Old Judge/Tobacco Card Scrapbook

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Posted By: DGS 

I recently purchased a scrapbook with 500+ 19th century tobacco cards and other tobacco art/advertising. The book itself is in pretty bad shape, but most of the cards are in great shape. There are about 100 baseball cards in the scarpbook and about 75 of those are Old Judge cards.

Is it best to have the cards removed or keep them on the pages? The first two pages have 35 Old Judge cards on each. They are all pretty well glued. It looks like when they were added to the scrapbook the whole page was glued then the cards attached, so they are glued edge to edge. Is there an easy way to remove them without damaging the cards or is there a company out there somewhere that does this kind of thing?

I've collected modern cards for the last 15 years, but I am very new to this vintage stuff. Any information would help.

Thanks,
DGS

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Posted By: dan mckee

Sometimes they can be removed and sometimes not, depending on the glue it is a chance you can take, naturally, they will be better removed if removed with no damage. Dan. r337man@yahoo.com

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Posted By: david

i have removed several scrapps from scrapbooks and it is not as hard as it seems if you are careful. because of the age of the scrapbook and the glue, the cards are not as secure as you probably think. also, the paper that they are glue to is often brittle and that helps with removal.

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Posted By: julie

try to soak them off! That's a real photo on the front, and very, very thin--it would probably dissolve in water!

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Posted By: Jay Miller

I hate to disagree with my friend Julie but Old Judge will not be damaged if they are carefully soaked off paper. The photos will not be hirt and they will dry very nicely. My only advice is don't force anything. Put the page in a large pan of warm water and if the photos are being held on by water soluble glue they will float off the page. If the glue is not water soluble(I think most glue from that time was) then the photos will stay on the paper and the paper can be dried and flattened so it is back to its original form. After you get the skinned OJ photos off, partially dry them on a paper towel and then place them in between the pages of a heavy book to dry flat. If you need further help email me at curl777@aol.com.

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Posted By: botn

DGS

Would you care to share the names that you have out of the 100 cards? Sounds like a pretty good score.

Greg

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Posted By: DGS

If there is any other ideas out there please keep posting. I'll try some of the ideas on the non-baseball cards before I try it on the Old Judges and others.

I don't have the cards in front of me right now, I put them in a safety deposit box last week. Seeing what some past auctions for Old Judge cards went for, sort of freaked me out. I know now that most of mine are commons.

I'm not a fast typer and I don't want to sit here all night typing names, but I'll list a few for you. They are off a list I found in the scrapbook, but the list does not state what brand of card goes with the name. I did see some Goodwin Champions and "yum yum" (i think thats the name on them) cards in the book, but most are Old Judge. The handwriting on the list is not the best, but I'll try to spell the names like I see them.

Farrar,Gruber,Calvin,Foster,Count Mullane?,Stovey,
Duffy,Williamson,Murphy,Griffin,Barkley,Dugdale,
Vinton,Daly,Duke,Hengle,Farmer,Crane,Rowe,Dunlap,
Phelan,Lyons,Glasscock,Keefe,Clarkson,Sweeney,
Radbourn,Boyle,Flood,Nyce,Allen,Parcell,Turner,
Broughton,Tredway,Crooks,Tuckerman,Jantzen,West,
Owen Patton,Whitacre.

Thanks for the info everyone,
DGS

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Posted By: Ben

because you hit the JACKPOT! wow!

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Posted By: Hankron

Man sakes

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

scan them for us? We're needy for a few good cards......................

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Posted By: botn

DGS,

Nice start to a Vintage collection, I would say. Congrats!!! Thanks for sharing some of the names with us.

Wanna trade for some modern stuff? I mean this stuff does not fit in well with that kind of collection. (Just kidding).

Greg

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Posted By: DGS

I'm sorry, I don't have a scanner or a way to host pictures. I did take one picture, that I sent to a friend, before I put them away at the bank. I can email that to someone if they want to post it here. I just don't want to email it a hundred times. It's not the best pic, but it does show a page of the Old Judges.

Greg, Thanks for the trade offer - hehe, but I think I've found a new aspect to the hobby. I'd love to keep them in my collection, but my wife really wants to sell them. I just don't know if I can part with them now.

DGS

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Posted By: julie

I once had a Galvin with a little emulsion missing--or rather, shoved aside, from the lower right hand corner.
It was so thin, but seemed to carry the entire picture (for that corner). So I assumed the pictures were quite delicate.

