M101-2 Supplements in Memory Lane

[BobC]

Originally Posted by VintageBen

What do you think that does to the PC805 and PC796 which have same images as M101-2?

Hard to say, no real precedent to point to in this case. Both supplements and PCs are treated differently than regular "cards" and not as mainstream. Still, with prices like those M101-2s got in the ML auction, you know it will get someone's attention and raise some interest in the PCs. What would really help the PCs though is if PSA would also grade them. Am not really familiar with either PC issue, are they graded by anyone now?

[mouschi]

I'm the guy Dan is talking about...I picked up the Cobb/Wagner, shoeless Joe, and wajo/street. I was also the underbidder for the 96/100 run last year. Man was i bummed...I was majorly excited when the singles popped and was able to get my 3 favorites!

This may sound odd to some, but once more people see these, I don't think there's going to be enough supply of them regardless if a slew of them are graded.

When I showed these to people, they had the same reaction as I did: they are jaw droppingly gorgeous. Many have expressed "I've got to get me some of these!" After having seen them for the first time. Before June of 2020, I didn't even know these existed. They are true hidden gems, and I think the psa slabs add "legitimacy" to them for many of that makes sense.

[drumback]

The ones with ads on the back are pretty cool too, although almost impossible to find.

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by drumback

The ones with ads on the back are pretty cool too, although almost impossible to find.

That's awesome! I never knew these even existed.

[drumback]

Sold my set in an REA auction in 2018, but I kept these three with ad backs, because they are so hard to find. Been collecting this set for many years and have seen fewer than ten ad backs.

[drcy]

They were undervalued before, but the Memory Lane prices are insane.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by drumback

The ones with ads on the back are pretty cool too, although almost impossible to find.

Those are fantastic. Never came across one for sale, at least not yet. LOL

Great move in keeping those at least.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I'm the guy Dan is talking about...I picked up the Cobb/Wagner, shoeless Joe, and wajo/street. I was also the underbidder for the 96/100 run last year. Man was i bummed...I was majorly excited when the singles popped and was able to get my 3 favorites!

This may sound odd to some, but once more people see these, I don't think there's going to be enough supply of them regardless if a slew of them are graded.

When I showed these to people, they had the same reaction as I did: they are jaw droppingly gorgeous. Many have expressed "I've got to get me some of these!" After having seen them for the first time. Before June of 2020, I didn't even know these existed. They are true hidden gems, and I think the psa slabs add "legitimacy" to them for many of that makes sense.

Mouschi,

That is great, I am so glad you are happy with them. Can't believe you've never seen these until recently though. They've been around and aren't hiding. I remember at one of the old Cleveland Nationals talking with a guy who had about 30-40 raw ones for sale, in decent shape, who had told me he actually found them in someone's garbage and picked them out. I think they're beautiful, and a great set to work on. Check out the way Dan has his displayed in binders, which is the same way I keep mine.

And one of the nice things about this set was that you could always find them at reasonable prices....at least you used to. LOL The first ten issued in 1909 are especially nice, and loaded with some all-time great HOFers. They've all got that white border at the top of the supplement that says it a supplement from the Sporting News, St. Louis, and gives the issue date the supplement was included with. Be sure to check out the Ed Walsh pose on the 9/9/1909 supplement, it is fantastic. And they've got some great team photos that are double pages as well, including the Pirates with Wagner, and the Tigers with Cobb. They are huge and the images are really clear. The Tigers one is especially nice as the entire team is in suits and ties, and Cobb has a great bow tie for himself. You get a really good, clear, detailed look at some of these players that you won't find on their cards, and also great shots of the uniforms styles and equipment. Some of the pictures do look a little odd, and seem almost like a drawing as opposed to an actual photo. Not sure, but they may have done something like for a few of these. Check out the Vean Gregg and Richard Marquard supplements from 11/2/1911 and 11/9/1911 and you'll see what I mean. There's also some super single page team photos as well, one of the Red Sox from 10/10/1912 and then the NY Giants from 10/17/1912 . Another really fantastic image is of Clark Griffith standing on the dugout steps, looking out at the field from the 11/21/1912 issue, it is a fantastic shot and study of him. And possibly the weirdest image in the whole set is of Frank "Ping" Bodie from the 1/11/1912 issue. The way his right arm is in the photo just makes it look strange, and their appears to almost be something like a white border around some parts of his body, especially where the dark uniform is. Kind of makes it look like someone took a different photo of him and then cut it out, leaving a slight border around it in some places, and then attached it to a different background. If you find one you'll quickly see what I mean. The set also contains some portraits of various baseball owners/execs you don't normally see anywhere else, and even has one supplement from the 3/31/1910 issue with four major league umpires in their suits on it. Two from the AL and two from the NL, which includes two HOFers, Bill Klem and Billy Evans. So for someone looking for a contemporary issue of a HOFer during their active career days, you get a two-for-one with this supplement. And for whatever reason, the hardest supplement for me to ever find was of Ray Schalk, another HOFer by the way. No idea why, just never seemed to come across one.

