Black Swamp Find? Tell me more!

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Lorewalker

Evan Mathis eventually ended up with the ungraded cards that were held back. They were not offered to him initially. I forget the quantity but it was more than the 600 or 700 that were initially graded. PSA and SGC have graded some of these and the provenance was intentionally left out on some or most of them.

I recall there was an interview early on after the find was made public that alluded to the fact that not all of the cards ended up with Heritage.

WOW!!!!!! I didn't realize there were THAT many?????

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

WOW!!!!!! I didn't realize there were THAT many?????

Prior to the find, PSA had a total of 627 in their pop report. They have now graded 2,238. No doubt that includes BSF card having been broken out and resubmitted but a staggering increase.

No idea what SGC's pop report showed prior to 2012 but they have now graded 1,839 E98s but who knows how many of those are cards being resubmitted.

[A2000]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjGZ...ritageAuctions

[Belfast1933]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

WOW!!!!!! I didn't realize there were THAT many?????

Oh man, the original “junk wax” era! Who knew?? Maybe I’ll trade my Bres for a sweet Gregg Jeffries RC!

[BobbyStrawberry]

Is it known who these cards originally belonged to?

[BobC]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Is it known who these cards originally belonged to?

I believe the father of the woman who lived in the home had a small store back in the day, and speculation was that instead of handing out all the cards with the candy he was selling, he took the cards of maybe just a couple players to the store to hand out, and the rest somehow ended up untouched, and still bound together by player, in the attic of his house. I think the guy had two daughters who ended up with the house when he passed, and then when the last sister passed, other members of the family came in and found the cards in the attic. IIRC, there were just a very few players in the E98 set that were not included in the cards found in the attic, or there was only one or two of them. And thus, the speculation that the store owner/father had taken a couple of the stacks of player cards to the store to hand out, and then for whatever reason left, forgot, or took home the rest of the cards at/to his house, and then forgot about them.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by BobC

I believe the father of the woman who lived in the home had a small store back in the day, and speculation was that instead of handing out all the cards with the candy he was selling, he took the cards of maybe just a couple players to the store to hand out, and the rest somehow ended up untouched, and still bound together by player, in the attic of his house. I think the guy had two daughters who ended up with the house when he passed, and then when the last sister passed, other members of the family came in and found the cards in the attic. IIRC, there were just a very few players in the E98 set that were not included in the cards found in the attic, or there was only one or two of them. And thus, the speculation that the store owner/father had taken a couple of the stacks of player cards to the store to hand out, and then for whatever reason left, forgot, or took home the rest of the cards at/to his house, and then forgot about them.

Interesting story! Thanks, Bob.

[parkplace33]

I can tell you that a lot of E98 collectors were not thrilled when the black swamp find came out

[BobC]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

I can tell you that a lot of E98 collectors were not thrilled when the black swamp find came out

Oh heck, of course not. Just think about how all those older E98 collectors that thought their PSA/SGC 3 and 4 and 5 graded cards were the highest ever graded, and then find out overnight there are now 15-20 cards of each player that just blow their cards away condition-wise. LOL I'm sure they were so pleased to see how the value of their formerly highest graded examples reacted to those new cards hitting the hobby.

But that is a risk that every collector has with their vintage/pre-war cards that are rare in either quantity or condition. Someone comes across a find and all of a sudden the supply side of the supply and demand equation gets a major upheaval. LOL It certainly doesn't happen often, but the Black Swamp find shows it can happen. Remember the even more recent Ty Cobb with the Ty Cobb King of the Tobacco World card find from back in 2016? A family ended up finding 8 of those cards, and IIRC before the find there were only a whopping 15 or so known to exist. That certainly had an impact on the supply side, and ultimate value, of those Ty Cobb cards.

[Casey2296]

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I think BSF cards should be considered a separate set from original circulation E98's. The buyers of BSF and OC cards are completely different collectors, BSF collectors lean more towards hi-grade registry type of stuff.

When I put my sets together I only wanted original circulation cards so I could experience what is was like to build the sets pre-BSF.

The best OC set I have seen is a member here who put a Green one together with his dad prior to BSF, beautiful set, apologies I can't remember his username.

And a couple of cards.
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