Whats Your Most Interesting Card?

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by CW

Thanks, Dean, Peter, and Leon. I wish I would've known about that auction, although 2007 wasn't a point in my life when I could spend that kind of money on a card, so I would've had to take out a loan. Quite an impressive group of Cobbs, to say the least (just noticed the writeup mentions 11 Cobbs, but the catalog only pictured 10). Here is my Cobb with his brothers (I only own one of these). Notice they all had the same printing issue along the top border....

I remember this auction well; I ended up getting my own 1914 Cobb CJ in SGC 60 a year later. One thing I recalled about all the Cobbs above is that they had the same area of bleeding of the red top into the white border on every single card. And it appeared that they were all graded at the same time. Very strange.

[oldjudge]

Cy-I can add a little to the history of the Kelly portrait. At one time it was in the Keith Mitchell collection. Keith was a pioneer in studying the Old Judge set. He worked with Buck Barker and others during the earliest studies of the set. Most importantly, Keith was one of the nicest people I ever met in the hobby, free with information and always very supportive. He was from Bettendorf Iowa and was a big Billy Sunday fan. I believe he got the card directly from the Sunday family and it was one of his favorite possessions.

[cyseymour]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Cy-I can add a little to the history of the Kelly portrait. At one time it was in the Keith Mitchell collection. Keith was a pioneer in studying the Old Judge set. He worked with Buck Barker and others during the earliest studies of the set. Most importantly, Keith was one of the nicest people I ever met in the hobby, free with information and always very supportive. He was from Bettendorf Iowa and was a big Billy Sunday fan. I believe he got the card directly from the Sunday family and it was one of his favorite possessions.

Thank you, Jay, it is great to hear more about the history of the card - and the collector. The card came with some literature from Keith as well as the Sunday family, describing its provenance. Glad to hear that Keith was such a nice guy, and that it was one of his favorite items; it certainly is one of mine.

[brianp-beme]

Not card but cards, and not high dollar but still neat. A while back on ebay I won a complete set of 50 of the Red Lajoie Game cards along with the playing board. It arrived in a non-original but vintage box, and the seller (most likely a non-collector) left a note that he found these cards around 20-25 years ago while "dumpster diving".

I imagine a lot of us (myself included) have actually dreamt of finding some vintage cards in a similiar fashion.

Brian

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I remember this auction well; I ended up getting my own 1914 Cobb CJ in SGC 60 a year later. One thing I recalled about all the Cobbs above is that they had the same area of bleeding of the red top into the white border on every single card. And it appeared that they were all graded at the same time. Very strange.

One heck of a submission. Must have been before I wanted one. Damn.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by calvindog

I remember this auction well; I ended up getting my own 1914 Cobb CJ in SGC 60 a year later. One thing I recalled about all the Cobbs above is that they had the same area of bleeding of the red top into the white border on every single card. And it appeared that they were all graded at the same time. Very strange.

Jeff that is very strange. How to explain ten cards with exactly the same printing quirk that doesnt seem to be on any other 14 cobb from quick research? The explanation that comes immediately to mind isnt good of course but maybe there are other theories.

[CW]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Jeff that is very strange. How to explain ten cards with exactly the same printing quirk that doesnt seem to be on any other 14 cobb from quick research? The explanation that comes immediately to mind isnt good of course but maybe there are other theories.

I referenced this printing issue in my post with all the Cobbs together. While it is strange (or for this thread, interesting) to see this issue with every card, it is not uncommon to see the same printing flaw across multiple cards -- this happens many times in the hobby.

Also, while not common, it is also not the first time I've seen the red ink bleed into the border of a Cracker Jack card. I could not find any images with a quick search, but I did see this anomaly mentioned in this article.

Andy Montero, another passionate Cracker Jack collector, agrees. He adds that the red background on the card fronts sometimes bleeds into the lighter colored borders. The most common condition issue, however, is staining from being packaged with the caramel snack.

[calvindog]

Chuck, for what it's worth, the cards looked good to me and I really have not much doubt about it. The peculiarity for me was the identical printing flaw in every card in those lots -- which all had been graded at the same time as well. Strange.

[Bpm0014]

One of my more interesting cards. Ambrose Puttman. I was told last week at the Pittsburgh show that it indeed does look like a factory mistake that somehow slipped through the cracks. I'm still unsure, but I'll go with it...

[brianp-beme]

It looks more like evidence at a crime scene...perhaps they can test for DNA and hopefully corner the perp.

Brian

Originally Posted by Bpm0014

One of my more interesting cards. Ambrose Puttman. I was told last week at the Pittsburgh show that it indeed does look like a factory mistake that somehow slipped through the cracks. I'm still unsure, but I'll go with it...

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by CW

I referenced this printing issue in my post with all the Cobbs together. While it is strange (or for this thread, interesting) to see this issue with every card, it is not uncommon to see the same printing flaw across multiple cards -- this happens many times in the hobby.

Also, while not common, it is also not the first time I've seen the red ink bleed into the border of a Cracker Jack card. I could not find any images with a quick search, but I did see this anomaly mentioned in this article.

Do we know if the other CJs in the collection had the same issue?

