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There are still exciting original collections that occasionally surface of VERY old classic baseball cards that have been passed down as family keepsakes.

Cracker Jacks have always been a favorite with us and with all collectors. Perhaps no other baseball card set elicits a more positive emotional reaction than the Cracker Jack Ball Players cards issued in 1914 and 1915. These are what vintage cards are supposed to look like!  And who is not familiar with the brand name of Cracker Jacks? In all the entire world of collectibles, there are few products that better epitomize classic Americana, or are naturally a focus of serious collecting interest, more than Cracker Jack. People have been collecting prizes associated with Cracker Jack since they were first introduced in the 1890s. The brand, its wholesomeness, and its association with premiums packaged one per box is part of our culture, a collective memory of a simpler time that will forever be engrained in the popular consciousness of America. Anytime we get a call with Cracker Jacks, it is exciting, but it was all the more exciting when we got a call from a gentleman with a very substantial collection (154 different cards including Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, and twenty-seven additional Hall of Famers!) that had been carefully saved personally by his father.

In his own words:

My father Harry Dolton Smith, raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, at the age of 15, bought the complete set of 1915 Cracker Jack Ball Players, in 1915 for $.25 and two box tops. I think he said the display book was extra and he couldn’t afford to buy it. He started to collect the 1914 set but it was too costly to buy each box of confection, and the cards were damaged by the candy. So he jumped at the chance to buy the whole set in 1915. 

The cards remained with his father, Jules J.V. Smith in Saint Paul, until 1962 when my grandfather brought them to my Dad on a visit to our home in Tacoma, WA. I remember my Dad showing me the cards several times and he kept them in his sock drawer in a stack. I asked why the set was no longer complete. He didn’t know because the set was complete when he left home for the west in 1934. He thought maybe my cousins, who lived with our grandfather, may have taken them out to play with them and maybe they traded them with other kids. We don’t know. 

In 1973, my Dad gave the cards to me, laughingly saying maybe someday these will pay for your kid’s college education. I have had them ever since and a number of years ago I put each card into a sleeve and have kept them in a safe deposit box. 

A side note. My father and grandfather were both particularly interested in the Comiskey card. My grandfather was a very good baseball player and actually played for the Saint Paul Saints in the 1890s when the team was owned by Comiskey. A short time later, Comiskey moved the team to Chicago as we know, and the rest is White Sox history. My grandfather told me Comiskey wanted him to go to Chicago with the team but he declined. His mother, my great grandmother, disapproved of baseball and the life style they lead, and made him promise, on her death bed, that he would not play baseball professionally. He kept the promise but regretted it. 

Stephen Smith

August 5, 2010

In 1975 Mr. Smith checked on the value of the collection, bringing them to a local card store, and found that at the time they had a value of approximately $1,300. Fortunately, he was not looking to sell them at that time (good move!) but was just curious of their value. Thirty-five years later and now retired from a very successful career in law enforcement, it is finally time to sell the family card collection. The collection will be featured in REA’s Spring 2011 auction.

Over the years, we have had other collections of Cracker Jacks, including many ultra high grade key cards that in some cases have sold for literally tens of thousands of dollars each. But there just seemed to be something special to us about this collection. Maybe it’s the fact that it was the childhood collection of our consignor’s father, and they have been so carefully stored by the same family since 1915. Maybe it’s the fact that the cards are so bright and fresh and clean, yet have wear from handling that makes their technical grades modest, and which therefore makes the cards so much more affordable than untouched Mint examples. Maybe it’s the fact that we know the provenance of the collection and we know that nothing has ever been done to improve their condition. It’s probably all of these things. Plus the fact that we are suckers for all things associated with Cracker Jack! The one thing we’re sure of is that it struck us that this true original-owner Cracker Jack collection is really what collecting is all about. We thought collectors would enjoy reading about this collection, be encouraged that there are still extraordinary original-owner collections out there yet to be discovered, and appreciate seeing a preview!

