Update on the Howe McCormick collection

[Howe’s Hunter]

Several months ago, Scott Gross (MyBuddyInc) brought it to my attention that I haven’t posted any additions to the rebuilt collection for quite some time. Looking back, found it had been since February 2019 when Greg Morris gifted six cards to the collection that I posted anything.

First off, I’m still rebuilding the collection. There was recently a card listed on eBay that said it was part of the Howe McCormick collection. I received several messages asking if I was selling off the collection, while I was actually bidding on that card to add to the rebuild. Yes, the collection continues and in no particular order since February 2019 ...

Right after the Greg Morris cards were on eBay, I heard from a board member that he had won the Camnitz, one of the three cards I didn’t win. He hadn’t realized it was the stamp I had been collecting, and sent the card to join the others. Although he wishes to remain anonymous, thanks to him for the addition.



The Schlei came from eBay. The Bergen had been a part of board member John Scott’s Superbra collection for more than 30 years, but he decided it belonged in my collection now and sent it to me. Thanks again, John.



A member of the Tobacco Row Facebook page (Jay Kaplan) contacted me as he had 11 cards (Barger, Butler, Jimmy Collins, Dooin, Flick, Grimshaw, Joss, Krause, McIntyre, Schaefer and Wagner) and we were able to make arrangements to get those back in the collection.






A Leland’s auction had a lot that included the Hindu-backed Jordan and Smith. Thanks to my bidding partner, we were able to win that lot and add these two Southern Leaguers.

[Howe’s Hunter]

In May of 2019, Adam Yastrzemski from Yastrzemski Sportscards in Cooperstown, New York contacted me via the Net54 board to ask if I was still collecting. He had several of Howe’s cards that had made their way to his shop. Turns out there were ten cards, nine of them Hall of Famers. While it took several months to get them all here, Adam was very patient and held the cards until we were able to complete the deal. The first one back was the Marquard hand at thighs with a Hindu back. From what I’ve been able to find out, this is pretty rare, with only six cards graded by PSA of this combination, according to a recent Heritage Auction that featured one of the others (it, like all the others had been graded by PSA, with an authentic altered grade due to the poor condition, tape and rubber stamp). The nine others were a Bender portrait, a Chance portrait (which is the first card in the collection with borders large enough it has a name at top and bottom),non-HoFer Chase, Eddie Collins (with only the fourth example of Howe’s Urich H. McCormick, Agent, Saturday Evening Post stamp in green ink), Evers portrait, Joss pitching, Marquard portrait, McGraw with finger the in air, and Tinker portrait.






Scott reached out to let me know he had found an upgrade for the McCauley in his Southern League Hindu back collection. We were able to make a deal and bring Pat back with the rest.



Doug Bacon (Phillies*phan) found the Leach and a quick sale brought him back into the collection.



One of my favorite things (and it’s happened several times now) was when I came home from work one day and my wife says “some card you won on eBay came today.” She could quickly tell by the look on my face I haven’t bid or won a card. Luke Lyon had won a small lot in an eBay auction and it turns out the McLean had Howe’s stamp on it. He sent it as a total surprise, which I really appreciate. Thanks again, Luke.



The McQuillan with a Hindu back came from an REA auction, which Brian Dwyer had contacted me about when they were still putting the auction together. Always appreciate the heads up, Brian.


Rob (RCMcKinzey) let me know of a Leland’s auction that was ending that evening with a Howe stamped card in it. Rob won the auction and Hahn came back into the fold.



A Heine Wagner listed on eBay brought about the funniest heads-up email I’ve probably ever gotten. Jobu sent a message with the subject line “Howe’s Heine is on eBay now.” When I responded that I had placed a snipe, he responded “Good luck. After all these years, I hope you finally get to hold his Heine.”

Unfortunately, it was that auction when I found out Gavelsnipe and eBay no longer play well with one another, and my snipe didn’t go through. Not the end of the world, but disappointing. And did I mention that auction ended on the evening of my birthday?

But less than a week later I heard from Steve Woelfel, who was the winner of the lot, with an offer to send this card along so it could join the rest. An extremely kind and appreciated gesture. Thanks, Steve. (And yes, Jobu, my hands have been all over Howe’s Heine!)



2019 ended with a New Year’s Eve purchase of Cree from eBay.

