Photo of 5 Guys with a Wagner in the 70's

[wonkaticket]

This is one of the best posts on here in quite sometime. Thanks for sharing, I can bet you there are still collections out there in the same binders and sheets.

The hobby had to be so much fun then, finds could be had, deals could be worked and novel idea you had shows and the stuff at the shows was for sale vs. a giant auction preview.

Thanks again!

Cheers,

John

P.S. Fred do you still have your Wagner of not do you know where it ended up?

[whiteymet]

Hi John:

My Wagner went to Halper along with the rest of my collection at the time including my favorite cards of Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts from the Current All Stars.

It was Halper's first Wagner.

I never saw it again until 2012 when it showed up here:

http://www.goodwinandco.com/the-%E2%...-lot19548.aspx

I kinow it was mine by the faint crease in the upper right corner. Anyone know who consigned it to this auction?

Quite an increase in price from 1973 when I bought it for a then second highest price paid of $1100 to 2012 when it sold for 1.2M!!

Fred

[wonkaticket]

Fred, that's such a great story. Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts too boot huh? So you liked easy stuff to collect.

Again just amazing.

Cheers,

John

[scottglevy]

Very cool post!!

I remember seeing my first Wagner at the rare book room of the New York Public Library. My dad Hank worked (actually still works) for the press so he got us special credentials to view the collection, which was donated by Burdick. The collection was stunning ... so many early period cards pasted into a book including OJs, Mayos, T206s and other series.

I was also surprised by the lack of security. It was basically here's the book would you like to sit in a closed room unattended for an unlimited period of time to view it?

Sadly several of the cards, I believe including the Wagner, disappeared from the original collection - although I'm told that the bulk of it is still intact.

Best,
Scott

[Gmrson]

Great picture! When I saw the post title and then that the pic was from Detroit I was hoping to see collector Jim Hamon in there. I used to marvel at the picture of his Wagner card he had up in his Detroit area store.

[Iron Horse]

Thank you for sharing. I'll agree with John it has been a while that we have had an interesting post. Those were the good old days when collecting was still for the most part collecting
You had a very nice Wagner back then.
Thank you for sharing it with us, great post.

[Fred]

"Kneeling Mike Aronstein and yours truly. No comments about the hair please!! :>)"

Hey, no comments about the hair but look at those pants!!! Just kidding, thanks for sharing this.

[ullmandds]

1 wedding ring visible...hence reinforcing the vintage card collector demographic...and the early 70's were well before the processed food epidemic causing rampant obesity!

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by Fred

"Kneeling Mike Aronstein and yours truly. No comments about the hair please!! :>)"

Hey, no comments about the hair but look at those pants!!! Just kidding, thanks for sharing this.

Hey FredL

Those pants were "HAPPENING"!!

Picked up lots of chicks wearing them. NOT!

Fred

[jcmtiger]

Originally Posted by Gmrson

Great picture! When I saw the post title and then that the pic was from Detroit I was hoping to see collector Jim Hamon in there. I used to marvel at the picture of his Wagner card he had up in his Detroit area store.

Jim Hamon had/has a great collection, have not talked to him years. A great guy.


Bought many Detroit cards from Mastro and Nagy at those early shows.


Joe.

[sportsnbikes]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Hi John:

My Wagner went to Halper along with the rest of my collection at the time including my favorite cards of Konstanty, Stanky and Roberts from the Current All Stars.

It was Halper's first Wagner.

I never saw it again until 2012 when it showed up here:

http://www.goodwinandco.com/the-%E2%...-lot19548.aspx

I kinow it was mine by the faint crease in the upper right corner. Anyone know who consigned it to this auction?

Quite an increase in price from 1973 when I bought it for a then second highest price paid of $1100 to 2012 when it sold for 1.2M!!

Fred

Do you ever wish you would've held onto it and then sold it now? Not sure what you sold it for originally but dang...1.2 million off of an $1100 investment. That would've been a helluva payout.

[baztacula]

How many kids in the '70s even cared about tobacco cards? All I cared about was finding Tigers players in my Topps packs. If I had somehow stumbled upon a Wagner, I would have traded it straight up for a 1979 Aurelio Rodriguez without batting an eye.