Sincerely,

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/

Note: we are getting many cards graded, and are still deciding how to group the collection. It is likely that we will keep the number of lots modest so that it is practical for the collection to be kept intact if someone wishes to buy all the lots representing the collection, while at the same time offering key cards such as Joe Jackson and Ty Cobb separately.  

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This T206 Wagner warning could have been written this week. We get offered non authentic T206 Wagners practically every day. But this warning is not from us and it is not current! It is from legendary hobby pioneer Charles Bray to advanced collector Ted Colzaretti in a letter dating from circa 1957!

Charles Bray, of course, was the first baseball card auctioneer, publisher of The Card Collector’s Bulletin, and co-publisher of The American Card Catalog. Along with Jefferson Burdick, Bray was one of the true original founding pioneers of the entire card collecting hobby we know today. Rummaging through some old hobby related papers that once belonged to Ted Colzaretti (the family sold his collection in 1983), I ran across this letter from Charles Bray. I had never read it before so it was just like a new discovery, even though it’s been sitting here in a box in the closet for over twenty-five years. To me this was a fascinating find and I thought others would enjoy seeing it too. In addition to warning his collecting friend of a fake Wagner in the Philadelphia area, Charles Bray also discusses the number of authentic Wagners known by him to date, which is especially amusing as this has always been a subject of great interest and speculation to collectors, and remains so among modern collectors to this day. His reference to knowing of just three T206 Wagner examples in total gives us an idea of just how few were widely known to exist with certainty in the early days of the organized hobby as late as the 1950s.     

The letter is pictured above and reads in full as follows: 

“Dear Ted,

I hope you can land the Wagner card. I have a standing offer from me in good condition for $50.00 for one any time. The picture of the Wagner card is on page 28 in cat. All I have ever heard of are Sweet Caporals so the one you located is probably genuine. Take a good look at the thickness of the card to be sure it has not been doctored up. There was one appeared in Phila recently. It was a caramel card glued to a Piedmont back. It was not a portrait card but a full length figure. A check with the catalog would show it to be a phoney. I will probably be away on vacation all of March. I know of only 3 Wagners. Mr. Good has one, there is one in Burdick Collection, Gammon has one. There may be more, but I don’t know of any more. Regards and good collecting till I see you.

Charles R Bray.”

Ted Colzaretti was one of the premier collectors of his day. Apparently he was working on a deal for an authentic Wagner, and having located one, was discussing it via written correspondence with Charles Bray.  Colzaretti did in fact have a T206 Wagner, and it is likely the Colzaretti Wagner is the very card he is communicating about here with Charles Bray (just prior to actually buying or trading for it). Many years later, when Colzaretti’s collection was sold, Barry Halper wound up with his T206 Wagner. The card was authentic but did have some serious condition problems. It sold for all of $4,000 at the time.  It was a duplicate (or maybe a triplicate!) for Barry Halper, but he was always happy to have an extra Wagner lying around for trading. Shortly afterward, Barry learned that the Hall of Fame did not have a Wagner, so he gave the Colzaretti Wagner as a gift to the Hall of Fame, where it resides to this day. (This was the HOF’s first T206 Wagner. Today they have two. In 1998 the Hall of Fame obtained Halper’s far superior best T206 Wagner example, along with other items, as a donation from Major League Baseball, allowing them to display one T206 Wagner in Cooperstown and another in a travelling exhibit at the same time).  

It’s also interesting to note that in the 1970s there was a great controversy surrounding the discovery of an E95 caramel card of Wagner in a batting pose that had a “T206 back”. At the time, many collectors believed it was a new T206 pose of Wagner. Others insisted it was a caramel card that had long ago been rebacked with a T206.  The owners (several collectors who jointly bought the collection that included the card) themselves were also skeptical, but hopeful. Countless news stories were written about the new “discovery” and its great potential significance.  In the end, the owners decided to soak the card in water, and in minutes it came apart, revealing the caramel card back hiding under the thin glued-on T206 back, and once and for all determining that it was definitely a caramel card (probably put together by a frustrated collector decades earlier who could not find a Wagner to complete his T206 set). The drama and attention the card received at the time was extraordinary, and is part of the rich history of the legend of the T206 Wagner. We will never know for sure, but we can’t help but wonder if the card that Charles Bray is talking about in this letter is this very card. Our best guess is that it is likely.

