June 28, 1961 Jefferson Burdick letter to Charles Barker
 

This letter was part of a collection I bought years ago and wanted to share it. There is a line on the second page talking about the Wagner card with an asking price of $150. Interesting stuff.<p>
<img alt="" src="http://www.prestigecollectibles.com/54burdick1.jpg" /><br>
<img alt="" src="http://www.prestigecollectibles.com/54burdick2.jpg" /><br>
<img alt="" src="http://www.prestigecollectibles.com/54burdick3.jpg" /><br>
<img alt="" src="http://www.prestigecollectibles.com/54burdick4.jpg" /><br>

Awesome letter. Thx for sharing

June 28, 1961 Jefferson Burdick letter to Charles Barker
 

Wow! What a great piece of history. Thank you for sharing this!


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Man, if these guys ever knew what their cards were selling for now.

Wow! That’s really neat. I wished they taught cursive at school because I have no idea how to read what’s on the actual letter. A lost art.

Helpful if we transcribe? UPDATE: Fixed details noted by people below.

Page 1 [with my notes]: "Buck, happy you got your letter, cards, and the lists. Saw your pic in [Woody] Gelman's paper and can see you're in there fighting all the time. On the lists -- they look fine. I'd be afraid to show any ignorance by adding or subtracting. I think, though, on the final [American] Tract Society item -- if they are sold for about 1 cent as you say, I think I'd list along with the other regular W-items or as W646 to be exact. That Y group are more the give-away Sunday (?) School card. The The W- stuff is more the sold-for-money type, so I'll recommend to [Charles] Bray it be changed to W646.

Ordinarily I'd mail it to Bray today but there's a good chance I'll be going out there tomorrow. A Brooklyn guy, Les Morris, probably will give me a ring this evening and tell me to be ready in the morning. We've been over twice this year already and probably would have gone last Thursday (his day off) if it hadn't been a rainy day.

The new stuff coming out is simply amazing. I get very little of it any more and if I tried to run it all down I guess that's about all I'd be able to do. I got a few things that appeal to me but for general purposes my collection ends about two years ago.

Are you getting any of Orem's stuff. I've got a few things the biggest lot being the 58 Ramly B.B. It's a great opportunity to get some good stuff but I can't handle many of the lots as most of it would be resale material and I don't want to get into that end of it very much. I sent him a want list and..."

I THINK it says "Are you getting any of OREM'S stuff. I've got a few things the biggest lot being the 58 Ramley's...

But I could be mistaken.

Fascinating read...

I thought he was referring to Orem's lot of 58 Ramly cards.

Agreed!

This is a really historical piece, this was the chance that Lionel Carter had the chance to purchase the "Wagner" for $150.00, if i remember correctly, his wife said "go for it".

awesome stuff.

thanks,
John

Here is the section of the letter translated (yes a sad day indeed that cursive needs to be translated - Burdick's handwriting is not too bad) that refers to Preston Orem's T206 Wagner that he had for sale.

"I wonder who will cough up 150. for the Wagner card. Lionel Carter used to say he wouldn't pay even 50. for it but there is so much new blood in the game that there probably are now buyers even at 150."

This appears to be referencing the T206 Wagner that noted collector Frank Nagy purchased from Preston Orem at that time.

Brian

was that Charles or Frank Nagy?

thanks,
John

Oops, mixing up our hobby pioneers...Buck Barker's first name was Charles.

Brian

Charles Nagy
 

Charles Nagy had a nice career with the Indians.

Nice letter. I like the conversational, stream-of-consciousness style.

Robert great letter, thanks for posting it

Enjoyed this Thank You! Joe

Friendly bump for a great letter from the Grandfather of collecting. If anyone hasn't seen this thread from 5 yrs ago, and enjoyed this letter, then you will like this thread too.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...Burdick+letter

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What a letter! Thanks for posting!

There's all sorts of problems with inflation calculators, but, that said, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that $150 in 1961 is worth about $1290 today.

He probably should have bought it.