T210 Old Mill Jackson in REA Auction-New Owner's Perspective

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Posted By: Corey R. Shanus

I am the person who bought the T210 Old Mill Jackson at the REA auction. I have read with interest the various posts on the card. I thought it appropriate to offer my views as to why I feel the card is as originally issued. I also think it relevant to disclose that Robert Edward Auctions, in recognition that there was controversy expressed on this board and because they did not want me to be uncomfortable, offered me the opportunity after the close of the auction to rescind my bid with no financial penalty. An underbidder, also fully aware of the issues expressed on this board, was anxious to buy it. I, based on the research I had done, declined the offer and opted to buy the card. I am confident the card is exactly as originally issued.

My views are based in part on discussions with the owners of perhaps the four largest collections of T210s (who collectively either own or have inspected several thousand T210s) and the review of various scans of T210s I have examined. T210s are notorious for having significant deviations either larger or smaller from their published standard size. T210s in fact is one of perhaps only two 1910 era sets (the other being T212 Obaks) in which a significant percentage of the entire population of known cards is characterized by an imperfect manufacture cut. Even the photographic image portion of T210s is known to vary in size, thereby creating an illusion of either larger or smaller borders. There are many, many examples of cards of similar size to mine, covering not just Series 8 but the other series as well. At least one of the other of the handful-known T210 Jacksons in fact is undersized. There have been some posts taking the view that because the card is smaller than the other pictured Jackson, the card must have been trimmed. By this reasoning, every T or N card, which is smaller than the largest known copy of a particular card, must be trimmed. I think we all will agree that that is not the case; T and N cards are well known to exhibit considerable variation in size. Even the T206 Wagner card on exhibit at the Hall of Fame, which originated from the Halper collection, is oversized. Does that mean that every other Wagner which is of smaller size has been trimmed? Or that most Old Judges, because of the wildly varying size and cut of the issue, are trimmed? I think not. The wavy cut my card exhibits is, to be clear, very common to the issue, and not just in Series 8 but in the other series as well. I have been collecting for over forty years. I have seen many cards that were trimmed since they were originally issued. Upon close inspection of the Jackson card in the REA auction under high magnification, I am confident that the cut of the card dates back many years. Accordingly, the overwhelmingly usual reason for trimming, to increase the value of the card, would not exist here because such motivation did not exist many years ago. Also, even if it did exist, economic gain from trimming would occur only if the condition of the card was materially improved; my Jackson card hardly is a nr-mt/mt example and I don’t see how trimming would have materially bettered its presentation. The Jackson card did not even become particularly valuable until long after this card and the others with it were even discovered. I have spoken to the consignor of the card (with whom I was put in contact as a courtesy by REA), who is providing me very detailed and substantial documentation to corroborate his assertion that the card originated from a very specific estate sale in the 1980s, a sale other T210 collectors have confirmed took place, and has been in his possession since. He still has the balance of the collection and I am getting scans of these as well for additional documentation. This is an original collection, which has never been available in what is generally considered the organized hobby. I also know that when cards are machine-cut and the cutting blades have dulled, the borders of the resultant cards can have wavy cuts. I hardly think it likely that when T210s were being cut and inserted in cigarette packs, the tobacco company was concerned that customers of the Old Mill cigarettes would object to cards with subtly wavy borders and as a result purchase fewer cigarettes. For those who opine that perhaps an employee of the company took home a sheet and later cut it, or that a few years after issuance for some unknown reason the card was later cut down, yes, of course such occurrences are theoretically possible. However, the large numbers of T210s with identical imperfect cuts (comprising perhaps 25% or more of the known population of T210s) suggest that this is not a likely explanation. It is possible that cards were hand cut by Old Mill for issue, I suppose. Despite the number of cards in the set, T210 Old Mill is a rare and regionally issued set which had an extremely modest print run compared to the more common card issues of the era. A very small print run makes the possibility of a hand cut for a portion of the press run both practical and possible. One of the series of the T212 Obak run, for example, is known to be hand cut. To me, it is not a reasonable explanation that all of the imperfectly cut T210 cards in existence are the result of a renegade employee cutting up sheets at home for fun. If that were the case, how would cards with these cuts wind up in T210 collections everywhere, and how could so many exist relative to cards without wavy cuts? The employee would have to be bringing home a significant percentage of the entire press run of T210 cards in sheet form for cutting up. This would probably keep him pretty busy (probably too busy to work, statistically this would involve thousands of sheets), and he then would have had to have somehow distributed these cards to every T210 collection in the land. Sounds pretty implausible to me. Not to mention that one would think that if this were the case, then at least one uncut sheet of T210 would have survived. None are known.

In the end, we each have to have our own comfort level with what we collect. To those who know me, my tolerance for taking leaps of faith is extremely small and I form opinions based on extensive research, logic, and an assessment of what is most likely to have occurred based on all the known facts. I am very comfortable that the Jackson card I bought has not been altered since it left the factory. If it was hand cut, which is possible, then many other T210s were similarly hand cut, and such cutting therefore is standard to the issue. To me this does not in any way diminish the card. It is interesting to note that all but one of the T210 Old Mill collectors with whom I have spoken at length about this card (with a combined collecting experience of over 60 years, most of which involved collecting this issue) feel the Jackson card is unaltered and as issued. The other T210 collector has a policy of not expressing opinions until he has had an opportunity to see the card in person and out of the holder. He did say, though, based on what he has seen, that there is nothing about the card which leads him to believe that it is not as issued. My research has led me to the very same conclusion. I can certainly understand how one, with very limited or no experience with T210s, but very knowledgeable about other cards, could misinterpret the nature of the Jackson card. That is what has happened here on this board, and I think it’s important to set the record straight. Thanks for reading. I enjoy the board and look forward to many more years of collecting.