So there you have it: It’s a short letter, but really, there’s a lot to it! Maybe more than anything, this letter shows that the more things change, the more the stay the same!

We have enjoyed preserving and sharing this slice of hobby history on the REA blog. We hope you have enjoyed reading about it!

 Sincerely,

Robert Lifson

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

www.RobertEdwardAuctions.com

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Looking through some old hobby publications this week, I happened to run across the program for the 1982 Detroit Convention. In “the old days,” before there was an official National Convention, the Detroit convention really WAS the National Convention! It wasn’t called the National Convention. It wasn’t planned that way. It just happened. Even after the official National Convention came into being, the Detroit convention was like a second National. I’m sure the fact that the Detroit area had so many old time collectors played a role. And Detroit was a drivable distance from so many other states with a lot of collectors. Somehow, in the 1970s and 1980s, this was the one show that everyone went to. Carol and Lloyd Toerpe seemed to run everything and “make it happen” (at least as far as I could tell) though I’m sure they had lots of help. Collecting legends like Frank Nagy and Don Schlaff (whose spirit for the true joy of collecting has been passed to his nephew, super-collector Pat Preece), and Dick Reuss roamed the aisles. So many dealers who played such a big role in the early days of conventions were fixtures at these shows. Many collectors and dealers, including Bill Heitman (legendary longtime collector and author of “The Monster”), Mike Wheat (longtime collector/ dealer, and very active current owner of Mike Wheat Cards), Bill “King of Commons” Henderson (who hasn’t dealt with, or at least met The King of Commons over the past thirty years?), and others are still active to this day. (See dealer table list page!) With the National Convention happening just this past week, I thought that others - both those that personally remember the old Detroit shows as well as those that have only heard of them - would enjoy seeing a few favorite pages from the 1982 convention program.

Sincerely,

Robert Lifson

President

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

www.RobertEdwardAuctions.com

Watchung, New Jersey.  The strength of the high-end baseball card and memorabilia market amazed collectors at Robert Edward’s record-setting May 1, 2010 auction. An astounding 181 lots sold for $10,000 or more. The most anticipated baseball card and memorabilia auction in the world always generates great excitement and strong prices. Collectors, dealers, and market watchers look to REA’s annual event as the key barometer of the health of the market and the most important auction event of the year. According to REA president Robert Lifson, “The market was extremely strong. While common sense tells us that our market is not immune to problems in the larger economy, you’d never know it from the results. This was our most successful auction ever. More items sold for over $50,000 than ever before (twenty-eight lots), and more items sold for $100,000 or more than ever before (nine lots). It was also the smoothest running auction  in all respects, including collecting the money. You’d think that there would be a few delays here and there in collecting money and getting it in the hands of consignors when you’re talking about ten million dollars. There weren’t. And all consignors were paid in full, 100 cents on the dollar with no adjustments due to nonpaying bidders, and in record time.”

The positive numbers and the facts speak for themselves: No auction in history has ever generated the dollar volume of this auction for vintage baseball card sales. By virtually every measure, despite economic pressures of the economy, the historic spring REA auction was the most successful baseball card auction in the history of collecting. The total $10.12 million in sales for the auction set a new world record for a multi-owner all-consignment baseball card and memorabilia auction. This total also represents a new world record for any multi-consignor auction in which the auction house, auction house executives, and employees are prohibited from bidding in the auction. In fact, the $10.12 million dollar auction total is also a new record dollar volume ever to be hammered down in a single day in the history of sports collecting. No other sports card or memorabilia auction in the history of the universe (except REA) has ever sold anywhere near this dollar volume in a single day. Even the number of catalogs shipped was a record! 

