[GoSoxBoSox]

Originally Posted by DJR

The lunch box find of close to (300) tobacco cards - (170) T207s including Johnson and (25-30) HOFers, (100) T206s including Cobb, (2) Cy Young, (7-10) SLers, (20 or so HOFers), E93 Cobb (super low grade), a handful of T205s and T210s ranging for Good - VG+ with some higher and some worse. The collection had been untouched for close to 75 years. All the T207s were Recruit so could determine the original preference of the smoker. I call this the lunch box find because Larry carried them into the show in a circa 1960s red lunch box in a few plastic sandwich baggies. Larry told me, before he arrived, the rubber bands were removed because he felt people would not like that...so of course I thanked him! Congrats to the person that managed to score the M131 Newsboy group of 6 or so cards (price withheld to avoid outing the other lucky collector / dealer). Since I did not initially accurately value the M131s (I am mainly a vintage non sports collector / dealer), having them not included actually really helped me secure the remainder of the collection. I lucked out having the 2nd table as you entered the National. My buying sign and/or inventory must have resonated. After playing things straight and cool on Sat, the collector walked away to shop them around, despite my best attempts so stopped raising my offers. I was beyond bummed out and figured it was the deal that escaped me and nice guys finish last. Larry mentioned he might come back the next day but likely not...rrrgghhh. I only asked for the final opportunity to accept or reject the price, when he determined what it would take. Amazingly, he showed up early at 8:00 today and arrived at my table (using the loaned dealer pass) and was willing to sell them for price that made sense to both of us. He purchased the entire collection for $1,000 in a local estate sale. Larry is a nice, gentle, simple but interesting older gentleman that traces his roots back to the early to mid 1700s in Virginia. His family reunions on their original homestead (300+ acres in the Virginia hills) attracts 2,000 family members each year. He told me the oil mining royalties pays all the taxes and some other interesting stories. I just wanted to post some images and share my excitement. To top it off, today is my Birthday and could not have asked for a better gift on the last day of the National. I made other pickups for my collection and inventory but they are not baseball related. Thanks for sharing in my excitement!

I am the collector who now owns the M131 Baltimore Newsboys. There were 9 Newsboys and 5 Briggs cards that I bought from Larry. All are now graded by SGC. I didn't end-up winning the lot you won because I graded and valued the lot much lower than you did here according to Larry who told me what you paid. The T207's were G to VG but the T206 were mostly Poor to Good. That said, I was happy Larry was happy because he was a very nice older gentleman.

Well done DJR. I wish I had a few of those T207s!

Tom