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Old 09-20-2017, 01:25 PM
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tbob tbob is offline
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I was one of the 3 collectors who purchased the "Southern Find" back in the 80's. When we picked and chose the ones we wanted I ended up with a complete set of the 1919 16 for 10 cents set minus one card, and several duplicates including 4 Ty Cobb overprinted backs. Over the years I have sold 3 of the Cobbs and kept one. I also had 85% of the 20 for 10 cent backs with many duplicates. I sold all the duplicate 20 for 10s and then about 20 years ago sold the near set of 20 for 10s. The "Find" was incredible as I had 4 or 5 duplicates of Cobb, Johnson, Matty, etc. Alas I sold my complete set-1 of 1919s to none other than Bill Mastro a long time ago. I sold it for about 10% of what these cards sell for now :-( but that's life. I ended up with a beautiful Cobb overprint and a 1914 Cobb (both batting pose) plus a decent return on my purchase. Today the cards would be worth a small fortune. The other two collectors who split the cards with me have also sold their cards to the hobby many, many years ago. One of the others was John England (deceased) who sold all his cards to Larry Fritsch and I believe the Coupons were a part of that sale. The 1919s were in an average of EX condition, just beautiful.
Tbob
Footnote: I found one previously unlisted 1919 Coupon and notified Lew Lipset who denied the card existed. I remember sending him a xerox of the card but never heard back from him. I can't remember the player's name but it is the only 1919 I've ever seen or heard of the player and in hindsight is incredibly rare. The "Southern Find" never got the noteriety of the Black Swamp Find almost 30 years later but it was incredibly more noteworthy. Not a lot of card collectors today are aware of the Find. I remember in the late 90's and early 00's seeing small lots from these cards pop up occasionally for sale in auctions, primarily Mastro Auctions.
With regard to the 1919 set, my memory is that of the cards in that near set about 15-20 were overprints.
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