New member here! I collect N, T, E, non sport, trade cards

[trdcrdkid]

Hi, everybody! I guess this is the right forum to introduce ourselves? I've been collecting baseball cards since 1975 (age 9), collected the Topps set each year from 1977 to 1981 but gravitated toward older cards early. I got my first T206 (Pfeister holding bat, Polar Bear back) around 1980 from a neighbor kid, and my first Old Judge (Stemmeyer, hands at chest) at a card show in 1981 for $20. (I still have both of them.) I didn't have much money back then, but I started a nascent type card collection, of which the T206 and the Old Judge were prize specimens. I got a few more T206s, two of which were Lenox backs (though I didn't know at the time how rare they were) before drifting away from collecting in high school and college.

When I got back into collecting in the early 90s after a break, I was in grad school and still didn't have much money, but I at least had enough to start adding to my collection of pre-WWII cards, including my type collection of T and E cards. Sports Collectors Digest was great for that. I became interested in old hobby publications and bought a bunch of them from Dan Even, including a complete run of SCD from 1973 to 1991 and hundreds of other publications going back to the 1950s. From Don Steinbach of the Sport Collectors Store in Chicago, where I used to go as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s (RIP both Don and the store), I got a near-mint run of annual Beckett guides from 1979 through 1989, including a hardcover edition of the 1980 guide, of which only a few were printed.

I also got into non-sport N, T, and E cards and started a type collection of those, and eventually sets where they were affordable. In 1993 I got my first advertising trade card, a baseball-themed Merchant's Gargling Oil card that I got in a baseball card auction, and eventually trade cards became my main collecting focus -- I now have over 5,000 of them, focusing on patent medicine, soap, thread, sewing machines, stoves, shoes, corsets, Enterprise/Mrs. Potts, and miscellaneous other stuff. If any of you are into trade cards and would like to buy, sell, or trade, let me know.

But I never stopped collecting baseball cards, mostly but not exclusively N, T, and E cards plus miscellaneous types. (For a while I was also working on the 1967-75 Topps sets, of which I now have 1968, 1974, and 1975, but the others have been on the back burner for several years.) One thing that may make my collection somewhat unusual is that they're all raw -- I do not own any pre-war slabbed cards. They're all in toploaders or Card Saver II's, with some in plastic pages. I guess this is partly because there were no grading services when I started collecting, so I got used to having them raw, and being able to hold or touch them (very carefully, of course) if I wanted to; partly because ungraded cards tend to be cheaper; and partly because they're purely for my own enjoyment, and I'm mainly concerned with eye appeal rather than what some grading service thinks of a card. If I ever decided to sell any of them, I'd probably get at least some of them graded.

Anyway, here's some of what I have in terms of N, T, and E baseball cards:

About 40 Old Judges, some pretty nice, many with pinholes or other minor (to me) flaws but still good eye appeal, several trimmed, a few beaters;
One Gypsy Queen, with some minor paper loss but pretty good eye appeal;
Two N284s;
One N300, a real beater (Lovett);

158 T206s, including several duplicate fronts with different backs. These include 13 Hall of Famers and a decent collection of tougher backs, including five Carolina Brights and two Lenox; the only backs I need are Hindu red, Broadleaf 460, Drum, Uzit, and (of course) Ty Cobb. (Not including factory variants)

46 T205s, including seven minor leaguers;
29 T207s, including two Broadleaf backs, a Cycle, and a Napoleon;
12 T209s, 3 color and 9 B&W (a couple with paper loss, but mostly not bad);
65 T210s, most with creases and other problems but some nicer;
5 T211s;
53 T212s, including a few duplicates; many beaters but some pretty nice;
11 T213s (4 "Coupon" (Mild), 5 "20 for 5 cents", 2 "16 for 10 cts")
2 T215s
2 T216s (one a real beater of Tinker)

In early E cards, I have at least one example from every set from E90 through E106, except I don't have an E90-2, an E92 Croft's & Allen red, or an E104 with a Nadja back or "World's Champions" on the front. Both of my E103s are pretty rough, as is my E99, but I can't complain too much. From E120 on up, I have examples from most sets, but mostly just one of each, because I never really got into them. I have maybe two or three dozen Goudeys, Diamond Stars, Play Balls, and other 1930s gum cards, but haven't done much there in the last 15 years or so.

I hope this wasn't too long-winded, but I figure if there's ever a crowd that might be interested in all this, it's this crowd. I look forward to interacting with all of you and being a part of the community!

Dave Kathman
trdcrdkid (also my eBay username)

[oldjudge]

Welcome Dave. That's a nice group of Old Judges that you put together. If you don't mind me asking, who is the player on your Gypsy Queen?