That near set were you were bidding on last year that went for around $12K, depending on the condition and assuming it included all the major stars, that sounds about right to me for what that should have gone for. But now seeing a Jackson by itself going for that much only a year later just blows my mind. This recent ML auction included arguably the 4 most valuable supplements in the set, Cobb, Cobb/Wagner, Jackson, and Wagner, with the Jackson being the outright most valuable. If these do start taking off pricewise now, I'll be very curious to see if these price increases trickle down to the other HOFers in the set, and then to the common players. And another interesting fact/question, is there another set out there that has the likes of Cobb, Wagner, Jackson, Matty, WaJo, Speaker, Joss, and Cy Young in it, all during their playing days? The 1914 Cracker Jacks come close, but they're still missing Joss and Young. The 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1 set is even a little closer, but they're still missing WaJo. It is a heck of a set. And for a lot of the HOFers in it, these are some of their earliest images included in an issued set, aside from just a postcard or single photo.

Great pickups. Are you going to try for the rest of the set now? If so, good luck.

[skelly423]

Originally Posted by BobC

Mouschi,

And another interesting fact/question, is there another set out there that has the likes of Cobb, Wagner, Jackson, Matty, WaJo, Speaker, Joss, and Cy Young in it, all during their playing days?

Ignoring the T206 which has Wagner, but isn't attainable to mere mortals, the only one I can think of is the M116.

[skelly423]

Mouschi, that article you wrote was the first time I had ever heard of the M101-2 set. I was fortunate a short time later to come across the Cobb-Wagner, which now holds a permanent place in my collection. I could never afford one now. I just wish I would have jumped on the Jackson at the same time

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Mouschi, that article you wrote was the first time I had ever heard of the M101-2 set. I was fortunate a short time later to come across the Cobb-Wagner, which now holds a permanent place in my collection. I could never afford one now. I just wish I would have jumped on the Jackson at the same time

It's funny because no matter how many times I see that same dang picture, it always gives me chills - even though I'm sitting next to it 2 feet away from me at all times. Great pickup!!!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Mouschi, that article you wrote was the first time I had ever heard of the M101-2 set. I was fortunate a short time later to come across the Cobb-Wagner, which now holds a permanent place in my collection. I could never afford one now. I just wish I would have jumped on the Jackson at the same time

Skelly,

What happened to change your mind? Saw you put your Cobb/Wagner supplement up for sale on the BST.

[skelly423]

Sometimes life gets in the way. I found myself needing a new car, and it didn't make sense to take out a loan when I could sell a few cards and pay cash. It led to a few hard choices, and this was certainly one of them.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by skelly423

Ignoring the T206 which has Wagner, but isn't attainable to mere mortals, the only one I can think of is the M116.

The T206 set doesn't have Jackson in it though, and neither does the M116 set. That is what makes it tough, finding one set with all of them in it.

[GeoPoto]

Originally Posted by BobC

Another really fantastic image is of Clark Griffith standing on the dugout steps, looking out at the field from the 11/21/1912 issue, it is a fantastic shot and study of him.

