Posted By:
Aaron SeefeldtAbout 10 years ago a fellow dealer approached me at a show because I had a handful of S74s (both colored and white w/backs). He asked me to come to his table and see a group of whites he had (all with the paper backing attached).
A quick note: white silks come with 3 different backs - Old Mill, Turkey Red, and Red Sun. The Red Suns are much more difficult than the other 2. All are in black print on the back of the cardboardish backing.
Back to my story. When he showed me his silks I almost had a heart attack. There were at least 75 of them and 80% of them had Red Sun backs. And to my astonishment, not one of them had the well documented "crease". All the big HOFers in the set were there and mostly with Red Sun backs. The highlight was the Cobb. Spotless, creaseless, no fraying of the fabric on top, you get the idea. It actually shined from the silk. The dealer told me that an older fellow had brought them into his store.
I bought the whole group. If I told you what I paid you would probably vomit. I sold them at shows, usually a couple at a time. The last 20 or 30 I had left I consigned to Mastro. I thought for sure they would go for alot. Well, they fizzled. So be it with auctions.
They are out there somewhere... deep in collections. They are rare but not as rare as some other issues.
A word of advice, only buy the whites with the backing attached.