Latest Pickups

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

My collecting year has been made. I doubt I'll get something as big to me as this pretty much ever. I started my T220 Silver set when I was 12 in Christmas 2003, when my Dad bought me my first 7 boxing cards because they looked cool with the silver borders and he thought I might like them even though they weren't baseball. Probably a mistake, I've been addicted to the T220 Silver's and from there the whole c. 1910 E/T/C card period of boxing ever since. 6,975 days later my favorite set is finally complete, and in spectacular fashion for I completed my first set, my second set, my third set, my fourth set, my fifth set, my sixth set, my seventh set, and my eighth set all at once. It was peak hobby enjoyment to take this box over and open it up with my Dad like we did with my first T220 silvers.

I don’t know how many Corbett’s are out there, I have not tracked them as religiously as I have the 4 Donovans (a lot easier to track, as they have all been discovered during my time in the hobby and in the scan era) but these 8 probably represent around 50-66% of the total population now. PSA has 4 graded, SGC’s registry produces 0 Corbett’s and 0 Donovan’s and just 1-3 of the commons so it is clearly useless still but I don't believe they've ever had one. I've heard of a couple raw ones out there, but rumors aren't photos.

I don't want to out anyone who might want to remain anonymously private but I got a call from the original buyer, who didn't have to do this at all as I have no entitlement to these whatsoever, and structured a deal specifically just to get the Corbett sheet into my silver-loving collection. Even after we discussed bids and valuations, that it might one day be a Graziano type item in an open and properly listed sale, and his original intent to quietly keep it, he offered it to me because reconstructing this sheet is my passion project at a generous price in one heck of a gesture. Not only did he do this great kindness, he then shipped me the sheet immediately before we had even finished the logistics of payment. I've arranged for certain unique items to end up in certain peoples collections because they really care about them, but this is a value range I don't typically even play in at all. Wow!

I will also insert a plug for the remaining 2 panels that have survived to the present. To whoever owns the Randall/Belasco, I will pay you stupid money for it. Same for the Choyinski if its owner ever gets bored of looking at it. And with the Corbett printing proofs, I still need a final production normal Corbett to go along with them. I’m going to keep building some side sets of 23 (One side set I’m doing is fully beaters, trying to find the worst condition examples of each of the 23 base cards I can) of it as it is my favorite release, but I’m almost wrapped up here with as complete a collection as can be made. I’m not aware of any extant oddities I don’t own, but who knows what is out there (hint hint ). Maybe a Jack Goodman really will crop up one day and give me a new white whale.

That's fantastic Greg. Glad you got that piece in your hands, and kudo's to whoever worked out the deal with you. Great twist to the story.

[Bill77]

Probably belongs on a non-sport site but I'll put my Reginald Denny here.

[wicker56]

Originally Posted by Bill77

Probably belongs on a non-sport site but I'll put my Reginald Denny here.

Bill, I like you taste. Cine cards are normally a bit strange, but I like them.

[wicker56]

This card is sure to be on ever boxing collectors “must have” list. This one is just a standard size card that fits in a 3 X 4 top loader, not the larger cabinet sized card.

[wicker56]

I’m in need of a little help on this recent acquisition. Does anyone know the year and series of this Carnera card. It measures 3 X 1.75.

[Exhibitman]

Chad, there is a 1991-1992 copyright on the Douglas, so I do not think it is a 1990 card.

[wicker56]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Chad, there is a 1991-1992 copyright on the Douglas, so I do not think it is a 1990 card.

Adam, I just assumed it was the same year as the cabinet card. I guess I should have looked a little closer. Lol..

[mikecala98]

More Andre goodness.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by wicker56

Adam, I just assumed it was the same year as the cabinet card. I guess I should have looked a little closer. Lol..

Welcome to the assumption club. I'm not just the president, I'm also a member.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by wicker56

This card is sure to be on ever boxing collectors “must have” list. This one is just a standard size card that fits in a 3 X 4 top loader, not the larger cabinet sized card.

Is this Buster Douglas card actually a tough card? I've got at least a couple stashed away in an album and never thought twice about them before, but there doesn't seem to be much of a history of them on-line. I figured they were mass produced like the Muhammad Ali AW Sega card.....but maybe not so much.

[Exhibitman]

Readily available on ebay uk. The big point of sale card is genuinely tough.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Readily available on ebay uk. The big point of sale card is genuinely tough.

Hmmm, didn't find any there either. In either listed or completed listings. Plenty of the games....even the rare version that seems to go for 1000's of bucks...but none of the cards.

Went back two years in the Terapeak search on Ebay US, and found nothing.

Found one or two beat up versions on a Google search on old picture sites.


