T206's in "The good ole days"

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Check this out....I came across this 1985 adv of Wayne Miller's the other day and I had to post it. Wayne's T206 prices
were very fair and you couldn't meet a nicer guy in the hobby than Wayne. These prices were quite typical of T206's in
the early '80s. My table was opposite Wayne's table at the Willow Grove Show and I put together my 1st T206 set (521
cards) for less than 5K. The Magie (Vg) cost me only $600 back then. And, the only "10" we knew was Bo Derek......we
usually had a mutual agreement on the "grade" of a given card, and that was it, it wasn't a "numbers" game.

Twenty years later you can't even get close to a Magie in Vg for what I paid for my entire 521 card T206 set back then.
Anyhow, it's interesting to compare where we are now....with where we once were....not that long ago.

TED Z

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Posted By: Art M.

Ted,
Thanks for posting the T206 for sale list from long ago. This brings back memories that the backs were hardly ever mentioned in those days.

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Posted By: robert a

Ted and Art,

Two questions for ya:

Was the order of rarity for the backs relatively the same in the 80s according to collectors? Broadleaf 460, Drum, Uzit, etc....

Also, did midrange uncommon backs like cycle, epdg, and hindu claim a premium?

Rob

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Yes, I remember chasing after the 15 basic backs in 1981 and their ranking in order of scarcity
was well known and just as tough as it is now. It wasn't till some years later, I started getting
into all the Series and Factory #s on the backs.

We had Bill Heitman's book and all the great articles by Lew Lipset to inform us.

Cycle 350, Polar Bear, Sovereign, Tolstoi were not much more in cost than Piedmont or Sweet Cap.....
but, Am. Bty, Cycle 460, EPDG, Hindu did have a premium.

TED Z

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Posted By: barrysloate

As Ted and I were both active in the 1980's, wheeling and dealing with each other, and I was very close to Wayne Miller then (I would make a beeline for his table every Willow Grove show), let me reminisce a bit, too. T206 were cheap and plentiful in those days; and Wayne, who was as nice a guy as this hobby ever had, would always bring about a thousand new ones that he didn't have the previous show, and you could be sure a couple of hundred of them would be in my briefcase by Friday night. There was certainly a premium for Drum, Uzit, and Lenox, and somewhat of a premium for Broadleaf and Carolina Brights, but the other backs barely cost more than a common. That's why I find it amusing when I see on ebay "rare Tolstoi back" or "rare EPDG back" because I know from experience they are simply a little less plentiful, but hardly rare.

About a year ago I got in touch with Wayne when somebody provided a link on this board to his website. He currently works as a professional magician, having given up the hobby years ago. We both shared some memories of those good old days, lost forever.

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Posted By: Bill

I always love coming across old ad's like this, even price guides. It really shows where the hobby has gone in the last 20 years.

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Posted By: Sean

Just so everyone knows if you call the number listed they are no longer doing the 1/2 set for $1000. I forgot to ask about the 100 in EX-MT for $1100.

If anyone has any lots at this price e-mail me.

Gracias.
Sean BH

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

Anybody remember the Card Collector's Company from Long Island? I remember in the late 60's buying from them T206's for $1 each. That's right, $1. And in those days they didn't charge you more for Hall-Of-Famers. I remember sending payment in and requesting certain players (including Cobb) AND GETTING THEM!! As to condition, they probably averaged vg-ex, and believe me if I got a clean ex I would think it was the most beautiful card imaginable.

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

You are correct, there were very few adv. selling rare backs back then. But, as you well know, the
serious T206 collectors were hunting for them.....especially the BROAD LEAF, DRUM, LENOX, Red HINDU
and UZIT backs.

I recall passing up on 2 DRUM's ($100 each) in 1985, because I already had a DRUM.....dumb....dumb !

Art, it was a really a different world back then, we didn't know which way to go. There were so many
options in collecting. I had completed my original Bowman sets and '52 Topps set, and simultaneously,
working on T206, 1933 & '34 Goudey, Dia. Star and Play Ball sets.

Furthermore, Barry Sloate got me started on the N162 set with a nice deal on the 42 non-BB cards.

As the song says...."Those Were The Days". Care to share some of your stories from the '70s or early '80s ?

TED Z

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Posted By: Dustan Hedlin

You guys are killing me. I was 4 years old in 1985. If I had only known about something other than my toys and cartoons, I would have been a rich little boy.

Seeing that ad makes me wish I was about 20 years older.

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Posted By: barry arnold

Memories....

I BOUGHT my first T206 in 84 soon after Margaret and I married.
It was a Matty with dark cap that i got for 19 bucks at a card show at
the Civic Center in Pensacola.
The year before I was GIVEN several t206's,t205's,t210's,t203's by a dear friend.
Barry S. sold my t205 mathewson et al. a couple of years back;yawie sold my t203's; tbob and others 'won'
my t210's; BUT the t206's are still with me---plus about 450 more i've acquired since then.

Memories......

all the best,

barry

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Posted By: Tom Hufford

If the words "Perhaps a Reader Can Help" ring a bell, then you know who I am refering to. If not, then a short lesson - In the early days of SCD, there was a Q&A column written by Wirt Gammon, longtime Chattanooga sportswriter, who had begun collecting in the pre-1920's. Wirt was a whiz at the older cards, but not so much on the recent stuff. At least once a column, there would be a question on a newer card that Wirt couldn't answer, and his response would be "Perhaps a reader can help." Well, I digress.

