Five questions about T212 Obak

[Archive]

Posted By: brian p

Having done my fair share of Obak-ing, I would have to agree with all of what Jeff O. has to say about them. I would also like to add that, although I do not know the purpose of the small purple number stamps on the backs of Obaks, they are certainly widespread. I have not encountered many of the diamond shape punch ones, though. I think some collector may have just gotten nutty with a punch.

I would also like to add that the best checklist for this set is in Volume 3 of the Vintage and Classic Baseball Collectors magazine (VCBC). There is a nice article by Mark MaCrae on the three sets, and the checklist is separated within year by team, also has a separate listing of the 1910 Series of 150 cards. This is where you will find a detailed listing of all the variations with the 150 series--for example J. Smith with white lettering, J.Smith with blue lettering, etc--which are not described or basically ignored in the Sports Collectors Digest Standard Catalog. Also, it is nice that they are grouped by team. That is how a normal, non-anal collector would have collected them back then (sorry alphabetizers), but also gives someone interested in the PCL a feel for the make-up of the teams.

By the way, I have never found it difficult to come across the NWL cards--they always seemed to pop up when I was looking for PCL's.

Brian