Latest Pickups

[G1911]

And the PSA's, which I had to promise not to crack out . A full short 23 card set, with multiples of most of the cards. Looking at a couple of the cards, I sometimes wonder if PSA has ever rejected a card from this set for minimum size. Joe Gans striking his karate pose is still my favorite of the pictures. A couple of these are even upgrades to my main set which I count as a bonus win, which is now almost entirely in what the graders would call EX-MT/NM condition and I call EX/EX+. Don't think I'm going to be able to upgrade my VG Donovan anytime soon though.

[G1911]

And picked up an N310. I thought $66 for a VG-EX was a good price. I already had a name on bottom, but my copy was trimmed (most Mayo's trimmed long ago without intent to deceive have the cigarette ad lopped off, but this one was oddly trimmed for some other reason).

As a master set collector, this issue is a pain in the rear because of the immense difficulty in defining what a set even is. All the name at top cards have the same sepia art tone, but the name at bottom cards vary. The new SGC copy is very dark, with the trimmed copy a bit lighter, within the norms of tone and inking variance that occurs naturally in production. The uncut example is a very different look, without the reddish toning. There are also true black-and-white name at bottom cards that are extremely rare. I'm trying to build a full set of name at top and name at bottom cards, while picking up any of the black and whites I see, but if there are 3 or 4 or 5 genuine variations of each card is difficult to define.

Anyways, Slavin always has a great pose and mustache

[G1911]

And a pair of Old Judges. I thought the lot got cut to a fair price, $695, but if I misjudged that I'm still happy. Receipt was delayed by the eBay authenticity program, which sent an incredibly vague note that the cards could not be authenticated without stating its because there are 2 cards instead of 1. Thanks eBay, really helpful.

Sullivan laid claim to the Heavyweight title when he defeated Paddy Ryan here in 1882. Today Ryan is considered a national champion and Sullivan the progenitor of the world title lineage. These two cards are 1888 I think, from the wavy banner release of actresses, 17 boxers and at least one oarsman in Old Judge and Gypsy Queen. Ryan doesn't have many cards, he is in the Red Cross N266 series (paired with Joe McAuliffe) and has an N332 S.F. Hess but that's about it. This is my first solo card of Ryan, so even though he is the cheap extra of the lot I kind of like it better, as I have a ton of different Sullivan cards (with many more to go). Ryan was a fine heavyweight, but even among the boxing history crowd pretty much everyone before Sullivan is merely a footnote. His wrestling centric style wouldn't have aged into the Queensberry era very well, after his loss to Sullivan Ryan remained active for several more years and then fought many exhibitions, including with Sullivan. Like many of those Sullivan beat, Ryan went from enemy to beloved friend with the great champion. Sullivan seems to be one of those people everyone either loved or hated, often both at different times.

[John1941]

Very cool!