obaks from recent ebay auction

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Posted By: scott brockelman

hi,

did anyone else win any of the rare and/or really nice 1910 obaks on ebay a couple of weeks ago? i won 2, one a lower grade 150 series and the other a high grade with a scarce back. received them today, the 150 is fine, the high grade is definitely trimmed. but, it was the delicate aromatic back, in my opinion one of the rarest backs there is. it was the second one i have ever had.

everyone else's results??

scott

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Posted By: Jeff O

To the best of my knowledge, the "Delicate Aroma" back is only known on 5 cards in the 175 series: Berry, H. Smith, Tonnesen, Krapp, and Brown (Vernon).

There are 5 backs which are more scarce (known on less subjects) than "Delicate Aroma". They are "Instantly Popular" (2 subjects), "Just Right" (2 subjects), "Immensely Popular" (4), "Mais Paper Wrapper" (4), and "The Story in Smoking" (4).

What's interesting is that the "Delicate Aroma" back is known on 4 different subjects on with the 150 subjects back.

Jeff

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Posted By: brian p

I definitely noticed those Obaks from a few weeks ago, but did not bid on any. I too thought that possibly some might have been trimmed, and even more that they had been lightened, either the cards themselves or the scans. Have you given these cards the sniff test?

Speaking of sniffing, as far as the "Delicate Aromatic" slogan, it is one of the less common ones, as the Jeff O. article in the VCBC #26 clearly illustrates, but I never realized that it was that uncommon--I have three, and I ain't the king of Obaks, more like an Obak serf with pretensions toward the throne. The one the article really points out, and the one I have encountered others searching for, is the "Just Right" slogan. For the non-150 series collector like myself, I have found the following to also be difficult to come by: "Immensly Popular", "Instantly Popular", "Mais Paper Wrapper", and "The Story in the Smoking".

Brian

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Posted By: Seth B.

I bid on several of these, but was somewhat wary as well. The prices jumped far higher than I was willing to go. I noticed wild size differences, too: every card was displayed in a scanned pair, and the pairs rarely matched in size. That's not that uncommon, but I'm not surprised that you noted trimming.

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Posted By: PeterWThomas

Scott I won 7 cards including 2 distant relatives and five others that have really nice poses. Cards came to $398 or $57 average. No rare backs. 5 cards are clearly unaltered the other 2 I'm not sure of. Cards would grade between 4 and 6 with one of the questionable ones probably a 7 if it is OK. Size is OK but one edge is squeaky clean. Cards smell OK.

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Posted By: leon

I am particularly interested in the different slogans. From my CA find I got all but about 5 of the backs. I agree with Jeff O. (obviously) on the scarcity of some of them. One question though, are we speaking about "Delicate Aroma" or "Delicate Aromatic"?...I believe the one I have says "Aromatic" and it's a 175 series. So far I only have about 7-8 of the 150 series and do have an extra to trade.....but that's another story....just curious about the Aroma vs. Aromatic...later

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Krapp has the Delicate Aroma back???

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Posted By: brian p

Some of the wording on the 1910 Obak slogans is a little awkward--such as "Delicate Aromatic". "Delicate Aroma" does not exist. There is a "Perfect Aroma" slogan.

By the way, Krapp is not only Delicate Aromatic, but could also be described as Convenient Sensible, Mild and Pure, has Perfect Aroma and is Distinctive, amongst other attributes.

Brian

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Posted By: Bob

I bought 3 cards, 2 175 series cards as upgrades and they were nice and appear unaltered. The 3rd card was the rare 150 series Mundorf. I held my breath on this one and was very pumped when it measured correctly, has no sharp (trimmed) edges and really looks nice. We'll see what SGC has to say about it as it is headed their way in the morning.
I will echo what Brian P. said, I was scared off by a few of the cards as they had an unaltered look to these old eyes.

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Posted By: Adam

Being an Obak collector on Ebay over the past month or two has been a real thrill. Between the big lot that David Bryan had up a while back and recent lots offered by sportsinvestments, etc. it's been absolutely crazy. I managed to take advantage of several Obak auctions that were being pushed out of the limelight by sportsinvestments big lot. I threw bids down on all his 150's, but I knew it wouldn't last, and sure enough, I got priced out of those auctions. I was ok with it though as I got to snag a few lesser grade Obaks being offered by another seller with few if any other bidders competing against me. I also snagged two much needed 1909's (Mundorff & Olson Thanks to Scott Brockelman and Lew Lipset for those). There's been so much Obak to choose from lately on eBay that it's hard to know when to stop!

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Posted By: TBob

"I will echo what Brian P. said, I was scared off by a few of the cards as they had an altered look to these old eyes."

Because for so long Obaks were looked at with askance by a lot of collectors as only a regional issue of minor leaguers, not many cards have been submitted for grading and the prices were reasonable. I think this is all beginning to change now as collectors are beginning to turn to other/addditional sets once they finish near sets of T206 etc. The Obak sets contain the first cards of many future major league players and with their nice coloring and unusual poses provide a very aesthetically pleasing and collectible group.