The stunning prices on all nineteenth and early twentieth century baseball cards and memorabilia totaled a staggering $10.12 million dollars across 1720 lots. The average lot sold for $5,883. The T206 Wagner (reserve $50,000) in the lowest possible grade (PSA 1) sold for $282,000. This card was named “The Connecticut Wagner” because in 1985 it was purchased by the consignor at a card convention in Connecticut for the then-princely sum of $10,000 and its mysterious whereabouts (until unveiled in this auction) have been completely unknown in the organized collecting world for the past twenty-five years.

The big money, however, was not reserved only for the T206 Wagner, which can always be counted on to sell for well into six figures in any grade. The T3 Turkey Red set (reserve $50,000; est. $150,000+) cruised to a final record selling price of $246,750. “It deserved to” said REA president Robert Lifson. “It was the highest grade T3 set ever auctioned. It would be almost impossible to put that set together in that condition for any amount of money. When extraordinary quality is offered, it’s interesting to see the great number of big buyers that come out of the woodwork at REA. Millions of dollars in aggressive bids came in for high quality lots like this one. Some other collecting fields are having trouble selling big ticket lots. That is not the case at REA. We work hard all year long to make the auction a special event. Everyone knows the investment in time and energy and effort we put into the auction, and collectors know the job REA does. We only have one auction a year. It really is a special event. Collectors know it and respond.” 

The 1886-1890 Old Judge Tobacco card of Cornelius Doyle, an obscure California League player who is an extreme rarity in the set, realized an incredible $129,250, setting an all-time record price for an Old Judge card anywhere EVER! For many, the highlight of the auction was the collection of the legendary Sy Berger, universally recognized as the “Father of the Modern Bubble-Gum Card”.  Sy Berger was the face of Topps for over fifty years, and is one of the most important hobby industry pioneers in the history of collecting. The 1953 Topps original artworks from the Berger Collection, highlighted by the Satchel Paige artwork which realized $58,750, and other various souvenirs sold for a total of over three-hundred thousand dollars. As intended, this offering gave collectors on budgets large and small a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have an item that once belonged to this collecting legend and cultural icon.

Additional extraordinary highlights and six-figure items: An uncut sheet of 1933 Goudey bubble gum cards with three Babe Ruths and a Lou Gehrig (reserve $25,000) sold for $117,500. The newly discovered 1889 Goodwin Round Album advertising poster, universally recognized as one of the baseball collecting world’s greatest display pieces, is one of only four examples known. The poster was consigned by a noncollecting family who saved it because they appreciated the graphics but had no idea of its great value. With a reserve of $25,000, it soared to a stunning final selling price of $105,750.  An exceptional 1916 Babe Ruth Sporting News baseball card, the first card ever issued of Ruth as a Major Leaguer, in Near Mint condition, sold for record $82,250. An 1910 Old Mill Tobacco card of Joe Jackson (reserve $25,000), featuring the future Black Sox star when he was in the minor leagues long before being banned from baseball, realized an impressive $111,625. This very card was once owned by legendary collector Barry Halper. It has risen dramatically (over tenfold!) in value over the past ten years. In 1999 it was offered in the famous Halper auction where it sold at that time for $10,925. The 1903 World Series program, of special note both for its great rarity and for being from the very first game of the very first World Series, (reserve $25,000) realized $94,000. The bat Babe Ruth used to hit his 702nd homerun sold for a very healthy $111,625, setting a record for a Babe Ruth bat from the 1935 era due to its exceptional provenance and special historical significance. The famous T206 Ty Cobb with Ty Cobb Tobacco advertisement on the back card (reserve $10,000), which has always been revered as one of the key rarities of vintage card collecting, also far exceeded expectations, shattering the $100,000 mark for the first time ever at REA and selling for $111,625.

