A Card Of His Own

[Archive]

Posted By: bruce dorskind

America has a long history of paying tribute to its early pionners.

Whilst they be cowboys, politicians, entertainers, explorers or
even baseball card players, we have memorizalized their fame
in print -- in books, on posters, and beginning 140 years ago,
on cards (cigarettes, caramel etc).

Back in 1972 legendary card dealer-collector ,Wirt Gammon,decided
that he and a group of his fellow "trading partners" should have a piece
of history they could call their own.

So Wirt decided to issue a postcard set paying tribute to 14 of
the top collectors. Wirt asked each of the collectors to contribute
$6 and name his favorite card with whom they were pictured.

Many of those legendary collectors are gone now, and only a few
remain in the hobby. Twenty years ago, Lew Newman sent me a sample
postcard from the set.

Below is the check list of the collectors. How many do you know?

I have scanned a copy of an article from a late 1990 issue of Lew Lipset's
Old Judge which discusses the set in great detail. Let me know if you
would like a copy of the scan.

Should we select Today's Top 50 Vintage Collectors and include them on
a set with a picture of their favorite card.? Imagine all the information we could
include on the back- with details on what they collect....etc.

That might give the PSA Set Registry some real competition.

What do you think..


Collectors Who Apppeared in the 1972 Wirt Gammon Set

1. Rich Egan
2. John England
3. Rusty Moshier
4. Phil Lehrman
5. Wirt Gammon
6. Dr. Larry Kurzrok
7. SW McClure
8. Ralph WInnie
9. Charles Buck Barker
10. Robert Thing
11. Ed Zehlder
12. Jim Nowell
13. Dick Reuss
14. Lou Newman

Does anyone which of these collectors is still active in our hobby? Are any Board Members?

Looking forward to hearing from you.


Bruce

[Archive]

Posted By: Julie Vognar

not only as a great collector, but also for his habit of writing players' stats on the blank backs of his cards:

Back of N172 Dummy Hoy:


Back of 1915 Zeenut McMullen:

[Archive]

Posted By: Greg Ecklund

Stan McClure (#7 on the list) passed away some time ago - Mastro auctioned his collection in their first two or three catalogs when they were still Mastro & Steinbach.

[Archive]

Posted By: Anthony

I used to know Jim Nowell in the '70's- he and Gavin Riley and Steve Brunner ran the monthly club in Orange County (CA) and the annual show in Anaheim. Haven't seen any of the 3 since I started again 6 years ago at any of the local shows.