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Posted By: botn

DGS and I will post it here. botn@botn.com

Thanks for considering a trade with me. Before you decide though, why don't you sleep on it.

I don't blame you for wanting to keep that stuff. Stay strong and do not give into your wife...well unless she starts making threats, etc.

Greg

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Posted By: botn

From DGS himself.

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Posted By: petecld

Jackpot!!!!! NICE find. Those cards look like they are in great shape. Plus you said some have "Yum-Yum" on them? Those are N403s and are worth MANY times what N172 are worth.

With all due respect to the people who have offered you suggestions for removing them, I'm sure their methods work but I say protect your investment and pay a professional conservator to do the work. It's more expensive than soaking them yourself but going by the image they are WELL worth the cost.

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

DGS,
Thanks for sharing the scan of your cards with the rest of us. You seriously have a real find on your hands. Not to sound like a drooling vulture , But that is one of the prettiest sights I've seen in vintage cards in awhile. What evr you decide to do with them in the end, my advice is to enjoy them while you have them!

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Posted By: DGS

After talking with Greg and from what I remember about the 2 pages of Old Judges I think they were skinned already. The other Old Judges and other cards in the book were noticeably thicker.

Sorry to be a pest and keep asking questions, but how much does being skinned affect their value. Should I still remove them and would the grading companies still grade them. Alot of the cards on the inner part of the page have real good edges and most have great clear pictures.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and time,
DGS

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Posted By: Rob

I noticed the team image contained in the scrapbook. Are there any other team photos?

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Posted By: TBob

we can all feel jealous and a little bit queasy in the stomach, would you mind sharing with us how much you paid for the scrapbook?

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Posted By: DGS

That is the only team photo in the book. It's not really a part of the book it was just in the book when I bought it. On the back of the photo someone wrote 1902 St. Cloud. Maybe a minor league team?

TBob - I spent $50.00 on the book

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Posted By: Nick

WOW!

Give me the map to that gold mine! That was a great score.

I would have a professional remove the cards or sell them at auction as is. Either way you are going to do quite well should you elect to sell the cards. The market for Pre-war stuff is hot right now.

Enjoy them.

Regards,
Nick

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Posted By: deadballera

Great scrapbook !!!!


Thanks for sharing. Don't let the wife get hold of that one.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

DGS.......

BEAUTIFUL book..........
Can we bother you for more scans--especially the Yum Yum's or other than Old Judge cards? I can post if you want to email them to me.

As for skinned, I was fortunate enough to pick up a scrapbook with about 600 cards in it--30-40 Old Judges (skinned), 12 Buchner Gold Coins, a S.F. Hess Newsboy and 10 N162's. The rest were all non-sports cards from late 19th/early 20th century.

I was able to soak all of them out (over a LONG weekend) using distilled water and typing paper changing the paper every 5-15 minutes until the cards were dry pressing between 2x4's with a clamp. They came out well enough that the N162's are currently encased in holders from one of the preferred major grading companies (in VG to EX+ holders). Mine soaked out fine since the glue used was water soluable. If the glue is not, they will not soak so well.

Anyway, as for price, I sold all the Old Judges as they had been skinned but the Old Judge tag line was still at the bottom (not trimmed). Most of the cards I had were 'commons' but there were 4-5 hall of famers including Kid Nichols and Buck Ewing. The average commons sold in the $45-$65 range and the Hall of Famers sold in the $100-$350 range on ebay and via private sales. I was relatively happy with the prices and they pretty much held with what skinned cards were selling for on ebay. A couple of the commons went higher than $65 but overall they were in that range.

$50 sounds like the deal of the decade on that book. Also sounds like you have a lot of hall of famers in your lot where I did not. And.......I paid WAAAAAYYY more than $50 for mine even though it was a good deal, it wasn't as good as your deal.

Congrats on the book, it looks like it was well constructed.

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Posted By: Jay Miller

DGS--It is a pity to destroy a book like this. If I were you I would consider putting it in an auction (not ebay) or selling it as a complete item. I, for one, would have more interest in it as a complete book. If you have a price you would sell it for please email me at curl777@aol.com.

Best---Jay

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Posted By: Bob Lemke

We'd like to a well-illustrated feature on this great find for SCD. The publicity would be a tremendous boost whether you sell the slbum as a whole or break it up. E-mail me at lemkeb@krause.com if you're interested.