Cobb Strip Card questions
 

Hey all,
I know we have some serious W card folks around here, so wanted some thoughts on this, as I have no clue about this kind of stuff. It’s just been floating around my safety deposit boxes for the last 20 years, and will head back to the bank Monday morning.

The history: I bought this in probably 1993 as a framed cut autograph that walked into a show. Back then you just had to eyeball the auto to see what you thought, and being a small southern town kid you don’t exactly see Cobb autograph, let alone in the parking lot of a 25 table show I was about to set up at! I paid $700, as I tried to carry about 1K if anything happened to walk in the door. Months later I popped the old frame off of it and much to my surprise it was a strip card, which at the time, didn’t even know they were a thing.

So what exactly is this?

I assume if the auto is the real deal, it’s good $. Anything similar out there?

If if actually send it off (I haven’t had a card graded in 10+ years, the big stash of P42 I found) and it didn’t pass mustard, what would something like this go for?

Also, do they assign grades to these, being hand cut?

I love it because of the color on the front of the card. Being framed backwards for decades, I assume kept the colors super bright and fresh.

Any thoughts and options are welcome!

Thanks,
Bob

Opinion
 

Looks like a reprint strip card ( modern) and a bad Ty Cobb autograph. Not a total expert but that’s my impression. I do have a number of that exact card BTW but not the reprints.

Maybe he doesn’t get his spot back in the deposit box! On the bright side, I would have only drank another $700 worth of beer in college with the cash!

Let me know if any more opinions and thanks,
Bob

I have a differing opinion, to me it looks to likely be authentic...notice the bleed-through/sheet transfer on the back of some of the black outlines and text that are seen on the front. I don't believe I have seen reprints with a back like this. It does look extra fresh on front, but still authentic to my eyes.

Not an expert on Ty's signature (or any signatures, for that matter), but it does look janky, which is the opposite of authentic.

Definitely would like to read other opinions on the authenticity of the card, and if others think it is a janky autograph.

Brian

hope
 

Hope Im wrong.... looking forward to others opinions.

Hi Bob,
In my unprofessional opinion, the strip card looks like a reprint. The actual strip card is called a 1920 W516. The reason I assume its a reprint is because the Cobb coloring looks all black. The actual strip card has more color to Cobb himself.

I would also unfortunately say the Auto is fake. My only reasoning is Strip cards are paper thin and extremely easy to rip. I just can't see an autograph being real without some sort of damage to the card.

And to further pin down its identification as a W516 card, if it is indeed real it would be considered to be from the W516-1-1 set, due to its hand lettering of the script and normal (not reversed) image/IFC copyright, and the fact that it is numbered as '6'.

Brian

My first thought was that it looked authentic, as mentioned before, the ink transfer on back usually not seen on reprints. It looks like you can even see some of the letters of DETROIT on the one side. Fake auto, but I thought the card looked good.

Thanks for the help y’all! Sounds like I’m about 50\50!

I assume that if one of you all strip card folks could actually hold it, it would give you a better idea?

Thanks again,
Bob

I found this W516-1-1 (a SGC that I cropped the living SGC-ness out of it) that was posted on here in another thread, and in my eyes it shares a lot of the same attributes as the OP's card in question, just with good background color registration, instead of an offset of the red color.

Brian

Maybe its the lighting, but I see no skin color on Cobbs face in the OP. The strip cards have skin coloring.

Very helpful! I was thinking that if it was fake, the color would have lined up a little better. I also wouldn’t have thought they would have been faking strip cards, pre mid 90’s but I guess a lot of things got knocked off in the rise of cards in the 80’s.

Got a little closer face shot here.

Thanks,
Bob

With that close up you can see the face and arm coloration better.

Brian

2 of mine Ive had for a while.
 

The $20 one Ive had for 40 years. The other I got in a 40 card collection from New York via Canada that had been in one mans possession for over 50 years when he bought them from the original owner that had them for 50 years. I guess the only way to find out is send it in and see what happens. BTW I think 2 other red flags for me are the perfect cuts and the maybe artificially aged back ( can be done with tea or coffee ). Call me a skeptic....

Brian is right, as are others, the "Ty Cobb" on the back is crap, Cobb didn't sign that.

The front of the card is a maybe, the back of the card doesn't look right. Illuminate that card with a black light, then let us know if it fluoresces. Uv light can be a definitive test. Without that, and without the card in hand, then at least take a closeup of the card's edge.

Would a grading outfit (eg SGC or PSA) grade that card from a picture?? Of course not.

I've seen (too) many W516s and that Cobb _card_ looks OK, well within the tolerances and variety you can expect for W516 print quality. The maker of W516s (Universal Toy & Novelty Co.) printed many runs of its baseball strips and moved toward cheaper/less ink as time went on.

I think something more exact than hand scissors cut its edges at some point, which should still be fine for a grader to put in an AUTH holder. Trust others on validity of the autograph, as my experience is with those cards. :-)

I have read that Ty Cobb, other than very rarely, only signed autographs using green ink.

The auto is dated New Year’s Eve.. he may have been a little tipsy

So maybe I have the ultra rare “liquored up” Cobb signature!
Being of the Irish, I dig it!

Thanks to all for the input!

Bob

Needs to go in for grading and authentication. Nothing we post here will be a definitive as an in-hand view.

On a tangential note, we can value a W516 Cobb and a Cobb auto readily. What does the group think would be an appropriate value multiplier (if any) for a signed version of a specific card like this?

Yea, I am curious on value, although I’m not sure I could bring myself to sell it. This card goes back to my early days and one of only a handful of cards to survive from those days.

I will consider submitting, just so I know the truth. I had considered donating to the Cobb museum over in Royston, GA. If any of you all get the chance, it is a very cool spot and his grave is a few minutes away, as well. They have some cool stuff for sale too!

Thanks,
Bob