Latest Pickups

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Michael B

It is odd how many non-Olympians are included in the swimming and track in this set. Sedley is one of them. I do not collect cards, but I have been very tempted to pick up some of these as they are nice looking. I have original photos of almost all of the Olympians in the set. At least from what I can tell - Hartranft, Eller, Flanagan, McGrath, J. Sullivan M. Sheppard, M Sheridan, Hillman, C M Daniels, Ewry, Ruddy, Platt Adams, SP Gillis (last name misspelled on card), Riley, Pilgrim, Porter, Bacon, H Wilson, Crowley, Lawson Robertson, Budd and Kiviat. I have also had the signatures of many of them and currently have Hillman, Robertson and Kiviat. Kiviat was the last living person in that set from what I know. He died in 1991. Kiviat and Platt Adams played in the demonstration baseball games during the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Adams pitched for a mixed team which included members of the Vösteras Bäsboll Klubb. He did not fare so well, giving up four runs in the first inning. Kiviat played shortstop for the U.S. team going 2 for 4, including a triple, and stole a base.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that would love to see some of your photos of these guys. The track cards are the 'leftovers' in T218, but I love them. Gorgeous cards and super cheap usually.

I don't know much about track history beyond what I've researched on T218 subjects, but it seems there are many fairly obscure track athletes featured, and many Olympians who were not. I think this probably has to do with Frank G. Fullgraff's (the American Lithographic salesman/project manager with tobacco connects who apparently devised, designed and out together many of the T card sets) social network and the release contracts for their images. Fullgraff was a long time sportsman and member of the New York Athletic Club, so the man who made up the sets and was probably in charge of the releases (judging from T225/T220), knew Sedley and many of the others personally. I have found little information out there on Sedley, he seems one of the most obscure of the subjects.

I like that they originally spelled Gillis correctly on the back but wrong on the front, and then created a variation by making the back wrong too instead of fixing the front.

Kiviat passed away at 99, 4 months after I was born. I've been looking for a signed Kiviat T218 card for a long time, there have been some blatantly fake signed T218's on eBay a couple of times, but some of the sets roster lived long enough for an autograph card to be a significant possibility. Kiviat seems the most likely to be out there somewhere.

[Exhibitman]

I've seen almost no legitimate signed T boxing cards.

The most likely prewar boxing cards to find signed (besides self-issued promos and souvenir restaurant postcards) seem to be Exhibit cards. I've seen several Dempsey, quite a few Schmeling (modern signed since he lived to 100), several Sharkey (career-contemporary and much later), a few Tunney, and a smattering of non-title and lower weight classes.

Signed prewar strip and insert cards are rare. I have two and each appears to be signed decades after issue




I just don't think these guys got hit up for autographs like baseball players, unless they were in the hospitality business.

[G1911]

I don't think I've seen even 1 possibly legitimate signed T card of a boxer.

But then again, I'm a sceptic and think most of the signed baseball T cards are frauds as well. The authenticators sure can't seem to tell what's real and what isn't as they keep getting caught certifying cards proven to be fakes as real. That there are almost 0 known signed T cards of a non-baseball subject (There might be a T118 Henson that is real I have seen, that's the only one I can think of) should be a red flag that the large influx of signed T206's and such are awfully convenient. Baseball was very popular, but so was boxing. Some of the post-Glory of Their Times cards are real, but I've lost any faith anyone is actually able to tell which ones are real and which are one of the many, many fakes of those guys.

There were the horribly faked T218's we had a thread on a year or two ago. I've seen a couple other obviously not real ones. This Goldman card was on eBay a couple weeks ago, stated to have a COA that was not shown or even said who from. Someone bet $40 it was real.

If there's a real singed T card of a boxer out there, I'd put my money on it being a Johnny Coulon or a Jim Jeffries.

As Abel Kiviat passed away in 1991, and was apparently in good health for most of his later life, I'd not be surprised if there's a couple modern signed cards of him out there.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

I don't think I've seen even 1 possibly legitimate signed T card of a boxer.

There were the horribly faked T218's we had a thread on a year or two ago.

