JC Do you work at being a pain in the ass

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Posted By: dan mckee

or does it come naturally?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=290026899634&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=019

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

As many would attest too.. It comes Natural. I did not know whether to be happy or sad when I saw the final price being 10.00 from my high snipe bid. Trust me, I have way more losses than victories over the last year. Give me a call sometime Dan... Only after you have had at least one drink though.
JC

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Posted By: Bob

Mine was t206holygrailcollector who sniped me constantly on caramels in the closing seconds, often when no one else bidding was even close. I finally convinced myself it wasn't anything personal but it does make the losses hard to take...

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

I thought this was another BCD thread but then I saw my buddy Danny.......

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Posted By: Richard

I've been outsniped by a penny on a thousand dollar item before. That is worse, so don't feel so bad Dan.

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Posted By: Al C.risafulli

Somebody from this board smokes me on ebay at least once every two or three days.

I've learned to live with you all.

-Al

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Posted By: BcD

but it not the cards they just keep going up and Tbob wont pay it!
Tom,come on now! I don't wimpy words like Ass!

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Posted By: JimB

Our friendly moderator dude beat me on two E93 blank backs last weekend.
JimB

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

My sniping buddy use to be Tim Newcomb, what took the cake os when he got me by .01. Our collecting interests have changed and I have not crossed path lately, good thing because he was a deadly sniper.

All's fair in the bidding wars,

Lee

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Dan:

In hindsight, would you have paid $10 more to take one last shot at getting the card?

The reason I ask is because a few days ago we were comparing "auction techniques" on how to get the best prices for cards.

One "downfall" of EBay is that the "sniped" runner-up doesn't get to keep bidding on the item.

Just curious.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Hal is correct that ebay is a tricky animal. The underbidder does not get a second shot so the whole idea of a snipe is to leave a huge bid far in excess of the value of the item. But if a second sniper does the same thing just below your bid, you may find yourself spending an awful lot. In a catalog format, as a bidder you have more control. I still can't decide which is the better system- pluses and minuses for both.

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Posted By: runscott

Congratulations, Dan, on saving $616 !!! I happen to have an old postcard that coincidentally is available for $614, leaving you money for coffee and a newspaper.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

be compassionate for our colleague; he can't get used to the idea of what these bloody things cost nowadays.

Neither can I.

It seems only a few years ago that you could not give away postcards.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I wish the same were true of postcards featuring famous Indian Chiefs. They are still a tough sell.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Jason

I've been collecting (other eras) for a little more than 20 years, and in those immortal words from Airplane, "looks like I picked the wrong day to pick up tobacco-card collecting"

I made my first pre-WWII card purchase a couple weeks ago from Tbob, but I don't know if I can actually afford to start down this path in a meaningful way...
amazing prices!
Jason

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Posted By: jay behrens

You can build a meaningful collection on a very limited budget. You just have to lower your expectations and standards as to what you are willing to accept as part of you collection. I can't really claim to be the poorest member of the board anymore with my job change, but my current collection was built on burger flipper wagers, literally. You just have to be patient and don't be afraid to buy a card that doesn't fit your collection if it seems cheap. It's something you can flip laters for extra cash when you do find soemething you want or need.

To give you an idea of what you can do on a limited budget, here is some of what I've bought with a total out of pocket cash outlay of just over $1500 (I keep track of all my purchases and sales) in 5 years.

m101-5 Thorpe SGC 20
e101 Wagner SGC 20
e95 Cobb SGC 30
e95 Plank SGC 30
JuJu Drum Doyle
e107 Sheckard SGC 10
Delong Gehrig SGC 10
Red Border Colgan Speaker SGC 60
e92 Dockman Young SGC 20
1940 Play Ball DiMaggio
GC Miller Ott

plus another 260 cards that include e104-3s and cards from other very tough sets.

Jay



I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: Jason

that is a nice group of cards, especially for the money you quoted...and you're right - when I lost my (Pre-WWII) virginity to Tbob last week, it was a well-priced card that I wasn't planning on picking up (a 1934-36 Diamond Stars Hubbell is neither a Chicago Cub, nor a tobaccy card, but hey, gotta start somewheres, as you said...)
Thanks again...
Jason

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

I could occasionally beat him on some things...c'n we switch now and pick on BCD?

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Posted By: andy becker

jay, that is impressive. kudos.

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Posted By: Joe D.

I love that postcard - so don't get me wrong....

but I think the seller may have had the 'year' produced a little wrong.

I am thinking the late 20s or later -
and here is why....