Best--Jay

[trdcrdkid]

Jay -- It's J. Arundel of Indianapolis.

[mrvster]

I'm addicted to t206 rare backs and print scraps

peace

johnny

email for any t206 advice..

[ullmandds]

nice collection...and welcome. i'd be curious to know what players your other t216 and t213-1's(mild) are??

[barrysloate]

Hi Dave- welcome to Net54. My wife has a pretty large trade card collection she would like to sell. We are on vacation this week, but when we return she said she will email you.

[Leon]

Welcome Dave, you are among friends here. A whole lot of us can relate.... I am a relative latecomer collector myself, going on 20 yrs (collected as a kid in the late 60s early 70s). It really sounds like you will fit in nicely with our community. Good luck in the hunt!!

[Michael Peich]

Dave--Welcome to the Net54 forum. You'll enjoy yourself here.

I am also interested in baseball trade cards and would enjoy talking with you about them. You can contact me at my home email: mpeich12@gmail.com.

Cheers,
Mike

[trdcrdkid]

ullmandds -- My other T216 is Bridwell. Not sure what it would grade, but it presents as about G-VG. Both it and the Tinker are Kotton backs -- I only wish I had a Mino or Virginia Extra!

My 213-1s are Chase (portrait blue background), Ellam, Hart, and Lentz. None are perfect (Chase has a spot of paper loss on the front, one of the others has a little paper loss on the back), but they're all in decent enough shape.

[ullmandds]

THANKS! I was hoping your t216 was a miller fielding...so I could trade ya for it!!!!!

[ethicsprof]

welcome aboard the board!
you sound like quite an experienced type collector already!!!

all the best,
barry

[DaveW]

Welcome! It sounds like you have a great collection.

[jbsports33]

Welcome to the Board!

[Danny Smith]

Welcome! Which e105 do you have. That's my favorite set.

[trdcrdkid]

Danny -- My E105 is Miller batting.

[x2drich2000]

Welcome to the board Dave, you seem to have a great type set going! Since everyone else is asking about the sets you collect, what e92 nadja do you have? Also, how did you miss the e90-2? Seems kind of common to be missing from your list.

DJ

[Shoebox]

Welcome to the board!

[Danny Smith]

Originally Posted by trdcrdkid

Danny -- My E105 is Miller batting.

Very tough card from that set. I'm proud to say I own that one. Very nice.

[trdcrdkid]

x2drich2000 -- My E92 Nadja is Bailey, one of the ones in that set only found with a Nadja back. It's pretty nice, would probably grade EX or maybe VG-EX.

I'm not sure why I never got an E90-2. I got an E90-3 (Blackburn) early on in my type collecting, and I had a bunch of E90-1s (of which I now have 14), and I guess there were always other things I was more focused on. It might be because they were relatively common that I never felt a need to go after them like the tougher E sets (E99, E100, E105). I suppose I should try to get one now, but I'm in no big hurry.

[Fred]

Nice collection of cards you've accumulated. Welcome aboard.

[jerrys]

Welcome Dave,

You have quite an impressive collection.

[Exhibitman]

Welcome Dave!

If you have a chance perhaps you could post some scans of any boxing-related trade cards in the boxing forum? I collect some of the John L. Sullivans.

[trdcrdkid]

Exhibitman --

I don't know if I have any boxing-related trade cards, since most of my trade cards are just advertising products. But I do have some boxing cards from E75, E79, T218, T220, and I think N174. I'll see what I have when I get home.

[trdcrdkid]

In my original post I forgot to mention that I also have examples of T3, T200 (Philadelphia Nationals), T201, T202, T203, and T204 (Howell). And while I don't have any of the baseball players in the other N sports sets, I do have three non-baseball cards each of N28, N29, and N162, plus an N43, an N184 (Joseph Morsler, champion pool player), and an N174 Gypsy Queen boxer (Jack McAuliffe), which I've scanned in below for Exhibitman. My type collection of N cards is pretty extensive; I'm not sure how many sets I have at least one example of, but it's well over 100, probably closer to 200. They include several sets of actress cards from brands that also issued baseball sets that are rare and mega-expensive, such as Lone Jack (N369, of which I have three) and Yum-Yum Tobacco (N402, of which I have two). I assume that these actresses are as scarce as the baseball players, but they're much more affordable, or at least they were about 15 years ago when I was buying these cards.

[trdcrdkid]

Oh, I overlooked one of my N162s -- Jem Smith, pugilist. So I have four of those.

[trdcrdkid]

Oh, wait, I overlooked one of my N162s -- Jem Smith, pugilist. So I have four of those.

[kamikidEFFL]

Welcome aboard. I'm sure you will enjoy. And great collection