Hobby history: Early card auctions, 1944-1945

[Leon]

Hey Enuff- You might want to gander at this thread if you enjoy Edgar Wharton-Tigar stuff...

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthr...=wharton+tigar

And David, your postings are very much appreciated even though they might not always be acknowledged enough....take care

Originally Posted by enuffsenuff

Reading through your historical item I was hoping to see a reference to EC Wharton Tigar to which end I wasn't disappointed. He is mentioned as visiting some Collectors in the East in the early sixties. Edgar was the most prominent card collector in the UK and became the President of the U.K. Cartophilic Society writing several books on the hobby. He had close connections with many US collectors and bought up several important collections in your country. His vast collection now resides in a museum in London but not on show.
He was a well travelled senior executive of an mining company and when on foreign business trips he would always try to tie in some card dealing. Here is an extraction from his autobiography Burning Bright,
"As I have previously mentioned,my visits to the US brought me into contact with Charles R Bray and Jefferson R Burdick, whose monumental collection of American cards was accepted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where it had a special place in the Print Room. Like CH Matthews, Charlie Bray told me he wished to sell his collection before his death to save his widow and handicapped daughter the complications of estate duty. Thus, the Bray collection of American issues, second only to that in the Metropolitan Museum, and in many respects it equal,found its way to London in my suitcases over a period of several months during regular business trips to New York."

I can recommend Edgar's autobiography which is an interesting read. I have a signed copy dedicated to another legend of British card collecting who has since passed but I willing be holding onto it for now.