A T206 card caught my eye recently and began to tell me its story. I dug a little deeper and asked a few questions. The ownership thread of this card, I’m convinced, has been established. Provenance was the motivation for my purchase of the Rube Waddell portrait version of his T206 card. The card’s back has three features that are the key to establishing the history of this card:
A stamp with the name Nelson Tisdel
A signature of Nelson Tisdel
A signature of Gordon Soutter.
Nelson Tisdel stamps have been seen on more than a few T206 cards. Nelson was born around the turn of the century growing up in Missouri and was a young teenager when the T206 cards were produced. Other examples of Tisdel stamped T206 cards exist and some of them have been signed by him as well. I was unable to determine whether he was smoking in 1910 or whether he got the cards from his father, probably the latter as he was quite bright.
In 1920 he is pictured on the Phi Beta Kappa page of the University of Missouri yearbook (see below), where he received an AB degree. In 1922 he earned a MBA from Harvard and has a thesis recorded on “Capitalization” in the Harvard archives. In 1925 he was married and in 1933 he fathered a son Donald in 1933.
Donald Tisdel was a boyhood friend of Gordon Soutter and before 1945 Donald had received some of his father Nelson’s T206 cards including the Waddell card. A trade was made between the boys and the new owner thought it appropriate to sign the card as well to document the transfer of ownership. This trade was completed before Waddell’s election to the Hall of Fame in 1946, a good deal for Gordon one would think.
Donald passed away in 1981, but Gordon is still living with his wife, who recently listed the card on Ebay. I was curious to know if the seller was or knew Gordon Soutter. Mrs. Soutter was kind enough to confirm that Gordon was her husband and he confirmed the trading of cards with Donald.
Some research on Nelson Tisdel was hijacked from Tim Fritz on this board from a prior post on back stamps about a year ago. I was able to confirm the sites he found, basically the yearbook and wedding date. I was able to confirm Donald birth date from an obituary, and Nelson’s dissertation info from the Harvard Archives. Gordon and his wife confirmed the trade and the fact that he was the owner of the card from 1945 until today. Gordon’s Facebook page is consistent both in terms of his age and location, which is the same town from which they sent me the card, Bountiful, Utah.
I feel confident with this information and the fact that I am the first person to actually purchase this 100 + year old card, apart from the original cigarette purchase by young Nelson or his father. Like Mr. Fritz this card will occupy a special place in my collection with this provenance. What is the card worth (recent thread)? I have no idea, Leon, as I bought it with my heart and not my brain. Hopefully none of our experts will question the authenticity of the signatures. I only regret that I will not be able to keep it for 67 years like the prior owner, unless I find the Fountain of Youth. Perhaps someone will be able to purchase it in the future from one of my sons, who currently could care less about my collection.
A poor copy of the Tisdel Yearbook photo (Tisdel, upper right) is included as well as the text of Tim’s original post.
Other stories of provenance of vintage items hopefully will keep this thread alive. I think it would be worthwhile and interesting. Each card has its own story, if only more of them would talk.
Text for the 1920 U of Missouri Yearbook Page Photo:
SAVITAR
PHI BETA KAPPA
FOUNDED WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE DECEMBER 8, 1776
ALPHA OF MISSOURI CHAPTER FOUNDED 1901
FREDERICK M TISUEL PRESIDENT - ???? SECRETARY - GEORGE LEFEVRE VICE-PRESIDENT
CORWIN D EDWARDS (upper left), NELSON C TISDEL (upper right), ADA E BRAINARD (center), DWIGHT DONAN (lower left), BEN S ELY (lower right)
Sorry for the poor image
Fritz: original Tisdel post
I also have a T206 (Bender with trees) that has the Nelson Tisdel stamp on the back. Mine also has his sig on the back border and had been glued, but still had the backing on it. Got that off and was at first disappointed to find the stamp, but then googled the name.
Some info I found was someone with the same name came to the US with his family in the early 1900s (1906/7? - I've lost the geneaology web site link) and grew up in Missouri. Graduated from the University of Missouri in 1920 and married in 1925. Got most of that from a few google searches. There's a site that has his 1920 yearbook with class picture.
It's now my favorite T206 card. I picture a kid just coming to the US, learning about baseball and collecting T206 cards. I've seen others on ebay for sale over the years. I thought it was kinda fun to put a story together to go with the stamp. Might not be the same kid, but I'd rather not ruin my mind's picture of the story.