Shoeless Joe Jackson

[pawpawdiv9]

http://www.oldcardboard.com/eNews/20...43/eNews43.htm
2. Seven "Tin-Tops" Added to Colgan's Player List
(shown at approximate actual size)



The recent discovery of a truly jaw-dropping vintage collection new to the vintage hobby was recently announced by Mastro Auctions. The collection includes over 1500 cards from around 1910 (the middle of the deadball era). The collection is nicknamed "Skydash" by its owner, who prefers to remain anonymous.

The part of the collection that has captured the attention of many vintage collectors are 229 examples of the well-known but relatively obscure Colgan's Chips "Tin-Top" series. Astonishingly, the new discovery includes seven players from the set that previously have not been known to today's vintage collectors. Images for all seven of these cards are shown above. In addition, four variations to cards of previously known players were discovered in the collection.

The 229 Tin-Tops in the collection represent 149 different players. In addition to the seven additions to the set checklist, the collection includes examples of the previously know but exceedingly scarce cards of Joe Jackson and Jim Thorp. Both are hands-down keys to the set, with only a handful of examples known for each of them,



E270-2 Set Keys (Thorpe and Jackson)
Perhaps just as astonishing is the Near Mint plus condition of the obscure cards, some of which have already been graded by SGC, one of the hobby's leading grading services. Scans of the graded Thorpe and Jackson examples are shown at right.

The "Tin-Tops" are one of three related sets produced from 1909 through 1912 by Colgan Gum Company of Louisville, Kentucky. Many of the player poses are common among the three sets, distinguished primarily by the ad messages on the card backs.

The cards from all three sets are round and were distributed inside small metal canisters of chewing gum. All cards measure 1-1/2 inches in diameter--the same size as a silver dollar. They are designated as sets E254 (Stars of the Diamond), E270-1 (Red Borders) and E270-2 (Tin-Tops) in the American Card Catalog and by common hobby usage today. A Set Summary (including a table that compares the three Colgan's sets) is provided on the Old Cardboard website.

Pete Calderon, a vintage card specialist at Mastro Auctions, describes the Skydash Collection of E270 Tintops as the "perfect storm" of rarity, condition and subject matter. "The sheer number of rare E270s in the collection is mind-blowing," says Calderon.

According to Calderon, the four previously uncataloged "variation" cards found in the collection were those of Donnie Bush (small and large image; same pose), Hal Chase (Chicago and New York teams), Jake Daubert (dark and white caps; two different poses) and Honus Wagner (curved and straight vertical lettering).

The initial offering of the E270s will be in Mastro's December 2007 Premier Auction. It will include 145 different SGC-graded cards including all of the previously uncatalogued players, as well as the elusive card of Jim Thorpe. The Thorpe card will be offered individually with a minimum bid of $10,000. The other 144 cards will either be offered individually or in groupings at varying minimum bids, according to a company spokesperson. The Joe Jackson card and the balance of the duplicate E270s will be sold in Mastro's April 2008 Premier auction

PIC of the Joe Jackson:

[BeanTown]

Going to make my 1000 post a special one. Here is Joe Jackson on a RPPC when he played for the Vic Mills team and a type 1 photo of him, with the same team.