Jefferson Burdick himself would stamp the backs of his cards to show ownership and facilitate trades. He would send stacks of cards to fellow collectors, ask them to choose certain ones, and then return the balance to him. My understanding is that this was a fairly standard practice among some of the most dedicated fore-fathers of our hobby. Owning a card once owned by them establishes a connection to them and makes our hobby more fulfilling to many. There are always threads about the original owners of our cards. We are only holding these cards for a short period of time until the next generation gets their hands (and stamps) on them!
