Old time letters regarding T-205's (Carter, Egan)
 

Attached are a couple of letters I ran across in an old binder. One is from Lionel Carter, the other from Richard Egan. I asked questions of both of them in letters regarding T-205's, and these are their responses.
To give a context to the Egan letter, I wrote him because I had come across a Hindu back. As you can see by his response, it was the first reported in the hobby. The Egan letter would be late-1976.
Thought some of you old-timers might find this interesting.
I covered a couple of portions of each letter, simply so no one "steals" them and makes them[IMG]http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...psto9wama1.jpg[/IMG] their own.
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Fascinating correspondence. Thank you for posting these! The Carter letter is kind of sad and deflating

thanks for sharing his response
 

When I read it I was focused on the emotional elements as well - it was clear he had something he needed to say - as much to himself as to you.

wow, if Mr. Carter was that upset at the hobby back in the mid 70s, imagine his feeling if he were to see it in the late 80s thru today!

Thanks for sharing, very neat!

Great letters, thank you so much for sharing them.

Thanks for posting these. It's unfortunate that Carter viewed the rising prices of cards as a negative rather than a positive (ie. a sign of a growing hobby and a good economy). It's also too bad he couldn't still enjoy the hobby, while also accepting the fact that he was no longer a hobby expert.

Bittersweet, or maybe just bitter, but still very interesting to read.

Oh... and nice find on the Hindu, btw.

Great read, thanks for sharing.

As a lover of the t205s, these letters are great. thanks for posting them.

Joshua

I've done a lot of Internet searching the past 48 hours since running across those letters, getting up to speed on T205 backs. It's just over 40 years since I completed my T205 and T206 sets (less the big 4--back then it was only the big 3). We didn't pay a whole lot of attention to backs, errors, variations other than poses, etc. Somehow the Hindu stood out even back then.
So yesterday I went down to the safe and got out the T205s and assessed their backs. With the set, (missing some variations I didn't know of then), plus 38 duplicates, I found the following: one Hindu (Jacklitsch), no Drums (I already knew that), 2 Broadleaf black, 1 Cycle (Joss), 1 American Beauty black, and 4 Piedmont factory 42. All the more common ones, of course. Also Gray with stats.
Early 1972 I picked up 1100 tobacco cards from a guy who got them in NYC as a kid. There were birds, fish, Olympic athletes, etc., but 99% were baseball. (1 T202, 2 T201, the rest T205 and 206. By late 1973, primarily through trading (through the Trader Speaks) I completed both sets

Surprising that in a random gathering you ended up with 2 Broad Leaf and only 1 Cycle and 1 American Beauty.

Apparently it's better to be lucky than good. Clean living, also. Just looking through the 38 duplicates I have--noticed an extra line for the first time!http://i855.photobucket.com/albums/a...psr4xlderq.jpg,
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