I made Wirt's aquaintance in the late 1960's, while I was in college. I must have answered an ad that he ran, offering to sell T206s. He had collected them as a kid, and still had them. Remember those rectangular metal cans that Band-Aids used to come in? (maybe they still do). Wirt would mail me one of those cans with 50-10 different T206s in it - mostly in VG/EX shape, some better and some worse. I could look through them and take any or all that I wanted - for 35 cents each. Same price for HOFers, Southern Leaguers, or scarce ones. If there were duplicates, or ones I didn't want, I just sent them back to Wirt, and he sent the next batch. I must have gotten 475-500 different t206s from Wirt over the years, and must have sent the Cobb bat-off-shoulders back to him 10 times, hoping to finally get the bat-on-shoulders. Never did. I had to buy it in the late 1970's at an Atlanta card show for $35. Not a bad price, but it always struck me that I had to pay 100 times what I would have paid Wirt for it!

Wirt did have one T206 that he said he would have to charge me more for - Wagner, Pittsburg. He said it was rare, and he wanted $500 for it. I was in college, had a part time job for less than $100 a month, and it was all I could do to keep buying the commons at 35 cents each. So, I said no to the Wagner (I guess I thought I could get another one in a few years, when I finished school and got a real job). My friend, the late Bill Haber, ended up buying the Wagner from Wirt, and it was one of the centerpieces of Bill's teffific collection. I've always wondered where that card is now.

Buying T206s for 35 cents each was common in the late 1960s-early 1970s. I think the Card Collectors Co. sold them 3/$1. I know Wirt Gammon also sold them to a lot of other collectors, besides me.

When I got all the T206s I could from him - for some reason, I never did ask him about T205s, T210s, etc.! But what a great guy he was!

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Posted By: leon

Thanks so much for a great story. That was really awesome. I know many. many folks on the board apprceciate you reciting it. I know I do immensely...take care now...

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Posted By: Joe D.

am I the only one who winces when they see ads like that?

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Posted By: John S

I too recall passing up many cards in the mid-80's because they were too "expensive" and "over-priced". I had to be in the right mood to drop $5 or $10 dollars on one old card. Luckily I did decide to buy a few of them. Of course in the mid-80's if I had $20 in my pocket at a show I was lucky.

The bigger shock for me has been the last three years. I purchased T206 portraits of Young ($167) and Johnson ($178)during the summer of 2003. Both now reside in SGC 40 holders. At the time I did not consider those lucky buys, maybe a bit on the low side but within the correct range.

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Posted By: jackgoodman

Here you go Corey:

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

The best I can boast of....is getting a Red Cobb for $10 and a Green Cobb for $15.

And, they both were in Ex condition....this was circa 1980 at a small Firehouse show
in Toms River, NJ.

TED Z

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

jackgoodman,

Thanks for image! It sure brings back some memories!

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Posted By: Alan

I believe Card Collectors Company also always had an ad in the back of the "The Sporting News" back then.

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Posted By: RC McKenzie

What's funny is that ad is dated 1975 and my first major 'aquisition' was around 75/76 when I borrowed $20 from my aunt to buy a 1959 Early Wynn in g/vg from a flea market dealer. Have you seen the prices on ebay for 1959 Early Wynn's in g/vg??? cheers

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Posted By: Jerry Spillman

I've been to the Card Collectors' Company warehouse in Franklin Square. It looked like there was millions of cards there. Women were busy packaging card orders.

Not long after I was there they had the fire that wiped out Geldman's total inventory. Most of the cards were ruined due to water damage. It was a disaster.

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Posted By: Joe_G.

The thread has been dead for over a day but thought I'd bump it back to the top with an interesting TIME Magazine article from August of 1977 in which Nagy and a young "William Mastro" are mentioned together with prices realized for the most sought after T206 cards. Interesting read.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,915313,00.html

Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

Interesting post, it brings back many memories of buying cards from Frank Nagy.

If I can find some of Frank's monthly mail auctions and the nice notes he included with the cards I won,
I'll post them. I won a "ton" of cards from Frank from 1980 to 1994, he offered cards in all conditions;
but, when he advertised them as near mint....you could shave with them (they were that sharp).

In the early days, I aquired ExMt T-cards from him for $4 apiece, or Goudey's and PlayBall's for $5 apiece,
or even 1949 Leaf BB Scarce #s for $20 apiece (these cards go for $600-$1000, nowadays).

Obviously this was during the "pre-plastics" era....but, there was never, ever any concerns regarding
Frank's cards.

A true gentleman and one of the greatest guys this hobby has ever known.

TED Z

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Posted By: T206Collector

Shoot, when I was a lad in '09, you could run down to your local tobacco shop and get two cards and 10 cigarettes for a nickel!

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Posted By: Ted Zanidakis

PAUL

So, what T-brand were the cigarettes ? And, did you light them up ?

We should run a Net54 survey to see how young....members were when they lit up their 1st cigarette ?

And, let's just keep it to Tobacco products....please.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...the Russian mouthpiece cigarettes, like Tolstoi. And you bet I smoked them! I smoked 3 packs a day -- and collected 6 cards a day. That's 15 cents for 6 Tolstoi cards and 30 cigarettes. These days people pay thousands of dollars for just one card -- and they don't even get a single cigarette! Outrageous.