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1626358636

[BobC]

Originally Posted by GeoPoto

https://www.net54baseball.com/attach...1&d=1626358636

That's it! Is that a great photo or what?

[A2000]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I'm the guy Dan is talking about...I picked up the Cobb/Wagner, shoeless Joe, and wajo/street. I was also the underbidder for the 96/100 run last year. Man was i bummed...I was majorly excited when the singles popped and was able to get my 3 favorites!

This may sound odd to some, but once more people see these, I don't think there's going to be enough supply of them regardless if a slew of them are graded.

When I showed these to people, they had the same reaction as I did: they are jaw droppingly gorgeous. Many have expressed "I've got to get me some of these!" After having seen them for the first time. Before June of 2020, I didn't even know these existed. They are true hidden gems, and I think the psa slabs add "legitimacy" to them for many of that makes sense.

Very nice pickups, there can't be too many of these that survived the last 100 years.

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by BobC

Mouschi,

That is great, I am so glad you are happy with them. Can't believe you've never seen these until recently though. They've been around and aren't hiding. I remember at one of the old Cleveland Nationals talking with a guy who had about 30-40 raw ones for sale, in decent shape, who had told me he actually found them in someone's garbage and picked them out. I think they're beautiful, and a great set to work on. Check out the way Dan has his displayed in binders, which is the same way I keep mine.

And one of the nice things about this set was that you could always find them at reasonable prices....at least you used to. LOL The first ten issued in 1909 are especially nice, and loaded with some all-time great HOFers. They've all got that white border at the top of the supplement that says it a supplement from the Sporting News, St. Louis, and gives the issue date the supplement was included with. Be sure to check out the Ed Walsh pose on the 9/9/1909 supplement, it is fantastic. And they've got some great team photos that are double pages as well, including the Pirates with Wagner, and the Tigers with Cobb. They are huge and the images are really clear. The Tigers one is especially nice as the entire team is in suits and ties, and Cobb has a great bow tie for himself. You get a really good, clear, detailed look at some of these players that you won't find on their cards, and also great shots of the uniforms styles and equipment. Some of the pictures do look a little odd, and seem almost like a drawing as opposed to an actual photo. Not sure, but they may have done something like for a few of these. Check out the Vean Gregg and Richard Marquard supplements from 11/2/1911 and 11/9/1911 and you'll see what I mean. There's also some super single page team photos as well, one of the Red Sox from 10/10/1912 and then the NY Giants from 10/17/1912 . Another really fantastic image is of Clark Griffith standing on the dugout steps, looking out at the field from the 11/21/1912 issue, it is a fantastic shot and study of him. And possibly the weirdest image in the whole set is of Frank "Ping" Bodie from the 1/11/1912 issue. The way his right arm is in the photo just makes it look strange, and their appears to almost be something like a white border around some parts of his body, especially where the dark uniform is. Kind of makes it look like someone took a different photo of him and then cut it out, leaving a slight border around it in some places, and then attached it to a different background. If you find one you'll quickly see what I mean. The set also contains some portraits of various baseball owners/execs you don't normally see anywhere else, and even has one supplement from the 3/31/1910 issue with four major league umpires in their suits on it. Two from the AL and two from the NL, which includes two HOFers, Bill Klem and Billy Evans. So for someone looking for a contemporary issue of a HOFer during their active career days, you get a two-for-one with this supplement. And for whatever reason, the hardest supplement for me to ever find was of Ray Schalk, another HOFer by the way. No idea why, just never seemed to come across one.

That near set were you were bidding on last year that went for around $12K, depending on the condition and assuming it included all the major stars, that sounds about right to me for what that should have gone for. But now seeing a Jackson by itself going for that much only a year later just blows my mind. This recent ML auction included arguably the 4 most valuable supplements in the set, Cobb, Cobb/Wagner, Jackson, and Wagner, with the Jackson being the outright most valuable. If these do start taking off pricewise now, I'll be very curious to see if these price increases trickle down to the other HOFers in the set, and then to the common players. And another interesting fact/question, is there another set out there that has the likes of Cobb, Wagner, Jackson, Matty, WaJo, Speaker, Joss, and Cy Young in it, all during their playing days? The 1914 Cracker Jacks come close, but they're still missing Joss and Young. The 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1 set is even a little closer, but they're still missing WaJo. It is a heck of a set. And for a lot of the HOFers in it, these are some of their earliest images included in an issued set, aside from just a postcard or single photo.

