My first vintage card and what I paid for it!

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Posted By: peter ullman

These 2 were bought within 1 year of each other...but the matty was definitely my first. I bought it at a card show in NJ when I was about 10. $2 for the matty and $5 for the Criger which I bought at a great card shop in Paramus NJ at the mall off rt 4...I can't remember the mall or the stores name!

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Posted By: Joe D.

Went to a small local show in the 80s looking at the shiny stuff...
and one dealer had one vintage card... the T205 McGraw w/ Polar Bear back (eventually graded SGC 40 - sold recently on eBay).
I plunked down $25 and grabbed the card.

I am sure I overpaid for the time.... but, I thought it was incredible... I never saw a card that small and that old.

Whenever I went to a show after that / I looked for these gems... and quickly found the T206s.
I purchased Polar Bear backs exclusively... and didn't care about the condition.

I remember going to dealers who would have stacks of T206s rubber-banded....
and there was a $3 per card pile / a $5 per card pile / $10 per card pile and then the hofers.

Had I not been so foolish in only wanting the Polar Bear backs....
I probably would have made my way to completing a few T206 sets (or close to that).

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Posted By: RayB

The only malls on Rt 4 currently are the Bergen Mall in Paramus and Paramus Park Mall; Bergen mall being the elder.
There was a few highway stores across on the west bound side including the ever famous NJ institution Korvettes. (Got all my albums there when I was a kid).
Unfortunately I never appreciated prewar until adulthood and the age of eBay.
Cool cards.
RayB

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Posted By: Bruce

My first prewar card. Bought it for $10 when I was 11 or 12. Also, bought a Matty black cap and a Johnson portrait for $7.50 each, at a place called Gerheart's in Crystal City, VA. Sold them with all my other cards in the late 80's. I couldn't part with the Cobb though.

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Posted By: fkw

My very first vintage card was a T206 Bob Unglaub (I loved the name) I bought for $4 in EX condition from a card shop on a trip to San Diego (1979). My first big purchase was a nice EX '33 Goudey Ruth #144 for a whopping $75 in about 1980. Then I was hooked

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Posted By: Mike

A 1914 Cracker Jack Shoeless Joe from Lew Lipsett on April 1, 1994. Still have the ad from SCD. $2500.00, had SGC grade it, came back a 30.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I honestly can't remember the first vintage card I bought. The earliest purchase I remember is Ex-ish t205 Matty $10 in 1981. The next purchase I remember was a complete set t201s in Ex-Mt and better condition for $400 in 1982.

Jay

I love pinatas. You get to beat the crap of something and get rewarded with candy.

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Posted By: peter ullman

ray b...my memory fails me...it was the mall across from the Alexanders with the former worlds largest painting on it...rt 17? Garden State ______ mall?

pete

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Posted By: RayB

The Garden State Plaza! Right at the junction of Rt 17 and Rt 4. One of the few quasi-outdoor malls. Stores connected by an intricate pathway outdoors. This sort of design is the precursor to todays Outlet Malls. Today I believe the Garden State Plaza Mall is all enclosed.

I seem to remember a card store in there as well, when I was quite young.
RayB

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Posted By: Lee

I started off collecting shiny crap about 14 years ago at the age of 7. Moved to 1950's Topps when I was about 10. Acquired cards of my favorite 50's players in bad condition. Blew a lot of money on shiny crap previously, which I still greatly regret. Went to a card show about 10 years ago at the Civic Center in Roanoke Virginia to buy more 50's cards. There was one dealer with a whole lot of small, odd at the time, looking cards. I knew a little about tobacco cards, but not much. The cards were of course T206's, and I was amazed at the colors over the shiny crap. I put down $20 and got two T206 commons, Hooks Wiltse Pitching and a Boss Schmidt Portrait. I knew nothing about the players whose cards I bought, I just thought the card design looked neat. Then I started doing some research about the T206's. I was interested in T206's, but i never bought anymore until a few years later. I dabbled in T206's over the 10 years, but not seriously until last July, when I decided to put the whole set together. Great how 2 cards can inspire you. 30 cards down, 490 to go. I have already got a quarter of the HOF's and most of the rare backs.

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

My dad found these in an old scrapbook and gave them to me when I was about 14 or 15.

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Posted By: JimB

I bought a nice T206 Cobb/red port. in 1980 for $90 (part trade/part cash but that was the value). I also bought a very nice Lajoie w/bat for $20 around the same time.
JimB

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Posted By: Martin Neal

I bought about 125 or so around 1988 for $100.00. It was hard to get a body count as some of them were in pieces. I really didn't know what they were. I just enjoyed looking at them. Included were plenty of hofs including a Johnson, Cobb, and a Mathewson. What was interesting about these cards was that there was a large amount of color variations and printing errors. Here are some of them.

