Earl Hoellein, 1899 - 1995 Audubon, New Jersey
 

A month or so ago, I had partially told the story of the tobacco card collection, which is new to the hobby, in our current auction. As I was speaking with the consignor, a mid 60's retired, very nice lady from Florida, I told her that if we could know a little more about her great uncle, who collected them, it would be interesting. She said she had emailed the information, with pics, but then didn't check anything, got sick, and didn't come up for air for 3 or so weeks. Fortunately she is feeling better now. I guess I was mistaking on the front end as I thought the gentleman lived to be 101, but he lived to be 96. She believes he got the the cards from his dad as he would have only been 10-12 yrs old when the cards were issued. Instead of editing the information, I am posting it as sent. So here are some facts concerning Earl Hoellein, 1899 - 1995 Audubon, New Jersey.

"Earl Hoellein,
1899 - 1995
Audubon, New Jersey


Photos
1. Earl with three of his sisters: Grace, Vera, and Alma
2. Earl (in middle) with friends on bikes
3. Earl (high school?)
4. Earl, shortly before he passed

These tobacco cards and pins were carefully collected, categorized, and stored by my great-uncle Earl Hoellein when he was a child in the early 1900s; they were passed down to me after his death in 1995.

Earl was born in Philadelphia in 1899, the youngest of five children.

His father, Christopher Hoellein, was an orchestra conductor in the Philadelphia area whose smoking habit probably supplied him with most, if not all, of Earl’s tobacco cards and pins.

His mother Eveline was a well-known spiritualist who eventually divorced her philandering husband. Earl lived with her until her death, and then with his unmarried sister Alma, who had been a missionary in South America, in the same house. Two other sisters lived with them after their husbands passed away.

He never married, although he saved many letters from young women he had squired around town over the years who wanted desperately to settle down with him.

Working for the railroads afforded him the luxury of traveling across the country and around the world both before and after his retirement.

He passed over in 1995 when he was 96. He had been in relatively good health, but he simply gave up after his favorite sister, Alma, died one month earlier."



.

Great story, and a tip of the hat to a fellow collector such as Earl.

It's always the people and stories around the items that keep them alive in our hearts . Those can't be traded or sold .

Totally agree. And by the looks of his collection he really liked well centered cards. It would have been awesome to chat with Earl about his collection.

Nice story. How cool would it have been to be the ORIGINAL owner of these cards? Would have loved to have sat down with a tape recorder with this man and relived those old tobacco days...

Man that's a great story Leon! Having pictures to put a face with the collector just makes it that much more interesting. He certainly had a eye for nice cards. Thanks for sharing.

What a cool story. Please send my thanks to the family for sharing it.

Great story; thanks, Leon
 

Great story and the pictures are a real bonus. No doubt there are thousands of similar stories that could have been told at one time: collectors who lived and collected outside the "organized" hobby which dates at least back to the 1930s (Burdick, Carter, etc.). Sadly, such accounts are mostly lost or forgotten.

Thank you, Leon, for bringing this man and his collection to our attention.

story
 

Yes, cool story Leon

interesting tracing it back like that

I wonder if Earl ever collected any cards/pins himself or if he just kept the ones his dad gave him...It's fascinating that such a collection would end up with his great niece...The entire story is interesting...

Great story Thanks for posting Leon!

Ricky Y

What a great story. Thank the family for sharing it with us.

Leon, what a wonderful story. Thanks to the niece for offering the neat back story. The family photos are terrific...really like all of those. Looking at the latter two images, it seems Mr. Earl's eyes did not change much from a young man to a 95 year old! I hope his niece kept a few of his collectibles as a fond remembrance of her Uncle Earl.

Thank you for sharing, Leon. It sounds like Earl lived quite a good life.

Thank you for your comments!
 

Thank you all for the comments about my Great Uncle Earl and his collection of tobacco cards.

I believe that no one is ever gone until they are forgotten, so passing these cards on to collectors who appreciate them will help keep the memory of Earl alive.

I wish I had taken the time to ask him about the history of the cards, but I didn’t know about them until after his death. Whenever I could make it up to see them in New Jersey, I engaged him and my great aunts with queries about ancient family history, and they regaled me with observations and details about their lives that often left me laughing, crying, and sometimes gasping! So I’m sure his recollections about his card collection would have been equally compelling and worth passing along. (I have this sneaking suspicion that he clipped a Honus Wagner card onto his bike and eventually tossed it after the spokes wore it out.)

I want to take this opportunity to thank Leon, who came to my aid many years ago when I first began researching the cards and whom I found again when I was finally willing to put them up for auction. He has been a joy to work with!

Carol