Great pickups. Are you going to try for the rest of the set now? If so, good luck.

I think the fact that I hadn't seen them prior to 2020 is a testament to how vast our hobby is. Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about pre-war, primarily about issues that I knew nothing about previously. When you pigeonhole yourself into only new stuff for years (and a single player for me) nothing else really matters. Learning about these and others was like being a kid in a candy shop! It was almost as if someone said "hey, kid ... you think the new stuff is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet ... check these out ... NO ONE is talking about them!"

There are so many beautiful issues in this set. Here are some of my favorites aside from the Cobb/Wagner & Shoeless Joe.



I did a comparison in my article here about the beauty of the Shoeless Joe Jackson in comparison to his other main releases here:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2020/0...-beauties.html



Don't get me wrong, I love ALL of those, but it is just funny how different they are from this:



I'm picky about this set, so I don't *think* I'll ever go after the entire run, but the vast majority of the pieces I love are the ones that have the faded background. I could look at them for hours. In terms of beauty from a sepia issue, I think the M101-2s are unbeatable!

Originally Posted by A2000

Very nice pickups, there can't be too many of these that survived the last 100 years.

Thank you!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I think the fact that I hadn't seen them prior to 2020 is a testament to how vast our hobby is. Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about pre-war, primarily about issues that I knew nothing about previously. When you pigeonhole yourself into only new stuff for years (and a single player for me) nothing else really matters. Learning about these and others was like being a kid in a candy shop! It was almost as if someone said "hey, kid ... you think the new stuff is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet ... check these out ... NO ONE is talking about them!"

There are so many beautiful issues in this set. Here are some of my favorites aside from the Cobb/Wagner & Shoeless Joe.



I did a comparison in my article here about the beauty of the Shoeless Joe Jackson in comparison to his other main releases here:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2020/0...-beauties.html



Don't get me wrong, I love ALL of those, but it is just funny how different they are from this:



I'm picky about this set, so I don't *think* I'll ever go after the entire run, but the vast majority of the pieces I love are the ones that have the faded background. I could look at them for hours. In terms of beauty from a sepia issue, I think the M101-2s are unbeatable!



Thank you!

Maybe not the set, but you might want to look for some of the other supplements. Check out the Clark Griffith one that GeoPoto has showing in post #35. Is that the faded background your were referring to? The scan doesn't do that image of Griffith justice.

Also, in regards to the Jackson supplement, I'm not sure you'll find a better image of him on any issue from his playing days. A lot of the cards are drawings and not pictures, and some of them are downright hideous. I still cringe whenever i see those cards that look like the players are wearing lipstick. Ugh!

[T206Collector]

Beckett does a nice job grading these. I don't like their holders for T206 cards, but I do like them for M101-2s.

But, I only collect them with signatures!

[the-illini]

Those signed supplements look great - I am surprised that they could even be signed without damaging them, given their fragility

[VintageBen]

Originally Posted by BobC

Hard to say, no real precedent to point to in this case. Both supplements and PCs are treated differently than regular "cards" and not as mainstream. Still, with prices like those M101-2s got in the ML auction, you know it will get someone's attention and raise some interest in the PCs. What would really help the PCs though is if PSA would also grade them. Am not really familiar with either PC issue, are the graded by anyone now?

the PC's are graded by PSA and SGC from my experience collecting them

[T_Hamilton]

Was on vacation and come back to this thread... Certainly helps re-entry as I own one of the three graded PSA 1 Joe Jacksons and my copy is a helluva lot nicer than the one that sold in Memory Lane (no crease or tape stains on the back).

