The Macon Find

[Tsaiko]

First off, I’d like to thank Leon for hosting a grand central station for information about pre war baseball cards and of course all of the knowledgeable people here at net54baseball.

My grandmother gave me her baseball card collection when I was about ten and I’ve taken it out of my safety box at least once a decade to admire them. The last time I took them out it was in the 1990’s and there was no such thing as google. In 2009, I took them out again and it only took me about two google searches to find net54. When I first started reading net54 I was so naive that when I saw references to OJ’s, I thought people were collecting O. J. Simpson cards.
It’s been almost two years that I’ve been searching for information on her collection and I think I know everything there is to know about it. I’ve also learned a lot about the hobby in general.

I admit that I saw dollar signs after I received some initial feedback from people I told about the collection and had planned to cash the collection in and have some fun with the money – grandma would’ve wanted that.

So I sent a lot of the cards to an auction house, requesting that my grandmother be made prominent in the auction, so that she might gain some sort of recognition in the hobby. I sent pictures of her along with her bio and sat back to await word on the auction. Well, two or three auctions went by and none of her cards were in them and that’s when I learned an important lesson.
Auction houses can’t really afford to auction off anything that isn’t real nice or rare. My grandmother liked to handle her cards and none of her cards were in very good shape and weren’t worth any real money.
So I asked for her cards back and waved goodbye to my imaginary fortune. Once I had the cards back, I proceeded to scan them all, so I would have a digital record, and I realized that I felt a whole lot better keeping the cards. They are worth far more to me sentimentally than they are monetarily and maybe my heirs will feel the same way.
Imagine a pre teen girl keeping her cards until she is in her mid 60’s, then giving them away without any restrictions or advice on value, just love. That was my gram.

So, it’s been a lot of fun rubbing elbows with you guys, while I got to pretend to be a collector. I really have an education in something I never thought I would. I’ve also met some diverse characters that have shown me several sides of the hobby, so I feel like I’ve broadened my horizons during my brief run through these bases.

I wanted to honor my grandma and her collection the best way I could think of, so I built a website dedicated to her. It’s my first attempt at building a website and it’s rather simple, just 6 pages, but it does show her collection, which is it’s primary function. I need to rescan some of the cards and I will be adding more pictures and scans from her scrapbooks in the future, but I’m totally burnt out on cards right now. What’s done can be found here: www.themaconpeach.com Feedback welcome.
It’s been 50 years, almost to the day, that gram gave me her cards, so this is a real milestone for me. She had them for 50+ years and I’ve had them for 50 years. Hopefully they'll still be together in another 50.

A special thank you to the few people who helped me out, for your patience with me during my stay here, I really appreciate it.

Now back to my regular life, where the only thing I collect is dust….and the occasional taiko.

[mcadams]

Thanks so much for sharing. Your note and the website were fantastic. I grew up about an hour and half south of Macon and like to research some of the old Southern League teams. I especially enjoyed seeing your grandmother's newspaper clippings from the old Macon club. And the cards are great too- I can't believe the auction house didn't find a way to feature the collection in an intersting way. The collection and the story are both winners IMO.

-Michael

[Jay Wolt]

Nice read about your Grandmother & plenty of great cards, lots of Cobbs & I enjoyed looking through the Turkey Reds.
Thanks for sharing!

[joeadcock]

Great story, especially that females also loved to get into collecting cards.

Always love seeing a bunch of Cobbs together.

[Bilko G]

Great story and great website!!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[Northviewcats]

I loved visiting the sight that you set up for your grandma. I think it is amazing that the cards stayed in your family for over 100 years.

Thanks for sharing,

Joe

[B O'Brien]

Great story and staggering collection! She really took great care of her stuff. How did she store her things? Just by looking at the T206's it seems to be 1909 and 1910 heavy, with not as many from the later run. Did she have a smoker in the family that gave her the cards as they smoked? I am just curious as to how she went about build a collection of that size back in the day. I am also curious as to how 7 of the 8 T210 Series cards are there smattered in, but not a single Series 6 card.

I am shocked that whoever you used to try and sell it didn't take the time to work it into the sales.

That is a great looking site and works very well, be proud!!

Thanks for taking the time to learn and share with us,
Bob

[CW]

That's a great story and a very fitting tribute on your website (more fitting than any auction ever would've been).

I really liked this line:

"Imagine a pre teen girl keeping her cards until she is in her mid 60’s, then giving them away without any restrictions or advice on value, just love. That was my gram."

[jcmtiger]

A very nice collection.

Joe

[Batjac1]

What a great tribute to your grandmother, and an inspiration to me.

Thanks Tsaiko. I am keeping my cards too.