"The Card"

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Posted By: marc

Just finished reading the book, "The Card". It was unique reading familiar names of this message board mentioned in the book. Scott Elkins, Jay Behrens, Bill Heitman, and others to name a few. I can still remember being 10 years old back in 1987 and the first time I saw and heard about a T206 Wagner. I couldn't believe it when I read a hobby news article about the card being found in mint condition and how Bill Mastro sold it for 110k. I was blown away. I can still remember how that day inspired my quest to begin collecting baseball cards. And all this time, I wondered about the history of "The Card". I wanted to know as much as possible about its' origins - only to never find the information. Nobody knew. And still, 20+ years later, nobody knows or wants to tell. The only new information I obtained from the book, it was found in a Florida flea market back in 1983 or 1984. There has to be more information than this. And why won't Alan Ray tell it? He claims he wants to profit off of the story by writing his own book. However, he has made no real plans to do so. It is obvious the card was trimmed, we all know that. I just want to know where it came from and how it survived. If it was apart of an uncut strip sheet, who owned it? A former employee/printer from the American Tobacco Company? How did they keep it stored in such immmaculate condition? Or worse yet, is this thing indeed a reprint? Was it actually stolen from some naive family? Would that be the reason to keep this thing soo quiet - because of fear the former owners at the Florida flea market would try to get it back or demand compensation by lawsuit?