Huggins & Scott: Goudey Signed Cards

[Jasonxmay]

Earl Clark is tough for many reasons. The first, and most obvious, is that he died in 1938. However, a secondary reason is that he played a total of 30 games between 1933 and 1934 and then retired. Most of the Goudeys that you see bearing vintage signatures were likely signed at ballparks on game days, meaning there were only 30 opportunities for Earl Clark to sign this card. Additionally, he was by no means a star, so the likelihood that anyone took the time to track him down and send him a Goudey to sign through the mail is very unlikely.

I agree that the auction house did a good job of hyping this card up. I was tempted to buy it, but I showed restraint and I'm glad that I did. If another Clark does pop up I wouldn't expect it to sell for over $5,000. In fact, if the buyer decides to flip the one that just sold it very well may not clear $5,000. Last night's auction clearly got the attention of a few people who are probably new to the set and overreacted by the self-proclaimed "holy grail."

Jason

[Republicaninmass]

Ah one of those guys up for a cup of coffee and then disappearing into obscurity. A FEW of the descriptions seemed a bit overboard.

[T206Collector]

I was also less than thrilled about Huggins' decision to only pay for an "Auction House LOA" for a lot of the lesser known/value guys. Those are worth the paper they're printed on, IMHO....

[itjclarke]

My early bid help up and I ended up winning the Gehringer, an upgrade from a lower grade one. May have overpaid a bit, but love the card itself so much that a cleaner copy makes a big difference to me.

[Topnotchsy]

I won the Bill Dickey and the lot of 11 trimmed/cut cards that sold. I am new to the set and thought it was a nice way to jump in and get my feet wet. I was hoping to grab a Lefty O'Doul (think he's insanely underrated for his play and historical contributions to baseball related to the Japan tours etc.) but didn't love how they looked and they went for more than twice what the Dickey sold for.

Was there a reason someone might have wanted to cut the bottom of the cards in this fashion? Was it to fit an album?

[Snapolit1]

All beautiful cards. Among the best of the best.

[btcarfagno]

I was in on the lot of 11. May have been underbidder. I think you got a good deal on them, and they are definitely a good way to start collecting the signed set. You can always upgrade later, and sell these to help fund it.

Tom C

[pawpawdiv9]

Did you guys miss the CleanSweep auction? They had a few this week that ended.
Schuble
Sorrell
Marberry
Bridges
Welch
Schumacher

[swarmee]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Was there a reason someone might have wanted to cut the bottom of the cards in this fashion? Was it to fit an album?

It was commonplace on some tobacco cards to cut the brand off the bottom, I'm guessing so parents could give them to children without them wanting to advertise smoking. Could have been similar reasons, but there probably wasn't much outrage against bubble gum companies.

Other possibility, if the cuts are modern: these were part of a collection in a flooded or rat-infested house, and rather than toss them in the trash, the ruined pieces were cut to remove signs of damage.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

I won the Bill Dickey and the lot of 11 trimmed/cut cards that sold. I am new to the set and thought it was a nice way to jump in and get my feet wet. I was hoping to grab a Lefty O'Doul (think he's insanely underrated for his play and historical contributions to baseball related to the Japan tours etc.) but didn't love how they looked and they went for more than twice what the Dickey sold for.

Was there a reason someone might have wanted to cut the bottom of the cards in this fashion? Was it to fit an album?

Over the years I have seen countless 1933 Goudey cards with their bottom red panel cut off. I believe in many cases it was the original (or sometimes perhaps subsequent) owner that was trying to make it match the latter series cards that did not have this panel. And once they did this the thoroughly OCD amungst them would trim off an equivalent amount on the cards that were issued without the red panel advertising, such as the Schumaker, Sewell and Alexander in the autograph lot shown, so that all the cards would be the same size

Brian

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

My early bid help up and I ended up winning the Gehringer, an upgrade from a lower grade one. May have overpaid a bit, but love the card itself so much that a cleaner copy makes a big difference to me.

Outstanding. My avatar and moniker might indicate I'm a bit jealous.

[jerseygary]

I was close to pulling the trigger on the Russ Van Atta, but decided to hold off for something a little nicer.