[Howe’s Hunter]

2020 started out with Schulte, who came to me from Jeff Throm.



Molesworth came from the recent on-line only REA auction.



It took several years, but with the help of Jeff Throm, I was able to make a trade with Dmitry Drubitsky for his Hindu-back Fritz. Thanks for taking care of him for what I think was four years since first finding out about him, Dmitry, and thanks to Jeff for brokering the deal.



Finally there are four Old Mill-backed Southern Leaguers that were from eBay. I’ve always really liked the Revelle portrait card, and this was the first example I’ve seen that fit my collection.




There have been several that have gotten away. I’ve always known I wouldn’t be able to get them all. But in the last several months, there have been two Hindu-backed Magees sold in one lot at Heritage, a Helm that sold in the same REA auction as the Molesworth that I did win, and sadly, a Unglaub that David Brooks had found and we completed the deal, only to have it lost by the USPS. Finally there is one that just ended on eBay, a Southern Leaguer with a common Piedmont back that went for crazy money. Way beyond what I would have considered it going for.

Again, thanks to everyone on the board for your help in rebuilding the collection. I appreciate all the heads-up messages I get and the emails when you see one in person. With the 40 listed here, the collection stands at 375, with another expected in the mail this week. All with thanks to Net54 board members.

[Howe’s Hunter]

Long story ... several years ago, while trying to research anything about Howe’s family, I found out his daughter Bettye had been a successful singer at the national level. Sang with Vaughn Monroe and was one of his Moon Maid background singers, and had also appeared on Broadway in the show “Promises, Promises,” which was a Burt Bacharach show. There is actually a Vaughn Monroe fan site, and part of that lists all the Moon Maids who ever sang with him, and a tribute section for those who have died. Under Bettye’s name was a story from someone who said he had met her as a stage hand on Broadway, they became friends for life and he knew her and her family quite well. It took almost three years of Facebook messaging and emails before finally getting to talk to the gentleman yesterday. And it had a bombshell ....

It started as soon as he answered the phone and said tell him about the cards, what are they? I went in to a pretty broad explanation of them, he stops me and asks what were they called, they called different cards different things, what are the ones you collect. T-206s. “Son-of-a-bitch, so it was real.” What was real? “The Honus Wagner he showed me the first time I visited Florida with Bettye.” I was completely silent.

Seems Bettye never got a drivers license. Any time she wanted to go home, she either flew or had someone drive her. In the summer of 1967, Ron drove her to Florida to spend a week with her parents. While there, he and Howe, who was a railroad engineer, hit it off. They talked about the family store, which was still standing at the time, and his baseball card collection, which he was very proud of. Ron didn’t know how many there were, but said there were several large boxes of cards, smaller than traditional baseball cards, but the one Howe was most proud of was a Honus Wagner. Got it as a kid for free and was now worth several hundred dollars if he tried to sell it. But he wasn’t going to, because it was his pride and joy. Ron held the card, looked at it, turned it over, saw Howe’s stamp on the back of it but didn’t really know anything about cards. He just took Howe’s word for it.

Two years later, Ron again returned to Gainesville to help Howe and Thelma move to a smaller place. He asked Howe about all the boxes of cards, and he said he had sold most of them as they downsized, but he kept his favorites, including the Wagner, which he pulled from an envelope and again showed Ron.

Several more visits in the following years led to the trip for Howe’s funeral in 1976. Howe’s wife Thelma told Bettye and Ron that she still had the envelope with Howe’s favorite cards in it, and they would go to Bettye someday.

Move forward four years, and they are Florida again for Thelma’s funeral. At that time, they rented a truck to take all of the family stuff back to New York for Bettye to sort through. But nowhere to be found was the envelope they had both seen so many times. No idea where it went.

It wasn’t until years later and Ron started hearing about this Honus Wagner card that he became curious, because he wondered if it was real. And it wasn’t until yesterday he found out. “I looked online when the internet became a thing to see what the Wagner card looked like. The front was the same, and Pittsburgh wasn’t spelled right, but the cards I’ve seen online had red print on the back. The one in Howe’s collection had blue print on the back and said Paramount or something.” “You mean Piedmont?” “Yes, that was it, Piedmont, most of the cards he showed me all said that, including the Wagner. Guess it was real, huh?”

