Because I've been too lazy

[Howe’s Hunter]

or maybe too busy, I haven't posted any cards in the pick-up threads since July. But last week, when I passed a milestone of sorts, I contacted Leon and asked permission to start a thread, show what has come my way of late, and thank the board members responsible for getting the rebuilt collection to where it is today.

Chris Browne was the man at the National. About ten minutes after it started, I started getting emails from Chris, and in a matter of an hour or so, there were six new cards in my binder













The next five were all eBay pick-ups, the last three all from John Taylor of TnT Collectibles











David Hobson from here on the board agreed to part with the Lundgren he had for several years. I can trace it back to as far as the Mastro auction that had a near set that had 50 of the cards with Howe's stamp on the back. Jim Schnieder won it from Mastro, and David got it from Jim on eBay. David was kind enough to let it join the others.



Another eBay purchase here, but a bit of a biggie....



Joe Yanello (joesvintagesportscards.com) has been great about contacting me when a card with the stamp on the back comes into his inventory. I get an email, with a fair asking price, and in a couple of days, the card is back with the rest. Thank, Joe.



Then about a week ago, a board member who wishes to remain anonymous contacted me, as he has several times, to let me know he had come across a couple of cards. Again, a fair asking price and a couple days wait for the post office to deliver and numbers 250 and 251 in the rebuilt collection arrived.





250 (or rather 251) is so many more than I ever thought I would come across in a lifetime of looking for these. Much of that is thanks to members of this board who have taken an interest in keeping an eye out for them and letting me know when they see them.

There are another 38 out there that I know of, and who knows how many more that are just hiding in collections somewhere. But again, thanks to everyone for help in putting this awesome collection back together again.

Ed

[Jason]

Great progress Ed and kudos to all that helped with the recent additions.Good luck finding the rest!

[DerekMichael]

That is such a cool project!

I am sorry, how many years did you say you have been working on this? And who is Howe McCormick, besides the guy who stamped his name on the backs?

That is a beautiful thing. What a seriously unique challenge to collecting the set.

Too cool!

Derek

[Rob D.]

Cool thread. Glad you're able to post it.

[edjs]

As a new guy here, I would love to here the story on this. Even if the short version.

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

Very cool. Please share the back story.

[insccollectibles]

Hey Ed,

I'm always rooting for you to find more Howe McCormicks . I have to agree with your statement. Since I joined Net54 a year ago Chris Browne has been one the nicest and greatest guys I have run across in a while always willing to help with info or a back run. Great guy to have on the forum!

[tiger8mush]

Great job Ed, thanks for sharing! And great to hear stories of fellow collectors/hobbyists helping out their own

Rob

[wolf441]

Excellent stuff Ed! Very impressive. We have some really good guys on this forum!!

[Howe’s Hunter]

Born in 1895, Howe McCormick's dad and uncle owned a grocery store in Gainesville, Fla. that he and his family also lived in. He served in WWI, was married by 1930, had a daughter by 1940, and died in 1976. Doesn't appear he ever left Florida for any period of time.

I got my first Howe stamped card about 22 years ago. Fifteen years later, found another on eBay and decided to sell all my T206s at the time (about 200 after all those years) and collect only the cards I could find with Howe's stamp on the back.

There is one other card that varies from most of these, where it has his full name (Urich Howe McCormick) and his address but also says he is an agent for the Saturday Evening Post. That one was also part of the Mastro lot.

Every census I've found says he was a salesman. But guessing when your Dad owns a grocery, you must get a lot of cards from folks who buy the smokes but don't want the cards. Every one I've seen so far is either Piedmont, Old Mill or Hindu.

If you type Howe McCormick in the forum search, there will probably be a lot of threads about him, as I am rather obsessed.

Thanks also to Leon for saying it was O.K. to post this and give a shout out to everyone for their help.

[atx840]

Thanks for the kind words Cain.

The Howe stamp collection is one of my favorite hobby projects.
Reuniting 251 cards after this long is very impressive. Neat how they ended up and all over the place and in so many different collections.

Extra cool that you found a picture if young Howe....now to find that stamp.

Congrats!

[jlehma13]

It is nothing short of incredible that you have been able to find so many. I am curious to know if you have ever had any desire to reach out to the McCormick family with details of your project?

[Howe’s Hunter]

But I've not been able to find any. He and his wife Thelma had one child, who through every census record I can find, lived at the same address as them, never married, and died 10 years after Howe. He had a sister who seems to have dropped off the grid about 1922, who shared the same name as his daughter. But I can't find any marriage or dead records for her. And that is it for relatives.

If anyone has ideas other then Ancestry.com or Archives.com (which are both basically the same information that you end up paying twice to get) to find out info, please let me know.

Thanks.

[Tom Hufford]

Howe and Thelma McCormick
Evergreen Cemetery - Gainesivlle, FL (courtesy of FindAGrave)

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg...572308&df=all&

[I Only Smoke 4 the Cards]

This is a very cool project. I will keep an eye out for any of these.

[CobbvLajoie1910]

My favorite long-running 'collection' thread on 54.

Congrats, Ed; somewhere Howe is smiling. Thanks for the update!

[ethicsprof]

I always smile ear to ear when I see how far your top shelf collection has come. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations---a seminal milestone indeed!

all the best,
barry

[frankbmd]

Just another back stamp hoarder.

[jp1216]

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...ight=mccormick
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...howe+mccormick

This story of reuniting Howe's collection is great. 251? Amazing! Those back stamps all seem to tell a story.

[MyGuyTy]

Very interesting collection Ed! I've seen a few of these on Ebay over the years, cool to see somebody so dedicated to bringing these together

[Howe’s Hunter]

Bob B. saw this post, and let me know he had a Joss portrait that would fit in the collection. It arrived today. Thanks, Bob.