That was the thread I thought of right away to. I had to track it down. For anybody that wants to revisit, it's here:

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...ht=signed+t218

[D. Bergin]

Guys like Jeffries and Coulon and Abe Attell and Charley Goldman attended tons of old-timers events later in life, and likely handed out lots of autographs at these events. Probably not common in the least, but I'd be surprised if nobody ever brought a T card up for them to sign.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by G1911

I'm sure I'm not the only one that would love to see some of your photos of these guys. The track cards are the 'leftovers' in T218, but I love them. Gorgeous cards and super cheap usually.

I don't know much about track history beyond what I've researched on T218 subjects, but it seems there are many fairly obscure track athletes featured, and many Olympians who were not. I think this probably has to do with Frank G. Fullgraff's (the American Lithographic salesman/project manager with tobacco connects who apparently devised, designed and out together many of the T card sets) social network and the release contracts for their images. Fullgraff was a long time sportsman and member of the New York Athletic Club, so the man who made up the sets and was probably in charge of the releases (judging from T225/T220), knew Sedley and many of the others personally. I have found little information out there on Sedley, he seems one of the most obscure of the subjects.

I like that they originally spelled Gillis correctly on the back but wrong on the front, and then created a variation by making the back wrong too instead of fixing the front.

Kiviat passed away at 99, 4 months after I was born. I've been looking for a signed Kiviat T218 card for a long time, there have been some blatantly fake signed T218's on eBay a couple of times, but some of the sets roster lived long enough for an autograph card to be a significant possibility. Kiviat seems the most likely to be out there somewhere.

Here are some photos from my archives. I picked these as they were already scanned and sized to put on a website:

Probably a very rare Spalding premium of the gold medal winners from the 1906 Intercalated Games. The IOC does not like to include them in the Olympics, but most Olympic historians do. This is mounted on 3/16 inch cardstock with a slight curve to it. I believe there are at least 4 athletes in this photo who are in the T218 set. At one time I had the signatures of every person in this photo, including James Sullivan and Matt Halpin. I purchased a large group of items from the estate of the son of Isidor 'Jack' Niflot. He won a gold medal in wrestling in 1904 and competed in 1906. He collected autographs of all of his teammates on the back of his business card. I purchased them along with photos and other items.
1906-U.S.-team.jpg

Two photos of Platt Adams. His brother Ben was also an Olympian
adams platt - 1.jpg
adams-platt-2.jpg

Two photos of Charles Bacon. The studio photos are my favorites.
bacon charles 4.jpg
bacon-charles-1909.jpg

Ralph Craig - 1912 gold medalist in the 100m. I am not sure if he is in the set or not.
craig-ralph.jpg

Charles Daniels
daniels-c.jpg

Joe Ruddy - won gold medals in swimming and water polo in 1904. Next to him is his son Ray who competed in swimming in 1928 and 1936. Ray died in 1938 at age 27.
ruddy-2.jpg

Mel Sheppard - I believe this is a magic lantern slide.
shepperd-1912.jpg

Ira Davenport - I do not believe he is in the T218 set. I saw a listing for a lot of Pan Handle scrap cards and I believe one of them was him.
davenort-ira-2.jpg

[Exhibitman]

Speaking of Mel Sheppard, here's a 1912 Capital Candy & Cracker card of him:



If you ever see a card from this set, buy it. They are extraordinary rarities and just beautiful lithos.

[G1911]

The Bacon is close to, but not quite, the one used to model his T218 card. The Daniels photo looks like it might be the one they modeled the art for his E229 card artwork on. Very cool stuff to see!

[wicker56]

I figured after all of the years that I've been lurking on this site, that I might as well start posting some of my new acquisitions. The C.A. Briggs although not exactly eye candy, it is pretty rare.

[wicker56]

This is a recent Ebay purchase. I'm hoping someone may recognize it and have a little info, on what it is.. The card is 3 x 3 1/4 and talks about the Gans Nelson championship fight. The stock is pretty thick , like that of a cereal box or something.

[Exhibitman]

You outbid me on that Briggs, Chad. A rare one for sure.

That other card is from the UK. I got one from the issue from a UK collection.