[Griffins]

Originally Posted by baztacula

How many kids in the '70s even cared about tobacco cards? All I cared about was finding Tigers players in my Topps packs. If I had somehow stumbled upon a Wagner, I would have traded it straight up for a 1979 Aurelio Rodriguez without batting an eye.

In about '73, when we were in 7th grade, some friends and I placed ads in The Trader Speaks and a new magazine called Sports Collectors Digest, offering something like 50 '71 Topps for a T206, or 75 '70 Topps for a T205, etc.
We thought we might get one or two, but the first week we got blitzed with T205's and T206's. We had to go thru the neighborhood and put signs up at school offering to buy collections just to fill the demand. All worked out fine, and we each ended up with about 150 T206's each and about 50-60 T205's. But it was a bit stressful the first few weeks filling the orders.

[rc4157]

I love your story Anthony, that's entrepreneurship at its best! I can picture you and your friends scrambling to meet the demand, that's great.

RC

[whiteymet]

Originally Posted by sportsnbikes

Do you ever wish you would've held onto it and then sold it now? Not sure what you sold it for originally but dang...1.2 million off of an $1100 investment. That would've been a helluva payout.

Hi Jeff:

At the time I sold my collection to Halper he was just coming into the hobby and was paying three times what anyone else was paying. The fact that at the time I was living about 20 minutes from him enabled him to visit and make it easy to move the collection.

Also I was soon to be married and wanted to start a business down the line. All of the above helped in my decision to sell.

Sure I have thought about it over the years. However the way I look at it is, if I held onto the Wagner I would have been baseball card "rich" and cash "poor".

I took the $$ I got from the collection and eventually turned it into a business that supported my family and me through the years, allowed me to own my own home mortgage free, put two kids through college loan free and have a net worth now north of what the Wagner sold for.

I would have not been able to start the business without the money I got for the collection. So, in the long run I think I came out OK.

BUT it sure would be nice to have my collection back, and as mentioned Wagner was not even my favorite card, nor were the tobacco cards. I know that is heresy here on Net 54!! I was REALLY into Topps stuff, test sets etc., odd ball issues and regionals.

Fred

[conor912]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

baseball card "rich" and cash "poor"

Boy, does THAT hit close to home.

[Cardboard Junkie]

Sell when you can, not when you have to.

[japhi]

What a great thread

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by whiteymet

Hi Jeff:

At the time I sold my collection to Halper he was just coming into the hobby and was paying three times what anyone else was paying. The fact that at the time I was living about 20 minutes from him enabled him to visit and make it easy to move the collection.

Also I was soon to be married and wanted to start a business down the line. All of the above helped in my decision to sell.

Sure I have thought about it over the years. However the way I look at it is, if I held onto the Wagner I would have been baseball card "rich" and cash "poor".

I took the $$ I got from the collection and eventually turned it into a business that supported my family and me through the years, allowed me to own my own home mortgage free, put two kids through college loan free and have a net worth now north of what the Wagner sold for.

I would have not been able to start the business without the money I got for the collection. So, in the long run I think I came out OK.

BUT it sure would be nice to have my collection back, and as mentioned Wagner was not even my favorite card, nor were the tobacco cards. I know that is heresy here on Net 54!! I was REALLY into Topps stuff, test sets etc., odd ball issues and regionals.

Fred

FRED M. : I KNOW YOU HAVE NO NEED FOR ANYONE TO EXPRESS THIS TO YOU, BUT AFTER READING YOUR VERY MOVING REFLECTION OF YOUR PAST, I AM REMINDED OF THE WORDS AND SPIRIT OF THE KNIGHT FROM "INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE"-----------"YOU HAVE CHOSEN.....WISELY."

SALUTE. ---Brian Powell

[sportzjunky]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

This is one of the best posts on here in quite sometime. Thanks for sharing, I can bet you there are still collections out there in the same binders and sheets.

The hobby had to be so much fun then, finds could be had, deals could be worked and novel idea you had shows and the stuff at the shows was for sale vs. a giant auction preview.

Thanks again!

Cheers,

John

P.S. Fred do you still have your Wagner of not do you know where it ended up?

First, OP, thanks for sharing that is an awesome story of the times.

Wonkaticket - I am here to tell you no truer words have ever been spoken. There is still a lot of cards out there to be found. And rare ones...

[pawpawdiv9]

Whew.. when i clicked on this..i imagined 5 guys hanging in their underwear smoking fat cigars. Awesome piece of americana.