Update on The Rudy Strejc Collection

[JSteele]

UPDATE: 2/4/2013 - The entire Rudy Strejc Collection has been sold. There are 4 Zeenuts and 1 Pacific Coast Biscuit that didn't make it into the LOTG auction that closed on 2/3/2013. These items will be available in the NEXT LOTG auction, along with a large grouping of "Wings" cards. ~jds

Greetings,

I think it was about one month ago I introduced myself and a collection of ephemera inherited by my father that was built by my "great" cousin Rudy Strejc. I've been working hard to catalog and scan everything as our intention is to liquidate the entire collection.

I've just completed very high resolution scans and a checklist of the T206 cards and I wanted to share them with this board! I don't have the "price" column populated yet, but if you see something you're interested in, I'll respond to all offers.

If you check out the photos, you'll see that EVERY card in the T206 collection has been trimmed on either the top or bottom edge. We don't know for certain, but believe this happened in the early 1970's when Rudy Strejc was moved into a rest home. We believe Rudy's sister was packing the cards into plastic sleeves for storage and found they wouldn't fit "two up" unless slightly trimmed.

It's too bad, because otherwise there are many cards that are in pretty good shape. There are 3 or 4 cards with faint but discernible "transfers". The backs distribution in the T206 is: 78 with Old Mill, 12 with El Principe De Gales, and 10 with Sweet Caporal. We even have 3 cards that are in the "unconfirmed back" category.

There are still over 200 T212 Obak to sort through, a handful of T74 and T205, Zeenuts, Pacific Coast Biscuits and a wide variety of non-sports subjects.

I hope you take a few minutes to check out the updated site and photos:

Web Site: http://strejc-collection.com
High Resolution Photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/strejc-collection/
T206 Google Spreadsheet Checklist

Here is an example of trimmed, but otherwise presentable cards, and look at the faint "Old Mill" transfer on the Mordecai Brown card. The "Black Cap" Matty has a VERY faint transfer as well.



Respectfully,

[drc]

There was a famous old time collector who cut some of his cards to fit into plastic sleeves. So it wouldn't be the first and only time.

[ullmandds]

wow...nice collection!!!!! And a bunch more e98's for the market!!!!

[Sean1125]

Sell it through Rick Probstein rather than liquidating it to someone that needs to resell. You will get more in the end because you pay commission rather than sacrifice money to a reseller.

[dougscats]

Shame about the trimming.

Aside from the trimming, I see that the T206's range widely in condition.
I wonder what they'll sell for in comparison to untrimmed cards of the same condition. I have my own thoughts but to be discreet I won't hazard any guesses, nor do I care to make any offers.

I will be following this thread with interest, though, and looking forward to your price list.

Good luck!

Doug

[JSteele]

@Peter: Yes, more E98! Fortunately mine are in such bad shape that I won't have to deal with the nasty taxes that the poor family with the Black Swamp cards will have to pay.

I've received many requests, and it's becoming clear which of the cards are desirable (HOF of course).

In retrospect, I should have had my pricing established before I made the announcement. It's a bit overwhelming for me and I'm trying to do the right thing for everyone.

Regarding the E98: There is a lot of interest in those cards, and I've decided that I'll send them for grading before moving forward with sales.

Sorry for the confusion and I sincerely apologize to everyone for not having the pricing established!

[JSteele]

Originally Posted by dougscats

Shame about the trimming.
Aside from the trimming, I see that the cards range widely in condition.
I wonder what they'll sell for in comparison to untrimmed cards of the same condition.
Doug

Indeed, the trimming is quite a conundrum. It's pretty clear that the "alteration" was not done to enhance the cards, so it's not "trimming" in the traditional sense of the hobby (as I understand it).

Fortunately, many of the Obaks are not trimmed, but they also have a lot more spindle holes which is just as bad.

[Abravefan11]

Hi Jonathan,

Congratulation's on the auction results with LOTG. The Devore did extremely well and I hope you're pleased.

[t206hound]

Originally Posted by Abravefan11

Hi Jonathan,

Congratulation's on the auction results with LOTG. The Devore did extremely well and I hope you're pleased.

Wow! Glad I decided to abandon the Devore back run!

[JSteele]

Absolutely! Very happy with the results, and can't speak highly enough of Al's expert handling of it all.

The Devore/OM really took off in the after-hours bidding, it will be interesting to see if the card shows up again in the future.

Thanks again to this community on Net54Baseball for the patience, guidance and of course, purchases of the Rudy Strejc Collection. It was exciting to be awarded the pedigree from SGC, what a fantastic legacy for Rudy. We truly hope the cards continue to find their way into the collections of those of you that will care for them.

~Jonathan Steele

Originally Posted by Abravefan11

Hi Jonathan,

Congratulation's on the auction results with LOTG. The Devore did extremely well and I hope you're pleased.