Not a Flordia Find

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Posted By: Dave

My Mother-In-Law just move west from Virgina. As we helped unpack her here, she grabbed a notebook and said that her late husband (died about 5 years ago) had gathered some BB cards from several cousins, and I could have them. There are 571 cards, mostly T206, with some T205 and T210 cards. Here's a summary:

Main collection:
T206 Cards
523 T206 Total

416 cards in main collection

310 Majors
82 Minors
24 Southern


107 duplicate cards

62 Majors
31 Minors
2 Southern

T205
47 Cards

T210
15 Cards, all Series 2 - Virginia League

One final card is not included above, it makes me want to cry: It is from a Hassan triple folder, "Birmingham Goes to Third" which should include picture of Johnson and Street, with a BW action scene. My card only has Johnson, with a fairly "clean" tear between Johnson and the action scene. In other words, I have only a card of Johnson. I have no idea how this happened, but it's too bad. The card of Johnson is in very good shape, one dog-eared corner, but otherwise looks about 10 years old.

My plans are to sit on this set for quite a while. Originally, I got this to sell off. But, after researching this, I don't think of these cards as a collection; they are art. At some point in time, I will probably start to sell off the duplicates individually (on ebay?), and try to fill out the set. I do have limits, I don't envision ever getting this one completely.

I should mention that this is missing all the really scarce cards - I don't have a Honus Wagner, for instance. I do have 5 Ty Cobb cards, missing the Bat off Shoulder, but including two red back portrait and two bat on shoulder cards.

None of the cards have been officially graded, my viewing of PSA cards on ebay suggest that most of my T206 cards would grade as PSA 4, some 5, maybe a few 6, maybe a few 3. The duplicates may be a little lower. In the main collection, there may be one or two with a crease, but not many. Virtually all are Piedmont backs, a few Old Mill. The T205 and T210 cards are not quite so good, but not bad. Some creases, particularly in the T205 cards.

I would love to get advice from this board on where to go with this. I have never collected any type of card in the past; this is really a windfall. I have spent quite a bit of time on the web doing research, as well as getting a recent Beckett book. There seems to be quite a difference between buy and sell with a dealer. Grading seems to raise the value by more than the fee for grading, but the comments at this site about the grading companies (particularly PSA) make me want to hold off, at least until I'm ready to start trading.

Looking forward to your comments.