[Leon]

My only M101-2 example in poor condition. Paid $82 delivered from ebay, 3.5 yrs aqo...

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Leon

My only M101-2 example in poor condition. Paid $82 delivered from ebay, 3.5 yrs aqo...

Nice Leon, that is one of the super tough ad-backed M101-2 supplements, and a great image of HOFer Clark Griffith, as was mentioned before. And for what you paid for it I think you got a great deal. Let me know if you want to double your money!

And for the record, your Griffith supplement is a true and correct "1" grade IMHO, and should be regardless of who the TPG is.

[perezfan]

I'd love to find just one example in nice condition as a "type" to have for this great set.

If anyone has a duplicate or spare Joe Tinker (perhaps my favorite pose), please shoot me a PM.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by T_Hamilton

Was on vacation and come back to this thread... Certainly helps re-entry as I own one of the three graded PSA 1 Joe Jacksons and my copy is a helluva lot nicer than the one that sold in Memory Lane (no crease or tape stains on the back).

Something doesn't make any sense at all then, how does that only get a 1 grade? Is there something wrong with your Jackson supplement that we can't see in the scan, like maybe a tear(s) in the paper? It boggles my mind that even though PSA has only graded a little over 100 of these M101-2 supplements so far that almost every single one of them has graded no better than a 1.0 or 1.5. Don't people submitting items for grades usually send in their bettter ones, looking for the highest grades possible? I can understand if some people want to maybe send in a not so great example of an item at first as sort of a test to see how the TPG handles and grades it and/or make sure they approve of the way it is encapsulated and the holder itself, but virtually everyone submitting these first M101-2s being graded by PSA? There are plenty of BVG graded M101-2 supplements out there that look to be fairly graded and are in much higher grades than anything graded by PSA to date. Yet from some of the scans of these PSA graded supplements I've seen so far, they look comparable to, and in some instances maybe even better than, higher graded BVG M101-2s. I have not been able to compare a BVG and PSA graded M101-2 side by side, let alone even see a PSA graded supplement in person, yet. Perhaps being ale to will answer a lot of this. Hey T_Hamilton, did you try asking PSA why your M101-2 Jackson only got the grade it did if it really is as nice as you say, and if you did, what did they say? I've always heard that they won't really tell you, which makes no sense to me since you're paying them good money to do a service for you.

Maybe the best way to finally get a real idea of what may be going on would be to have someone send in a much higher graded M101-2, still in its BVG holder, and ask PSA to do a crossover. Would love to see how that would end up. And if those M101-2 prices from the recent Memory Lane auction look to be holding true in the future, I can see someone looking to attempt such a crossover much sooner as opposed to later.

And as far as wondering if the effects of those recent M101-2 prices from Memory Lane's auction may have an impact on the pricing of these supplements going forward, I noticed on Ebay someone already has a BVG 7.5 graded M101-2 of the Cobb supplement up for sale at $75,000. Don't really know if this is directly related to the ML auction, but can certainly understand if it was. And if the Cobb supplement seller doesn't get any interest or takers on Ebay, this could be a perfect candidate to ask about crossing over to a PSA holder. That PSA1 graded Cobb supplement went for over $8K in the ML auction. If someone could get this BVG 7.5 Cobb to crossover to PSA at a comparable grade, what do you think that would be worth in comparison to the PSA1 Cobb then? Or do you think it would just end up destroying the value of that PSA1 Cobb?

[T_Hamilton]

For those wanting to gauge pricing on these... I just listed my M101-2 Joe Jackson PSA 1... not expecting to get $12k like the Memory Lane auction, but will be interesting to see where it ends.

[skelly423]

There happens to be a Cobb-Wagner in the BST section as well

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by skelly423

There happens to be a Cobb-Wagner in the BST section as well

Originally Posted by T_Hamilton

For those wanting to gauge pricing on these... I just listed my M101-2 Joe Jackson PSA 1... not expecting to get $12k like the Memory Lane auction, but will be interesting to see where it ends.

I have both of these on display in my office and look at them every day - your buyers will be extremely pleased!