"Rarest Reggie" going to auction: 1977 Proof

[Bob Lemke]

77 Jax proof overprint.jpg

The "Rarest Reggie" card, the 1977 Orioles proof card, is going to be a featured lot in the April 8 Collect.com Auction (bidding begins March 22).

Actually, the entire 66-card proof sheet, which includes, if memory serves, another five-six unissued proofs including Rollie Fingers, will be offered.

There are three or so singles of the Jackson known, but as far as I know, this is the only uncut sheet. At least it's the only one that's been publically offered since 1991.

[toppcat]

Is this owned by F+W or is it from another source? On a related note, whn Krause was sold, was the corporate card collection/archive part of the sale? Always been curious about that.

[Bob Lemke]

Hello Dave, Yes, the 1977 proof sheet is owned by F+W (or one of its corporate subsidiaries). Back in the hey day of sports collectors' books and periodicals at the old Krause, it was purchased in a Rob Lifson auction in, I believe 1991. We took it to a show or two to display, then it went into the company vault.

You'd be surprised at how insignificant the card "archives" at Krause were. In the 1980s, if we needed a card for illustration, I or Dan Albaugh would bring it in from our collections. Or Larry Fritsch was just 25 miles down the road and always generous with allowing us access to his inventory or his personal collection.

The tons of sample boxes, sets, etc. that came from the card companies over the years were always poorly filed and stored and anytime a card became valuable, it seemed to magically disappear from the files. We actually set up a hidden camera sting in the library one time and caught an employee stealing stuff.

The bulk of the modern card stuff was warehoused and, when I left Krause in 2006, I bought nearly 1,000,000 cards from all five major sports in hundreds of monster boxes and albums/sheets.

I'm almost done sorting them.

[toppcat]

That's funny because that Reggie proof is the purchase that made me think you had a vast archive of cards at Krause. I remmeber the article about it and probably still have a copy of it.

[Bob Lemke]

There was very little in the way of real sports collectibles around the "old" Krause. When money was really flowing (SCD running 400+ pages a week, etc.), Chet Krause had me make serious inquiries about acquiring a T206 Wagner that could be displayed at shows, etc.

Other than that, there was a Babe Ruth autographed ball (never authenticated) and a genuine 500 HR club autographed poster we bought at the original show in Atlantic City. That poster, however, was not archivally framed and was left hanging under flourescent lights in a hallway, and the sharpie signatures have faded away to a light green.

My favorite item, which came from Mark Macrae, was a composite creation consisting of oval portrait photos (probably cut from cabinets) of the 1904 Iola (Kans.) team. When the new owners began selling off non-productive assets a couple of years ago, that picture was nowhere to be found. I'd love to have it.