Vintage collection finds

[tesitzes24]

The resurrection of the Skydash collection thread got me wondering about other noteworthy vintage finds that I don't know about. Being pretty new to the vintage card market, I'm sure I could learn a lot by reading about these finds. I enjoyed reading all the old threads about Skydash, so I'm interested in what other famous finds are out there that I don't know about

[E93]

Good topic. There have been a number of well-documented finds. One of the most noteworthy was Rob Lifson's (REA) find of five T206 Cobb/Cobb backs in 1997. At the time it brought the known population of Ty Cobb backs from six to eleven. If I remember correctly, they were found in an album by a guy whose grandfather owned some kind of shop in Georgia circa 1910. Hopefully others will mention other finds.
JimB

[canjond]

Recently there was the mint set of 1915 CJs that walked into a show. If I remember correctly, the Jackson graded out to an SGC 96.

[bbcard1]

Some years old, but the Southern Cards find redefined the tobacco market. An old dude walked into a minor show in richmond with a K-Mart bag full of the most pristine T-206s ever seen. Several folks were involved in the original buy...if only I had done that show. Marco Rol and Kent Garnett ended up being two of the three who eventually bought the others out...don't remember the exact details...but the cards were unimaginably beautiful.

[barrysloate]

Jon- the Jackson actually graded an SGC 98!
And it was a 1914 CJ set.
The Oregon find of roughly 1400 Old Judges certainly was one of my favorites. And for post war, the 1952 Topps unopened case was truly amazing.

[tbob]

Don't forget the original "Southern Find" in which an elderly man from Louisiana sold a large box of beautiful T213-2s and 3s in the mid 80's. I was one of the 4 buyers and almost every high grade Coupon in the hobby derived from this find. I don't remember the exact number of cards or the breakdown but I believe each of the 4 of us had 4-5 Series 2 Cobbs. I went with T213-3s after the HOFers were divied out and missed by one card having a complete creaseless T213-3 set with an additional card which Lipset said was only rumored to exist. Unfortunately I sold the set in the late 80's to Bill Mastro for a pittance compared to what it would sell for now. I spotted a lot of the HOFers in lots in subsequent Mastro auctions and at least once Bill referred to the "Southern Find."
A footnote- there were several overprinted back T213-3s. I know I had two Cobbs, McGraw, Bender and some commons. The overprinted factory backs are extremely tough!

[canjond]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Jon- the Jackson actually graded an SGC 98!
And it was a 1914 CJ set.
The Oregon find of roughly 1400 Old Judges certainly was one of my favorites. And for post war, the 1952 Topps unopened case was truly amazing.

Thanks Barry - I hadn't recalled it was a 1914 set - even more amazing.

[Exhibitman]

I think I posted this originally in 2006 but I can't find it, so I thought I'd throw it out there again. It is the only prewar "find" I got in on at the ground level:

I was invited into a transaction in progress with the nephew of a homeowner who found a box of vintage tobacco cards in her attic. The cards included in the find broke down into two categories, baseball and boxing. The group included two T202s, six T205s, five T207s, approximately 40 T219s, and ten T227s. The most interesting thing I realized on viewing the lot was something that should be obvious but that we often forget: T card distribution was entirely dependent on the smoking habits of the tobacco customers. Every card represents another pack of coffin nails purchased, ostensibly by an adult who either saved the cards or gave them to a child. In this case, it was obvious that the smoker in the house was an Honest Long Cut loyalist. All of the T219s and T227s were Honest Long Cut branded, as were 5 of the 6 T205s. The sole other T205 was a Sovereign. One of the T207s was a Recruit, one a Napoleon, and three were Broad Leaf backs (how I wish that the smoker had been loyal to that brand!). The three Broad Leaf cards included Alex McCarthy (one of the rarest cards), Phelan and Otto Miller (Brooklyn), while the Napoleon was Golden and the Recruit was Germany Schaefer. The T205s included Ed Walsh (2 cards), Wiltse right ear showing variation, Moriarty, Tinker (the Sovereign back), and Ford (dark cap). From T227 we found one baseball player, Rube Marquard, three boxers (Johnson, Attell and Coulon), wrestler Zybsko and a few of the miscellaneous sports and pseudosports subjects.

[tbob]

For those who haven't seen it, this is the overprinted factory back T213-3 Cobb.

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Bob- What year was the big Southern Find. I started visiting John's shop above Vivian's Books in I believe 1976. What a wonderful place.

I purchased my first T206s from him and on one trip back down the mountain I kept asking myself over and over if I messed up paying $4.00 for an Old Judge Bushong?

Another trip I bought a 1958 Topps Football set for $5.00 and remember John telling me football cards would never be worth anything because people had no sentimental attachment to pro football. Probably still true here in the South.

[tbob]

Hi Mike. I used to love climbing those stairs and going to John's place in the 80's and early 90's. He sold his entire personal collection to Larry Fritsch for a ton of money but still had his store inventory. I believe he sold some of it off to Dick DeLong who opened up a shop for a while in Fort Smith, now closed. John eventually moved his place to Phoenix Avenue in Ft. Smith but his heart wasn't in it and his best stuff was long gone. He eventually sold out for good and now collect jazz records.
I think the find was around 1984, not sure exactly when. Time slips by so fast! I was contacted by John and Dick and we had one other partner whose son is now a 54 member and has a nice collection of pre-war of his own. Everyone's T213s are long gone except for the one partner (whose name I do not mention because I don't have permission and for security sake) who I believe may still have her original 1/4 share of cards, don't know. Her share would consist of T213-2s, Kottons and other cards if she didn't sell them. Even her son is not 100% positive if they are satshed in the attic or sold.

[Tabe]

Thanks for the stories, guys. I love reading about great finds.

Anybody got more details on the 1952 Topps find? I know Alan Rosen was involved but I've heard wildly varying descriptions of the quantities involved and exactly how they were stored, whether they were unopened, etc.

Tabe

[tbob]

About 10 years ago I was contacted by a guy who sells on ebay and lives in the area about a guy who wandered in to his business (the guy used to have a restaurant with tons of 60's cards displayed on the walls) and said he had some cards for sale, pre-war. I walked down there and he had a handful of T205s. I bought 2 Mattys, one VG+ the other EXMT and a NRMT Dooin. The guy who called me bought a common and a HOFer also. The seller was from Louisiana and he supposedly had a whole set of T205s plus some Victorys and Kottons and was going to be back. We started wondering about the cards the more we talked to him because we had the sneaky feeling the cards were actually his brother's He was supposed to get back with us but never did. I STILL feel that one of these days someone from Louisiana is going to turn loose of a large collection of Victorys in to the hobby but it hasn't happened yet....