Granted Ebay search is trash, and the once fanciful idea that you can find anything and everything on Google is also a myth, but it does seem kind of weird this card seems to have been wiped from existence on the internet.

The Trading Card Database also seems to have missed this card in the Buster Douglas checklist:

https://www.tcdb.com/Person.cfm/pid/...tName=&sBrand=

[Exhibitman]

I didn't even know there was a Buster Douglas checklist...

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I didn't even know there was a Buster Douglas checklist...

Everybody gets a checklist Adam...everybody!

[G1911]

I don't know much about value of these, but this one was on eBay for $65 and I got it. That seemed fair to me. Coburn's brother Joe was a significant fighter, a claimant to the Heavyweight title for a time. There's very little about Mike (any other heavyweight champions have a bantamweight sibling that boxed?) out there though, and I'm not finding much. I can't think of another card Mike appeared on.

[Exhibitman]

Boxing's version of Tommy Aaron...

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Boxing's version of Tommy Aaron...

They even had a third brother, Jim, that was a professional boxer. I don't think he was around for long. Boxrec doesn't seem to know of him.

[D. Bergin]

Cyberboxingzone has a decent fight record shown for Mike Coburn.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

They even had a third brother, Jim, that was a professional boxer. I don't think he was around for long. Boxrec doesn't seem to know of him.

Here's brother Jim Coburn in his later years, seconding forgotten 4th brother Charlie in an underground fight.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Here's brother Jim Coburn in his later years, seconding forgotten 4th brother Charlie in an underground fight.

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

CyberBoxingZone was the most I could find on him from a web search. Much of the site is broken and it appears it hasn't been updated in many years. I hope it doesn't go offline, it's a great general resource for the old days. I like cards of new guys I don't have one of, as it's an excuse to go research the less big names of the period.

[wicker56]

Speaking of lesser known boxers. I recently acquired this Jack Taylor card, which I’m assuming is an Italian issued card. I found I have two other Jack Taylor cards a Comet and a Ammatller, both of which are chocolate cards. I looked online and Boxrec had a bit of info and Taylor actually beat Max Schmeling early in his career. I’m confused by the info on the card due to what I found online stated Taylor was from Nebraska. Was Taylor originally from Cuba or was he actually a champion in Cuba.

[wicker56]

Ok. I may have answered my own question. It looks like Taylor fought in Cuba and won Six fights, then he lost his last two fights. If he was a Cuban champion it had to be just for a couple of months. These cards normally date from the 20’s or 30’s and he was fighting in Cuba in 1914.

[G1911]

Just looked him up, Taylor seems like a guy who led a crazy life. Decent enough to fight Sam Langford to some draws (impressive even when Langford was old), lived much of his life in the Netherlands too where his Boxrec bio says he was imprisoned by the Nazi's.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

You usually have the answer when there's some question of boxing history I don't know, but I'm pretty surprised you were able to unearth such high quality color film of the 19th century!

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

It's amazing what modern technology can do to bring this old footage back to life. Here's what the original footage looked like, before Industrial Light and Magic got involved in the restoration process.

Seriously now, it's amazing how well some of the old video has been preserved and improved with time. It's a ton of fun to put on some of the old video when sorting through a stack of T or N cards while seeing these guys in action. Baseball and boxing have the best and longest histories of the sports, but unlike baseball, boxing mostly forgets its past. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock are about all that get mentioned before Ali.

[G1911]

Today was a good day. 22 of the 23 fragments are now reunited back together, the last remaining is the torn Choyinski in another board members collection. Thank you to the private collector who worked a deal with me!

Thought the odds of doing this were near 0 after the original seller finally clued on, happy to get this close to restoring it.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

Seriously now, it's amazing how well some of the old video has been preserved and improved with time. It's a ton of fun to put on some of the old video when sorting through a stack of T or N cards while seeing these guys in action. Baseball and boxing have the best and longest histories of the sports, but unlike baseball, boxing mostly forgets its past. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey and Russell Crowe as James J. Braddock are about all that get mentioned before Ali.

Greg, you'd be a good candidate for IBRO (International Boxing Research Organization). Basically SABR, but for boxing. I let my membership lapse a few years ago (for no good reason really), but they have a tooooooon of stuff behind their paywall, and they love contributions to their monthly publication, which can be 100+ pages thick sometimes.

[wicker56]

Originally Posted by G1911

Today was a good day. 22 of the 23 fragments are now reunited back together, the last remaining is the torn Choyinski in another board members collection. Thank you to the private collector who worked a deal with me!

Thought the odds of doing this were near 0 after the original seller finally clued on, happy to get this close to restoring it.

Greg,

I can’t believe the condition of these panels. It’s really impressive.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by wicker56

Greg,

I can’t believe the condition of these panels. It’s really impressive.

