What Was The Most Signifigant Find of 2006?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

The title says it all.

I'll go with Dave Levin's Indianapolis find of 217 Old Judge cards.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Was the 1914 Cracker Jack set in Mint condition in 2006?

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Posted By: Jay

That there is minimal whining as 17.5% becomes 20%

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Posted By: barrysloate

While I can't compete with the two listed, my best finds of 2006 were the 1872 Boston composite photograph and the original family tobacco collection that included a T206 Plank, a square Ramly, and more than 300 Sovereign backs. However, since I found the Boston photo on ebay and somebody referred me to the tobacco collection, I'm not really sure I found anything. But they will have to do for now.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

Barry, didn't the owner of the Boston Composite photo sell a bunch more photos that seem to all have originated from Harry Wright? IIRC they all had some major water damage. All of those items combined are in my opinion a pretty major find.

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Posted By: Joe_G.

Two of the three I was going to suggest have already been mentioned.

1) Deacon White Collection - not so much a find as all new material hitting the market, over $250,000 paid for the items, many unique.

2) Dave Levin Indy Find

3) Barry Sloate 1872 Boston Composite

All 3 are very significant in my mind, hard to rank them.

Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski

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Posted By: Bob

In my mind it has to be the M116 Sporting Life variation card of Bates Cincinnati. This is the first time this card has ever shown up and it appears legitimate and not just a printing defect like the "Nodgrass" or "Sharpe" T206 cards or the forgotten ink cards like the T206s without red printing.

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Posted By: mark

M116 Sporting Life variation card of Bates Cincinnati



I think during the summer. If i recall it was a PSA 1 or 2. It went for around $800. I could be wrong, it has been 6 months. If anyone can correct me by all means do.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Yes, the woman had about eight significant pieces that once belonged to George Wright. After I got the photo, a baseball historian friend told me that after Wright's death his home had a major fire. That would explain the water damage on all the pieces. Among the others she had were Wright's own photos of the Brooklyn Atlantics and the Unions of Morrisania, and a color advertising litho from Al Spalding's sporting goods store that had never been seen before. But the damage was so severe something like 25% was missing and nobody had any idea what the missing part looked like. She claimed she found all these items in a dumpster, salvaged them just for their frames, then discovered she had some pretty rare baseball material. She did her homework and got decent prices for them on ebay. If her story is true, that is the real definition of a find- she found them in the garbage!

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Posted By: David Smith

Barry, which only begs the question, "What else was in the dumpster that she missed or was thrown out before and after what she found?"


David

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

I forgot about the Deacon White collection. I wonder how many hobbyists knew about that collection before it came to market?

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Posted By: barrysloate

David- what I wonder is how it all ended up in the garbage in the first place? I guess because much of it was in such poor condition, the previous owner may have thought what he had was worthless. And I agree that the Deacon White collection was among the best family collections to ever reach the marketplace.

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Posted By: Zach Rice

The Boston CDVs are certainly my favorite of the finds posted above. The winner of the lot shared with my a picture of the Spalding after being slabbed by SGC. They did a great job on them and even labeled them as being from the George Wright collection.

Barry-would you happen to know why Johnny Ryan was included in the series of CDVs ? A quick look at his career stats says he didn't start playing until the season after (1873).

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Posted By: barrysloate

Zach, that's a good question and I'm not completely sure why. Last year a complete set of Warren cabinets from 1872, all autographed, were auctioned by Sotheby's and Mastro and Ryan was in that group too. But there is no record of him playing with the team. The only thing I can think of is he was with Boston for a short time but never got into a game, possibly being traded or released rather quickly. However, during his short stay the team may have gone to the studio to have their pictures taken. I have no other explanation for it.

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Posted By: David Smith

Barry, I wondered that too but then thought, A) it could have been stolen and the theif didn't know hwat they had or, more likely B) a family member or some other heir was cleaning out a closet or attic and found the itmes and had no clue what they were or how much they might be worth.

I am not married and have no kids and the only one with a real clue about what I have and what it might be worth is my Mother and that is because I have told her about my stuff and made a list of some of the more valuable pieces. If she were to die and the list were lost and then I were to die, my sister, niece and nephews wouldn't have a clue about my collection.

David

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Posted By: barrysloate

I'm not completely sure the story of finding them in a dumpster is even true, but that's what she told me and she was a pretty straight shooter. We developed a short friendship and were emailing back and forth for awhile, so I will assume she was telling the truth.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Early in the year, I received a call from a friend in Florida whose neighbor was interested in selling his
Grandfather's original Tobacco collection.

Upon contacting this fellow, I realized that this is "the stuff dreams are made of". So, went down there
and purchased 400+ T206 cards. Strangely, no Cobb's or CYoung's, but most of all the other HOFers,
tougher cards, and "all the usual Subjects".

This original collection was really interesting in that all the cards had Piedmont backs, except the 25
Southern Leaguers were Old Mill's. So, I was curious as to where this fellow's Grandfather lived when
he collected all these cards.....it was near the border of the Carolina's.

T-Rex TED