[ephus]

I think this one is pretty interesting. Dockman and Sons produced cards of boats, soldiers, animals, and baseball players. If you look at the back of this card, you see a checklist for animals.




When you turn the card over, you would expect to see a lion, zebra or a monkey. You would be very surprised to see what is there.....Honus Wagner.



PS, the T205 Cobb from the first part of the thread, I sold it to you several years ago. It's nice to know you still remember the story. It is a beautiful card.

[DeanH3]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Do we know if the other CJ's in the collection had the same issue?

Peter - Here are some of the other cards from that auction. I son't see the same bleeding on the other cards but what is interesting is how the WaJo's have the same green dot on them.

Chuck - there is the missing 11th Cobb. Lot 541.

Ephus - Way cool Wagner there. And yep, I still remember the story. I thought then, and still do, that it was pretty cool to know that I was the 2nd or 3rd owner of a card.

Here are some pics

[Hankphenom]

Here's mine:

[CW]

Originally Posted by calvindog

Chuck, for what it's worth, the cards looked good to me and I really have not much doubt about it. The peculiarity for me was the identical printing flaw in every card in those lots -- which all had been graded at the same time as well. Strange.

Originally Posted by DeanH3

Chuck - there is the missing 11th Cobb. Lot 541.

Very cool, thanks -- also interesting to see that green dot you mentioned on the WaJos. We should've probably started a new thread so this one doesn't keep getting interrupted but I'll leave one last comment here, similar to what I just sent Peter in a PM...

I did check the images of the other cards, and none of them have bleeding into the border. You will note that none of them have any staining whatsoever. This can hardly be a coincidence. My guess is that someone associated with the factory which printed these cards was able to sneak some out the back door before they were shipped off to CJ to be inserted into boxes (something similar to what occurred with the Black Swamp find). In other words, the cards are uncirculated.

Obviously I am biased because I own one of the cards, but I don't think we should automatically assume something nefarious is going on (ie. the cards are counterfeit). It would be incredibly difficult to fake 1914 CJs, especially with the paper they used. It also seems that IF someone was trying to hide something shady, they wouldn't submit all the Cobbs at once, which would surely raise eyebrows at SGC and put the cards under more scrutiny.

Regardless, it's an interesting card!

We now resume to your regularly scheduled thread about interesting cards....

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by CW

Very cool, thanks -- also interesting to see that green dot you mentioned on the WaJos. We should've probably started a new thread so this one doesn't keep getting interrupted but I'll leave one last comment here, similar to what I just sent Peter in a PM...

I did check the images of the other cards, and none of them have bleeding into the border. You will note that none of them have any staining whatsoever. This can hardly be a coincidence. My guess is that someone associated with the factory which printed these cards was able to sneak some out the back door before they were shipped off to CJ to be inserted into boxes (something similar to what occurred with the Black Swamp find). In other words, the cards are uncirculated.

Obviously I am biased because I own one of the cards, but I don't think we should automatically assume something nefarious is going on (ie. the cards are counterfeit). It would be incredibly difficult to fake 1914 CJs, especially with the paper they used. It also seems that IF someone was trying to hide something shady, they wouldn't submit all the Cobbs at once, which would surely raise eyebrows at SGC and put the cards under more scrutiny.

Regardless, it's an interesting card!

We now resume to your regularly scheduled thread about interesting cards....

Chuck, I agree with this. And in your PM when you drew the comparison to 70s uniform print defects, that also rang true. I think the initial surprise is that we're not used to seeing such a thing on prewar cards and, in particular, CJs. And also good point about them being graded together and sold together. I'd love to know what happened with this group, very frustrating that we'll never know with any certainty. Bottom line: Peter still doesn't have a CJ Cobb

[Hal Kaplan]

Originally Posted by CW

Very cool, thanks -- also interesting to see that green dot you mentioned on the WaJos. We should've probably started a new thread so this one doesn't keep getting interrupted but I'll leave one last comment here, similar to what I just sent Peter in a PM...

I did check the images of the other cards, and none of them have bleeding into the border. You will note that none of them have any staining whatsoever. This can hardly be a coincidence. My guess is that someone associated with the factory which printed these cards was able to sneak some out the back door before they were shipped off to CJ to be inserted into boxes (something similar to what occurred with the Black Swamp find). In other words, the cards are uncirculated.

Obviously I am biased because I own one of the cards, but I don't think we should automatically assume something nefarious is going on (ie. the cards are counterfeit). It would be incredibly difficult to fake 1914 CJs, especially with the paper they used. It also seems that IF someone was trying to hide something shady, they wouldn't submit all the Cobbs at once, which would surely raise eyebrows at SGC and put the cards under more scrutiny.

Regardless, it's an interesting card!

We now resume to your regularly scheduled thread about interesting cards....

E145s were also issued as complete sets directly from CJ, according to the back of this advertising poster:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2009/1.html

I also remember an auction of one of these sets a few years ago, almost all of the cards were in extremely high grade, many the highest graded examples.

[brianp-beme]

Thanks Dean for posting some of the other Cracker Jack lots...although I don't collect CJ's, I somehow, a few years apart from one another, ended up with both the Comiskey and Bender from lot 541. Neat to know the story behind them.

Brian