Collectors Digest- Sept. 1965- Egan on collecting

[Leon]

One of the enjoyable things for me is to see how far our hobby has come. In doing that, studying the history of the hobby is a lot of fun. There are several great, old articles in our Archive section, for viewing anytime. Here is a hobby publication, Collectors Digest, from 1965. Richard Egan, arguably the father of baseball candy card collecting and author of the seminal book on the subject, wrote this article concerning the hobby. I was all of 4 yrs old when this was put out. It seems as T206s have gone up a bit too!!

[Stonepony]

Those old bulletins and digest are always fascinating, and give me incentive in my efforts to achieve time travel

[oaks1912]

Of the contributors listed, at least two of them are still around. Jim McConnell and Bill Klink are still active in the hobby

[Jason]

900 19th Century Cards for 300.00! I always enjoy reading these and seeing the prices back then.Thanks Leon

[tschock]

The good old days. Gotta love the prices. I take a few of those Broad Leafs, your choice.

[Ease]

...note that gold bordered t cards were 25 cents more than white borders. Nowadays T205s get no love, but they must have then.

[nsaddict]

Thanks for sharing. Mentions the rare T206 Plank that sold for 3.25 in 1947 and had a value of 20.00 in 1965. WOW............

[Leon]

Originally Posted by oaks1912

Of the contributors listed, at least two of them are still around. Jim McConnell and Bill Klink are still active in the hobby

It's amazing to me how many folks have been doing this for so long. Every time I think I am going to get burnt out I think about these type folks. We have quite a few that are on our board that have been doing it a long time too. I know Steve Mitchell (hi Stephen) has been at it longer than most. Don't know how often he reads but I know he has posted some.

[ullmandds]

It was a lot easier to remain interested 20-30 yrs ago...let alone 50-70 as it took decades to acquire the knowledge you can gain online these days in a weekend.

When I was collecting vintage in my early 20's I had never even seen most less common issues in person.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

It was a lot easier to remain interested 20-30 yrs ago...let alone 50-70 as it took decades to acquire the knowledge you can gain online these days in a weekend.

When I was collecting vintage in my early 20's I had never even seen most less common issues in person.

And has been mentioned elsewhere, the cards that are now really "rare" are just that. I am sure back in the day, pre-internet, seeing a Darby Chocolate or Washington Times card would be akin to seeing Haley's comet. Now, not that big of a deal.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Leon- Any chance you could post the article on the "cover boy" Paul C. Frisz? His collection looks very interesting!

[toppcat]

Awesome thread, great stuff Leon!

[SteveMitchell]

Originally Posted by Leon

It's amazing to me how many folks have been doing this for so long. Every time I think I am going to get burnt out I think about these type folks. We have quite a few that are on our board that have been doing it a long time too. I know Steve Mitchell (hi Stephen) has been at it longer than most. Don't know how often he reads but I know he has posted some.

Thanks, Leon, but some of us who have been hanging around the hobby for a few years aren't so old. (At least we don't think so - regardless of number of birthdays passed.)

When I saw another poster ask about seeing the Paul Frisz story, I thought we might have published something in Sports Scoop but a quick search did not turn up anything except this photo (Aug./Sep. 1973) of Mr. Frisz with the Pat Quinn - father of another Net54baseball.com poster, Tony Quinn (quinnsryche). Now, speaking of oldtimers, Pat has been actively publishing his sports memorabilia auction continuously for more than 40 years!

[Jay Wolt]

Love these threads and subsequent posts

[ls7plus]

I would say that our hobby's history indicates its built to last, and is in for the very, very long haul!

Best regards, everyone,

Larry

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Hot Springs Bathers

Leon- Any chance you could post the article on the "cover boy" Paul C. Frisz? His collection looks very interesting!

Hey Mike,
It's only a one-pager so here ya go.

And Steve- I didn't mean to imply you are old!! We are talking baseball cards...how old can we really be (or act or feel)?

[barrysloate]

I would love to have that Guide collection! I collected those, still have my Spaldings.

[ullmandds]

i think it's interesting that ad lists cigarette cards(t206) as being issued 1900- 1915?!

[prestigecollectibles]

Interesting article. While many now are storing their collections in a SDB, he has his in a room with the address and great detail listed. The only thing missing is the location of the room key.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Thanks Leon! wow! What a neat collection for that period. I wonder what happened to all of it? Excuse me, I have to drive to Terre Haute this afternoon.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

i think it's interesting that ad lists cigarette cards(t206) as being issued 1900- 1915?!

Yeah, I saw that too. Also how expensive the Play Balls are compared to the tobacco cards. The catalog's from 1968 and there's 30+ pages of cards for sale (mostly post-war though) which include '52 Topps high number for $2 and a complete set for $195 (I'll take 2).

[David R]

Great post Leon.

I liked the reference to the ad posted by Mr. Gammon in which he announced that he had three t206 Wagners available for trade. I liked even more the author's reaction to Mr. Gammon's ad: "imagine that" - three copies of a card that is worth $150 or better.

It's neat to see people from past generations commenting on even earlier generations. It reminded me of that movie "Midnight in Paris," where people think that their present is not nearly as glamorous, exciting or important as the past. Everyone has their own perception of the "good old days." I hope there will be enough people collecting 30 years from now to look back and say, boy I remember back in 2013 when you could buy a t206 red Cobb in presentable condition for under $1000.