Wagner no b
Willis grey background
Dahlen no b

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Posted By: bruce dorskind

I was really fortunate when I began collecting in 1975.

Early on I had the opportunity to visit with legendary collector Lou Newam, met Sir
Edward Wharton Tigar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, became friends
with Barry Halper and started working with an 17 year card dealer named
Rob Lifson.

They hooked me on vintage cards

My first four purchases were a Kalamazoo Bat of Irwin, a beautiful George Miller
Card of Joe Cronin and the Allen and Ginter set.

Talk about collections- nobody in the world will ever match Wharton Tigar's
N and T card collection; Barry's speaks for itself. Newman had stuff
you never ever see, albeit he was not condition conscious. I loved his
old judge (with 40 cards pictured) advertising poster and his near perfect
T-210 of Joe Jackson....

Best of all I got two pieces of advice from the two yougest dealers
at the first NY show I attended in 1975-

1) only buy the best stuff and condition really counts
2) if you don't get what you want or can't afford it...remember it is only Old Cardboard

Lifson's pal at the show, by the way, was a kid from Chicago named Billy Mastro

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Posted By: JK

My first true vintage card (i.e. prewar as opposed to 40's,50's and 60's) was an SGC 50 T206 Walter Johnson pitching in 2004. Unfortunately it cost me significantly more than $10 - $400 more to be exact. Been hooked ever since.

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Posted By: Larry

About 16/17 years ago, I purchased a really nice T201 Mathewson at a show in Virginia for $400 (in hindsight, pretty steep at the time). Wasn't looking for it, just saw it and bought it. A couple of years ago, I had it graded - PSA 6.

The first card I ever purchased was a '58 Willie Mays. I was 12 and it cost me $30. Still have it.

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Posted By: Jeff Prizner

my first vintage card that I ever saw in person was the t206 Cobb red portrait - after that I knew that I was done with modern cards forever.

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Posted By: Scot Reader

Mine was T206 Rhodes (St. Louis). $3 from The Baseball Card Shoppe in Claremont, California circa 1981. Eventually graded PSA 4. Sold it last year when I upgraded to a PSA 5.

Next came Alperman and Schreck for $3 each--if memory serves. Still have Schreck in a PSA 5 holder.

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Posted By: dstudeba

My first vintage card was a T206 Bridwell portrait that I traded 2 1982 Topps Rak Packs for in 1982. 24 years later it is probably still an even trade!

My first purchase was this Matty for $40 in about '86. I still have these 2 cards even though I only have 3 T206s in my collection.

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Posted By: Rich Klein

The name of the store in New Jersey you bought your card in was called Sports Center.

It was owned by Buddy Kurzweil, who still owns a sports related store in Teaneck NJ and Rick Barudin, who passed away last year.

I also bought my first real cards from them, in my case it was a Joe McGinnity I purchased as a common for about $1. I bought this card at their first location in the Montvale Antique Mall.

Rich

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Posted By: John Barnes

Looks like I missed the boat on cheap, HOF t206s. Most of you fellas bought your first card before I was born!

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Posted By: Bill K

Purchased for $28 on Ebay back in 2001. Don't own it anymore, but it has led me to pursuing vintage cards.



Bill

My personal collection - http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f176/fkm_bky/

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Posted By: peter ullman

thanks rich...i also remember a card store in the basement of the old bergen mall. it was always a big mess there, not much on display, but if you asked they had lots of great stuff!

pete in mn now

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

My first vintage purchase was in 1982 from Bill Mastro at a show in the Metrodome during the winter. I was an 18 year kid fascinated with the fact that this guy had a table and only brought 2 briefcases of cards with him (all pre-WWII). He was very gracious with giving me information on questions I had about the cards. I ended up purchasing a T202 Just Before the Battle Bresnahan/McGraw that I still own.

Lee

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Posted By: Mark Tylicki

Wow, this was kind of fun to research because I honestly couldn't remember my first pre-war card. From 1990 to 1999, I was mostly a modern collector buying up all the rookie cards I could find (primarily Bowman). And occasionally I would purchase a 1950's/1960's portrait card of some HOFer.

Luckily, I've kept extensive records of every sale/purchase from 1998 to current. Turns out my first "vintage" purchase was a 1933 Goudey Mel Ott PSA 7 in August, 1999 (not the same card I have now) for $407 from Maraya.

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MY COLLECTION: http://www.rustywilly.com/MYCOLLECTION.htm>

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Posted By: BcDaniels

$55 for a green Cobb t-306 portrait now in a PSA 5 holder

BcD

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Posted By: T206Collector

...I may go after the T-306 set, especially if there's a green Cobb in it!

