How Important Is Provenance To You?

[Al C.risafulli]

For me, it's something that has value, but not in every case.

I own a couple of those Casey Stengel Mayos that Jay showed earlier today - Clarkson, Rusie and Duffy, I believe. When they became available, they were perfect because I have a large collection of Casey Stengel correspondence from the early 1900s through 1975. Owning a few of his baseball cards was a nice addition to the collection.

I also have an Eddie Collins cabinet that was owned by Collins, and a Joe Tinker cabinet that was owned by Barry Halper.

Eventually I'll pick up a Nagy and a Carter, just to have cards that were owned by those guys.

What I REALLY would like, though, more than any other card I could possibly own, would be one - just one - example of one of Lionel Carter's 1938 Goudeys. The idea of owning a card that was pulled out of a pack of my favorite set in 1938, then put away for 70 years, is just mind-boggling to me. Want.

-Al