red was listed as a southpaw in many articles I read. The Booles pictured in the card was a righty. The Booles from Raleigh was nicknamed “Big Booles” in several articles. Red was 5’10” and not large.

Just some useless info from a man obsessed with the first series!

Hi, Seth--You are too kind. I've taken the liberty to display my Pressley-Pritchard.

Jason--Your research is not insubstantial, and is very much on the mark. Those of us who collect these cards are ALL obsessed, I'm afraid!

One of the interesting elements of this period in So. Minor League card history is the amount of misinformation that was circulated as if it were true. There was no iron-clad way to check facts in 1909-1911 and a number of player inaccuracies, like the attribution of Red Booles, abound. Some of the inaccuracies were due to typos created by the typesetters who prepared the type from which the cards were printed.

An excellent excellent example is Shag Shaughnessy. His T206 card lists his name accurately, but his T209-2 card identifies him as Shanghnessy. There is a fairly simple explanation for this. In the printer's type case, the lower case -n is the slot directly above the lower case -u. When type is redistributed (put back into the case) after a printing job is complete, it is not uncommon for an occasional lower case -n to end up in the lower case -u slot. This must have been the situation when Shaughnessy's T209-2 ID was created--a stray -n was in the -u slot. No one bothered to check for typos, and Shag had a new surname for posterity!

Cheers,
Mike