Black Swamp Find? Tell me more!

[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.

[gabrinus]

Took me about 20 years to put that set together and then some goobers find a bunch of pristine cards in an attic...definitely not thrilled...Jerry

[fkm_bky]

If I'm not mistaken, when he came to the message board to inquire about his find didn't he also have some rare colgan chips (like a Thorpe) as well. I know we all thought it was too good to be true and that there was something fishy about it. But...turns out it was all legit and then things got very exciting. My memory may not be totally accurate.

Bill

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by BobC

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.

i think the cobb/cobb find helped the values...not so with BSF.

[JollyElm]

43. Black Swamp and Circumstance
The joy felt by obtaining a card that has its association with a noted collector or historical find stated right on the label.



And a pic fix for the OP...

8EC7444A-E64E-4C7A-AC1A-A8DCCACFB8A7.jpg

[BobC]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

i think the cobb/cobb find helped the values...not so with BSF.

The initial publicity probably helped the values by making the card more well-known in the hobby at first. Kind of like the spike you normally see in card prices for players that just got elected to the HOF, or passed away. They usually return to norms pretty quickly afterwards. But in the long run, having more of a card generally results in lower values over the long haul as the law of supply and demand takes over.

Now if you really wanted to see the prices of those Ty Cobb King of the Tobacco World cards skyrocket, and stay in the stratosphere, get the hobby, and especially a TPG (preferably one with a registry), to now consider and recognize those Ty Cobb/Ty Cobb back cards as a legitimate part of the T206 set. There's what, 60-70 supposedly known T206 Wagner cards still in existence. And now you'd be talking about what would arguably be the rarest card back in the T206 set with only about 23 known examples existing. Could only imagine what that would do to those card's value.