Just stunned silence from me. I know the Wagner came mainly with the Sweet Caporal back, but have heard there a just a couple examples of the Piedmont back. Apparently, Howe had one. It disappeared sometime between 1976 and 1980, and Bettye was desperate to find it until her death in the late 80s. But she didn’t know what her mother must have done with it before her death, and who knows where it is now.

As I’ve always said, I know I won’t get them all. The big example of that will be his Honus.

[tiger8mush]

great additions, thanks for the update Ed!

How many are you up to now on the rebuild, and any idea how many there were originally in Howe's T206 collection?

[Howe’s Hunter]

When I asked Ron about the size of the boxes, he said bigger than shoe boxes but smaller than paper boxes.

I’m at 376 if you count the one that arrived in the mail today (not listed in this thread). I have scans of another 46 that others own or are whereabouts unknown after auctions.

And then the Honus. He did have only one of those ....

[bobbyw8469]

Oh wow!!! What an amazing twist!!

[irishdenny]

Dankz Ed! (:

Your Collection is some what iconic to me! Reason being, i've been putting together a Set together Since 2011. i'm Not a Set Collector and somewhat admire those that have the sumwhat "OCD Will" to last this long!

You're incredible desire to complete this impossible Set is an Awesome Story!!
And Jus knowing there's a Wagner is pretty cool (:

i really appreciate You letting us follow along through Your updates!
i'm pulling for ya, Ya never know where Mr Wagner might turn up!?

i will end by saying that if i couldn't find my Wagner...
i would lose my mind looking fir'em...
And i don't even have one! (:


Ya know!?, " A Wagner!!!"

[swarmee]

Dang; one lost to history so far. Will be interesting to see if it ever resurfaces.

[Vintagecatcher]

Ed,

Congrats on all the progress. Howe's story just keeps getting better!

Patrick

[Bridwell]

Back in 1990 I did some business with a guy from New York. After a few conversations I somehow mentioned my hobby of card collecting and he said that he had once owned one of the few Honus Wagner T206's. He had acquired it in 1976 in Florida. I asked about it and he said he paid only $500 for it, and sold it a little later for a small profit. I'm pretty sure he said it was a Piedmont back.

[jp1216]

https://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=204631

One of many great threads! Love the hunt!

[RCMcKenzie]

376, wow, that's awesome. I didn't realize you had that many. That Red Chance double-name is great.

I saw that Perry Lipe the other day on eBay. Another Lipe went for over $300 the other day as well...Rob

[joejo20]

This is so cool.

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by Bridwell

Back in 1990 I did some business with a guy from New York. After a few conversations I somehow mentioned my hobby of card collecting and he said that he had once owned one of the few Honus Wagner T206's. He had acquired it in 1976 in Florida. I asked about it and he said he paid only $500 for it, and sold it a little later for a small profit. I'm pretty sure he said it was a Piedmont back.

The gauntlet has been thrown down - the whereabouts of this card need to be found - perhaps at least a good color copy could be provided for the collection.

[kkkkandp]

Originally Posted by Howe’s Hunter

I’m at 376 if you count the one that arrived in the mail today (not listed in this thread). I have scans of another 46 that others own or are whereabouts unknown after auctions.

I'm not a T206 guy at all, but your chase is an amazing story to follow.

Congrats and continued good luck!

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by kkkkandp

I'm not a T206 guy at all, but your chase is an amazing story to follow.

Congrats and continued good luck!

It's amazing to me. Can you imagine the vitriol someone new would face if they decided they wanted to collect these Howe McCormick cards?? Never before have I seen someone effectively corner the market, where every collector in the world is looking out for these cards for one man. Amazing Ed!

[mybuddyinc]

Ed,

As always .... GREAT collection .....

.......... and, yes, the Hindu Marquard is a WOW card !!!

Always knew Howe was a Piedmont and Hindu guy, nice to see he puffed on an Old Mill once in awhile ..........

Super FUN looking at all the cards, Scott

[phlflyer1]

Ed,

Great cards and some great stories behind them. Thanks for sharing them with the board!

[Howe’s Hunter]

I’d be very interested in one of the cards from sale 152021, lot 44022. Maybe more than one card, but only one in the scan of eight shown.

[bobbyw8469]

I hate that the stamp appears on one of the money cards. Evers is a big name.