My first "vintage" card would probably have to be a 1933 Lefty Gomez I got for fifty cents in a bargain box at a card store back in the late 1980's. It was heavily creased in the middle, but presented well otherwise. I sold it in the early 1990's for about $15, if memory serves me. I also remember being excited about adding a poor condition 1960 Topps Stan Musial to my 1987 Topps and 1988 Donruss collection. I also had a caramel card (don't know which series, but might've been E92 Dockman) of Bender for awhile.

But my first T206 card came in 1997 when I bought a Matty White Cap and Bender Portrait for $500. The Matty is now in an SGC 60 holder and the Bender is in an SGC 50 holder. I still have em and ain't ever letting them go.

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Posted By: bill

it was at the 2nd troy hilton michigan show I was walking out
and I noticed a guy that had a stack of black & white cards
1939 - 40 Playball cards I asked him how much he wanted and he said
depends on the card he said $1.50 each. I had around $20.00 left
so I went thru them and picked out Hank Greenberg - Paul Waner - Joe Dimaggio - Chuck Klein - Bill Dickey - Carl Hubbell - Red Ruffing - Lefty Gomez - Schoolboy Rowe - Tommy Bridges from 1939. he said $15.00
he had an autographed 1940 playball card of Charley Gehringer $2.50 so I took that too. Still Have them today.

bill

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

A T206 Wagner, for $7, in about 1982. Heinie, not Honus.

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Posted By: Gilbert Maines

John Barnes: you haven't missed the boat on cheap t206 HOFers. It is just a bit too early for you, still.

In another 30 years or so, you will be pressing geezerhood, like a lot of these guys, and you will recollect (as best as you can) what it was like just after the turn of the century, and maybe some of your transactions back in aught six.

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Posted By: Dave Williams

My first vintage cards were T 206's of McGinnity and Casey, from an antique barn in rural Georgia while on family vacation about 1976, when I was 13. They were 2 for $5.

The guy also had a dozen or more Topps sets going back into the 50's, and about 100 more T 206's, but no more Hall of Famers.

Then the next summer, I went to a flea market in Peoria, Illinois and picked up Deacon Phillippe with a Polar Bear back.

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Posted By: martindl

Not a purchase but a trade.

'91 I traded three UD Frank Thomas' and Pro Set Andre Ware rookie for a T206 Mathewson (white), T206 Lajoie portrait, T202 Mathewson/Meyers Just Before the Battle and a 55 Ernie Banks, at a flea market here in Georgia. All about VG. Still have them all.

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Posted By: Richard

"'91 I traded three UD Frank Thomas' and Pro Set Andre Ware rookie for a T206 Mathewson (white), T206 Lajoie portrait, T202 Mathewson/Meyers Just Before the Battle and a 55 Ernie Banks, at a flea market here in Georgia. All about VG. Still have them all."

Holy crap! I think that qualifies as the trade of the century!

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Posted By: John S

A 1934 Goudey Fred Walker in the early 80's for $3. My first T206 was Bill Bradley batting with a Cycle 460 back (I had no idea what a Cycle 460 was at that time) for $5 sometime in '85 or '86. I have been collecting vintage football since 1980 although I didn't get my first National Chicle until the early 90's. I still have the Walker and the Bradley.

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

I don't recall my first vintage card, I'm pretty sure it was a T206. I do remember not buying a nice looking T205 Cobb for $15 because it was over priced for the day. Woulda, shoulda, coulda.... a lot of us could have retired early had we purchased enough cards way back when. On the other hand, most of us probably wouldn't sell the stuff so we'd be in the same boat but we could have a lot of trade material.... Woulda, shoulda, coulda....

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

A T206 Cobb, bat off, eventually graded an SGC 80...who has it now? Ytaded my entire 1975 mini set, plus a goodly amount of cash at the San Francisco National for it.

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Posted By: Stephen Mitchell

This is a great topic - one that certainly brings back memories. My family and I used to attend a public auction held at the Blackstone Hall in North Yarmouth, Maine. Usually I watched for Indian head cents and Liberty head 5 cent pieces which were veritable staples in Maine auctions in those days. Baseball cards were always on my mind but rarely surfaced at the auctions we attended.

Then one night in 1963 or '64 a group of five big cards were offered. (T-3's they turned out to be.) Trying to hold back my excitement I immediately met the opening bid of 25 cents and for 5-10 seconds it looked like a REAL bargain would be had. Then, as the auctioneer was about to close with "sold" an adult in the back upped the ante to half a dollar, which I immediately topped with my 75-cent bid. And that is where it all ended: Five T-3's for 75 cents.

I did not know what I had because I would not own the American Card Catalog for another couple of years and my subscription to The Card Collector - the only hobby periodical in my universe - was in limbo: either it had lapsed or the paper was on hiatus as hobby publications of the era were known to do.

Final disposition of the five cards? Frank Nagy got them along with most of my childhood collection. Old Frank, however, kept my interest going and as a thank-you sent me a T-206 common along with some of his own Famous Card Series issues and his mimeographed auction list.