Posted By:
JimB"4) NONE of the Piedmont Wagners that have come up for sale can have their provenance traced to a date before the 1950's!"
The Charles Bray Piedmont Wagner came with a correspondance letter he wrote to the person he purchased the card from. It was clear from the letter that the owner did not know the difference between Heinie Wagner and Honus Wagner. Someone in the hobby who would have printed a sheet of T206 reprints with a Wagner on it, even then would have known the difference. YOu are right that the provenance only goes to this point in 1953 (I believe), but it suggests that the owner probably had them for a while. Charles Bray used to advertise in the Sporting News. I imagine the person contacted him that way. My guess is he (the seller) was related to someone close to the printers and had one of those Piedmont sheets and cut it up with scizzors. The Bray Piedmont Wagner was obviously handcut.
JimB