1) The whole theme of the card seems to be an homage to a great player / a retrospective. Something that would be done near the end of a great career or after a great career --- not during the earlier playing days.... So the 'boyhood home', the 'autograph' and the 'posed photo' -- all put together like that leads me to believe this was the end or after Walter Johnson's career.

2) I could be completely wrong here --- but the 'composite' of three independent graphic elements... four elements if you include the caption as a separate element... gives the item a much more modern feel than what would have been done in 1910s. Especially since the border art had to be pre-though out, pre-created to allow for spots of a signature / photos and captions.


The fact that it is a RPPC makes it exciting to me. You have there two great actual photos that someone took great care in combining to create a nice card. I guess the autograph is a photo of an autograph as well.

Very cool postcard. Just I believe the eBayer had the date wrong.

Anyone agree / disagree? There are definitely others more learned than I am on the subject.

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Posted By: Steve M.

Card sold August 2000 in Hunt Auction for $675. Admitedly a little nicer condition. Attributed to 1912.

Lot 393 if anyone wants to look it up.

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Posted By: Clinton

Joe, I think it is from 1912 or shortly thereafter. First,the style of the postcard has nothing to do with the dating. Check out JC's site and look at the Harry Lord postcard. He has an original copy used to make a postcard similar to the Johnson as well as the finished product. This postcard is dated 1910. Second, the NOKO stamp on the back of JC's card dates it from 1904-1920's. I have one that has a CYKO stamp that dates it from 1907-1920's. Next, I also have a postcard taken by the same photographer using an identical photo of Johnson playing an exhibition game in Humbolt, Kansas and is dated 1912. A postcard like this one was also in the Hunt auction referenced in the above post.

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Posted By: dan mckee

I missed the Hunt's card, bummer. Yes Hal, I would have paid $10 more or even $100 more to get it ptobably. I just picked a number that I thought would be a lock. Look at the next underbidder under me. Anyway, it is all good, part of the game, feel the rush!! I started collecting Walter Johnson stuff after I bought a bunch from an old friend in DC. Since I have the Washington Times Walter, I figured I would try to collect 1 of each Walter. I have been meaning to call JC but I haven't had a drink since! My lord prices have gone up but I guess that is expected. Take Care all and happy collecting. Dan.

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Posted By: Joe D.

thanks for pointing me to that Harry Lord on JCs site - very cool item....

although it does look more like a craft project (as he says original art)... whereas the Johnson Postcard - the borders around each photo element were pre-printed to that size (not cut out by hand). Even so... it is a good counter to my argument and sort of knocks out part of it.

I am still not sure the Johnson piece would be 1910 or 1912 (more likely the 20s)... but that is just my personal scepticism.

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Posted By: Clinton

Joe, here is the photo from 1912. Local photographers often used these type of photos to advertise their towns. Many used exaggerations such as giant apples or other produce to show how special their town was. That's why I think it's from his more productive years. It's like an attraction to visit the town. Whether it's 1912 or 1927 it's still a great card. Now tell me how he got that bar out of the photo.

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Posted By: Joe D.

I love that photo!

getting the bar out is a tough one.... did they have macs and photoshop in 1912?

I know the more modern techniques obviously... and before computers we would have to airbrush stuff to retouch it.... it was an artform in itself. I am not sure how they would handle that in 1910s or 1920s... or why they would even feel compelled to go through the effort to do so.

Removing the bar only adds to my scepticism.

But as you said... it really doesn't matter much - as it is an awesome card.


Where did you get that photo?!?

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Posted By: Josh K.

I believe it would be possible to get that bar out - I used to do some photograhpy, including developing and printing back in the days before pc's. It can be done, though not the easiest thing in the world to do.

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Posted By: Anonymous

Joe, It's actually a postcard I obtained from a gentleman who has since passed on. I was able to get a couple other Johnson cards from him and he kept duplicates of all. These belonged to a friend of Johnson's. I don't know what happened to the other cards. Here's some from a Bob McCann auction a few years back. They said they originated from Johnson himself and may have come from the Hunt auction.

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

Wow.. Just when you think you have seen it all! Great postcard! Sure would love to keep it with the other one I just picked up. LMK if it's forsale. After looking at Walter's left leg under the loop.... I can not see any sign of the bat from the other photo... Hummm Plus mine doe snot say "Copyright by" just @ w.c. caldwell..Humm.... JC

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Posted By: Clinton

Jim, good eye, I didn't notice that. I suppose he changed that on the negative. Maybe he had two glass negatives and changed the write up sometime in the process. I'm not ready to sell but will keep you in mind if I ever do. Great pick up by the way.