Posted By:
JimBFacinating topic. I have three considerations to throw into the mix:
1. If the Piedmont Wagners were from a 1950's reprint sheet made by hobbyists to fill a hole in their collection, then why were there presumably many different fronts? According to the story, Mastro bought about 75 other high grade T206s along with the Wagner, all presumably from the same sheet. So did they create a diverse sheet with many different T206s?
2. According to the letter indicating provenance on the Piedmont Wagner offered to Charles Bray in 1958, he looked at the card alongside many other T206s and considered it to be real and offered a substantial amount of money for it at the time. Since the letter of offer was still with the card a few years ago when Mastro auctioned it off, it is safe to say that the owner turned down Bray's offer. This raises a couple of curious questions. Since it was 1958, it could not have been long after the presumed sheet was created. One would think that the person who offered it to Bray either was part of the group that created it since he had it so early and thus, if honest, would not try to pass it off to a fellow hobbyist. Or if dishonest, would have accepted Bray's offer and sold it. SInce neither is the case, one other possibility is that the person simply inherited a group of T206s from an elder relative or friend (an attic find, if you will) and wanted to inquire to an expert as to their value, if any. It would seem quite strange that there would be such an attic find of recently produced reprints. Of course this is complete speculation, but nevertheless....
3. Scott, on the one hand you argue that the Piedmont Wagners are virtually indistinguishable from a real Wagner, other than the Piedmont back which was used to make it clear to anyone in the know that it was a reprint. And yet for the two known Piedmont Wagners, for various reasons you claim both are obvious fakes - the PSA 8 because of the print lines on the back, and the Bray just on sight. So which is it?
JimB