Hobby history: The first card auction -- the Colkitt Collection, 1943

[clydepepper]

...and not a single refractor mentioned.

[Leon]

Thanks a lot for winning (saved me some money) and posting these, David.
They didn't seem to have a good way to end auctions 70 yrs ago!! No wonder some AH's can't figure it out today.

[Rookiemonster]

The birth place of shilling. It was so cute back then. Since this auction no one has known the true price of cards. ��

Thanks for sharing by the way this is really awesome stuff.

I need to know more about the plastic "tubes" that the cards were in. This might also help us answer the question of how did the high end card survive. All of this sounds so much like today's world in card that I can't believe it's the 40s.

[h2oya311]

Excellent, informative post David. Thanks for sharing with the Net54 community!!

[trdcrdkid]

Originally Posted by Rookiemonster

All of this sounds so much like today's world in card that I can't believe it's the 40s.

Burdick was ahead of his time in many ways. His breathless description of the James N. Colkitt Collection wouldn't be too out of place in a modern auction catalog. The reference to "the gems of this great collection", "an opportunity that seldom occurs to get some really rare sets", "these cards become scarcer every year and world wide demand is gradually forcing values upward".

[philliesfan]

Very nice read.
Thanks for posting!
Robert

[HawkFan70]

Thanks for sharing, David. It is really cool to see the history of card collecting!

[Jobu]

As always, thanks for taking the time to post (and summarize) all of that info. Very good.

Perhaps we should have a section in the Archive Center called Hobby History that collects posts like this one?