They are f'ing great!

[G1911]

IBRO sounds right up my alley, I will look into them. Thank you

"F'ing great" and "can't believe" is how I think of them. I'm almost out of excuses to keep posting panels now . Amazing they survived at all. There's a partial sheet of 1908 Ogdens and the 4 N310 Mayo strips, I don't know of other uncut boxing material pre-WWI. Can't wait to see what we uncover next, there's always more out there.

[G1911]

And here's a card. Thanks to my card pal for swapping Zbysko's and getting me a Miners Extra back (the one I actually need!). Freshly liberated from the SGC slab to slot into my set. Loving the large, colorful lithographs in this set. Up to 29 different front/back combos now.

[G1911]

Tommy Murphy, Khedival, no stats, no factory makes 143/250. The lack of a Jack Johnson and recognition of the backs makes it cheap to build, but the lack of recognition of the confusing backs make it difficult to get cards anywhere but patiently waiting for the right front/back combos to appear on eBay.

[G1911]

Got a batch of T227's with three pugs in it. The Wolgast is a dupe Honest Long Cut Black, the Klaus' are an Honest and a Miners. I needed the Miners back, and I think the honest might be an upgrade.

[G1911]

3 more in today's mail. Needed the Walcott for my Ringside set that I search for once every few months. Great cards, just never put much work into finishing it. The Ketchell is a Hassan 649, my previous Hassan 649 was heavily torn and stained and even by my standards is bad shape. The Erne was cheap, and I love the silvers, so why not?

[Bill77]

Just received the McAuliffe today. The Jordan should be here by the end of the week.

[G1911]

Completed every possible front/back combination among the T218 Hassan and Mecca cards with this one. Need 5 Tolstoi's to have a T218 master set complete. Tolstoi's are darn tough, but the very hardest cards are some specific combinations in the Hassan and Mecca portions of the set.

[G1911]

And another T225 of Harlem Tommy Murphy. 144/250 down, and 7/10 Murphy's. He's a total common, but he was a very good contender who fought an absolute ton of matches with hall of famers, champions and the elite. Not that a single person will ever care, but this is probably his rookie card.

[wicker56]

This Tunney just arrived in the mail yesterday.

[G1911]

Great color on that example

[wicker56]

Originally Posted by G1911

Great color on that example

Thanks Greg. Unfortunately when you get good colors on these it seems like the red ink on the top of the card almost always bleeds through on the back. This one is not an exception.

[G1911]

Lannon here is a much less notable heavyweight. He fought some good boxers but has no real big win on his resume and never was a serious contender for Sullivan's crown. He was a friend of Sullivan's and traveled with him for a time fighting numerous exhibition matches over several years. He had an exhibition with Corbett at least once, and apparently was scheduled to fight Peter Jackson but it didn't materialize.

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

Is this Buster Douglas card actually a tough card? I've got at least a couple stashed away in an album and never thought twice about them before, but there doesn't seem to be much of a history of them on-line. I figured they were mass produced like the Muhammad Ali AW Sega card.....but maybe not so much.

Just picked up the French version. Add this to the Buster Douglas checklist.

[G1911]

Barry and Sullivan are from the Heroes of the Ring set, the 3rd card from numbered series F. Loving these Ogden's, up to 31 different boxing cards across the series that constitute these closely related black border issues.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by G1911

Barry and Sullivan are from the Heroes of the Ring set, the 3rd card from numbered series F. Loving these Ogden's, up to 31 different boxing cards across the series that constitute these closely related black border issues.

If I remember correctly, that last card is Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher re-enacting their bout near the Texas border for the cameras. This time on higher ground and with a bigger crowd, then their original mostly secret location of a sand bar, just on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by sthoemke

Just picked up the French version. Add this to the Buster Douglas checklist.

Tres bien.

[sthoemke]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Tres bien.

I believe there is a Spanish version, as well. (Italian, also?)

[G1911]

Originally Posted by D. Bergin

If I remember correctly, that last card is Bob Fitzsimmons and Peter Maher re-enacting their bout near the Texas border for the cameras. This time on higher ground and with a bigger crowd, then their original mostly secret location of a sand bar, just on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.

Thanks Dave. I thought I recognized the back of Bob Fitzsimmons head, but no clue on the other gent. The card appears in series B as well, with a different tint and a differently cropped photo. I believe its the only fight card in the Ogdens' series.

[G1911]

Nothing gold can stay. But silver lives forever.

Young Corbett's T220 card sometimes feels like the only time he was ever depicted differently from the photo used for this T218/T225.

[G1911]

The image is from Gans' audition for the original stage version of The Karate Kid.

[searching]

2 x mid 1920 boxer cards, dont know which set they are from, the backs are blank
Rose and Smith.jpg