Jumbo Wags back up for sale...the history of the card.

[Baseball Rarities]

I would love to know the specifics about the Piedmont Wagner that she mentions.

[TCMA]

The missing piece in all of this is... what happened to those other cards? Why didn't my dad buy all of them? Was he out of cash? Were they gone by the time he got there? Anything is possible but I don't believe he would have passed on them completely had they been there. Without a doubt he knew several other collectors at the time who would have been interested in them. I'm sure he would have tried to broker a deal.

I know he wrote down his offer for the Jumbo in his notebook but there's no mention of other cards at all or of other offers. It's a mystery.

[Rookiemonster]

Originally Posted by TCMA

The missing piece in all of this is... what happened to those other cards? Why didn't my dad buy all of them? Was he out of cash? Were they gone by the time he got there? Anything is possible but I don't believe he would have passed on them completely had they been there. Without a doubt he knew several other collectors at the time who would have been interested in them. I'm sure he would have tried to broker a deal.

I know he wrote down his offer for the Jumbo in his notebook but there's no mention of other cards at all or of other offers. It's a mystery.

Maybe he did buy them but had a buyer lined up. So he quickly purchased them and sold them no biggie. Or the lady didn't except his offer. How knows ? I wonder if the mainstream media knows about this yet ?

[GasHouseGang]

We should probably add a pic of the letter offering the Wagner so when it disappears off that website it will still be here.

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

Maybe he did buy them but had a buyer lined up. So he quickly purchased them and sold them no biggie. Or the lady didn't except his offer. How knows ? I wonder if the mainstream media knows about this yet ?

I know for a fact he definitely did not buy any other cards from the woman other than the Jumbo. It could be that she was mistaken about what the other cards were but I'm not convinced of that. She knew enough to know that the Wagner, Plank, Lajoie were the coveted cards.

Just speculating here but based on what she claimed was in her collection I wonder if it's possible her grandfather worked in one of the factories. During the 1909 - 1911 period her father would have been just a kid.

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by TCMA

I know for a fact he definitely did not buy any other cards from the woman other than the Jumbo. It could be that she was mistaken about what the other cards were but I'm not convinced of that. She knew enough to know that the Wagner, Plank, Lajoie were the coveted cards.

Just speculating here but based on what she claimed was in her collection I wonder if it's possible her grandfather worked in one of the factories. During the 1909 - 1911 period her father would have been just a kid.

Anything is possible, but I would doubt this. The grandfather had no way of predicting what the cards mentioned in the letter would turn out to be - and although we haven't and will not see images of the Plank, and we don't know if she had any other T206s, judging by the Jumbo it doesn't look like scrap. Nor, a few decades later how the Lajoie would turn out. It's possible he was in touch with other private collectors in the late 50s or sixties, or when brief hobby mimeographs began circulating and also the trade pubs were beginning to come out(?). Would be nice to know the family's surname. Did the letter happen to come in an envelope with a return address?

Anyway, it's a great mystery and thanks for sharing the story!

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by Paul S

It's possible he was in touch with other private collectors in the late 50s or sixties, or when brief hobby mimeographs began circulating and also the trade pubs were beginning to come out(?). Would be nice to know the family's surname. Did the letter happen to come in an envelope with a return address?

Anyway, it's a great mystery and thanks for sharing the story!

Very possible the father was in touch with other collectors through the trade pubs. I do have the daughter's surname but not her father's surname. It'd take some research but I bet I'd be able to figure it out. Could then scour the very early pubs to see any mention of his name.

[Touch'EmAll]

The Jumbo Wagner closes in 3 days on Saturday Oct. 1. Right now, Wednesday is at $1.9 million. My random crazy guess is ending at $5.5 to $6. million, be shocked if less then $4. million. My question is the (MC) designation - I have only seen severe off center get the (mc) - like (mc) is even worse than (oc). But this card has no (oc) properties, just extra boarder at bottom. Do you think the (mc) is correct for this card?

[Cooptown]

Originally Posted by TCMA

Very possible the father was in touch with other collectors through the trade pubs. I do have the daughter's surname but not her father's surname. It'd take some research but I bet I'd be able to figure it out. Could then scour the very early pubs to see any mention of his name.

Andrew - the article posted refers to a card shop your Dad owned in Cooperstown. Do you remember the name of the shop, where it was located in the village, and the years it was open? I grew up an hour away from Heaven....errr, I mean Cooperstown and frequented it a lot.

[brob28]

Originally Posted by TCMA

The missing piece in all of this is... what happened to those other cards? Why didn't my dad buy all of them? Was he out of cash? Were they gone by the time he got there? Anything is possible but I don't believe he would have passed on them completely had they been there. Without a doubt he knew several other collectors at the time who would have been interested in them. I'm sure he would have tried to broker a deal.

I know he wrote down his offer for the Jumbo in his notebook but there's no mention of other cards at all or of other offers. It's a mystery.

Yes Andrew, it would be great to know what became of the other cards. Also, the original owner must have been one hell of a collector to have those cards, I would be shocked if some of the big name collectors of that era didn't know this person. Did your Dad ever mention anything about the entire collection?

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by brob28

Yes Andrew, it would be great to know what became of the other cards. Also, the original owner must have been one hell of a collector to have those cards, I would be shocked if some of the big name collectors of that era didn't know this person. Did your Dad ever mention anything about the entire collection?

No, he just doesn't remember if the other cards were there but he doesn't think so.

[JollyElm]

Don't you hate trying to read someone's handwriting on your screen? It always seems to take forever to decipher what the heck the person was saying all of those years ago. So, to make it easier on everybody, here's a transcript (is that the proper word?) of the letter posted above. I think I got it all correctly, but if anyone thinks I misinterpreted anything, LMK.

"July 24 - 1974

Gentlemen -
I have the baseball card collection of my late father, who would have been now in his 80’s. It seems to me, to be quite extensive and include two Sweet Caporal Honus Wagner cards, one Piedmont Honus Wagner - two Plank cards and three of Lajoie.

This collection would be for sale - either separately or as a whole - depending, of course, on the Money involved"