An extraordinary high-grade complete set of 1912 T207 Brown Background tobacco cards, all PSA graded, was broken down into 29 separate lots, and sold for a staggering total of $205,625. “The Merkle Ball” was another very special memorabilia auction highlight and a great privilege to offer for REA. This was the ball that cost the Giants the pennant in 1908! If only Fred Merkle had touched second base, everything would have been different…Unfortunately, he didn’t. The ball held by Chicago second baseman Johnny Evers when he touched second base, forcing Merkle out and changing the course of the 1908 pennant race for the New York Giants, changed hands in the May 2010 REA auction for record $76,375. In its last public appearance in 1993, “The Merkle Ball” was purchased at auction by actor Charlie Sheen at auction for $30,250.

“We have no control over exactly what comes to the marketplace for auction. Important collections and items usually come to auction due to unique life-changing circumstances,” notes REA president Robert Lifson. “Collectors pass away, people retire, they buy houses, children go to college, sometimes medical bills or even divorce are responsible. All things we have no control over. So we judge ourselves by the things that are in our control, just trying to do a great job in every way possible, from the moment we get an item in to the moment when the consignor is paid. That’s our goal. That’s what we do. Whatever the size of the auction, we know that if we do a great job, everything else will take care of itself. We can’t count on having ten million dollar auctions every year, because the material we sell is rare and we have no ability to come up with special material just because we’re having an auction. In 2007 it was an eight million dollar auction. This year it was a ten million dollar auction. Maybe next year it will be a five million dollar auction. We have no idea! But we do know that whatever material we have, it will be presented in the best way possible for collectors and for sellers.”

The REA results are extremely encouraging for all collectors and sellers, but REA’s Robert Lifson also wants collectors to recognize that while the overall market is strong, the market for any individual card or item can fluctuate. “There were many record prices, but it is also the case that the economy may have brought a few prices down to reality here and there. This is normal and healthy for any market, and in some cases may just be related not to the larger economy but to the internal forces of the vintage card and memorabilia market. If a relatively common card that in Excellent condition sells for $50, but has sold in the past for $5,000 just because it is in Mint condition, and now sells for $4,000, it’s down 20% from its peak. If you were the one who bought the card for $5,000 and sold it for $4,000, you’re not happy. You lost 20%. But if you paid a modest sum for it and sold it for $4,000, or saved it in a childhood collection and it happened to survive in Mint condition, you might not be able to believe your good fortune. $4,000 would seem like hitting the lottery! We see these scenarios all the time, sometimes on the very same cards and items in the same auction. In other words, two sellers of similar or identical items can receive the same price, and one can be disappointed because his card doesn’t sell for a record price, while the other seller is thrilled beyond words. Timing can be very important. Everything at REA sells for top dollar, but sometimes top dollar can change a little with time, depending on supply and demand, and what’s in fashion with collectors.”

The auction results at REA are widely recognized as providing the most important and respected snapshot of the vintage baseball card and memorabilia marketplace of the entire year. “We work really hard to make everything perfect and the real collectors and most serious buyers really appreciate what we do. The disclosure policies of the REA auction process, our focus on there being no conflicts of interest, the unparalleled confidence that bidders have in REA, all of these factors naturally contribute to strong results and the market’s confidence in these results,” explains Lifson. “The fact that REA combats shill bidding, and so many other common fraudulent industry practices, and the fact that we are activists against the fraud, crime, and corruption that plague the field, these are all elements that promote bidder confidence. We try to protect our bidders. Our customers never have to worry about the auction house or its employees bidding against them. And our prices are real. That may sound like an unnecessary statement, but in this field it isn’t. Our bid levels are real, and bidders know this. It makes a big difference. The most serious bidders can and do bid at REA with the ultimate confidence in the integrity of the auction process. It shows in the prices.”

Additional Highlights:

The T206 Eddie Plank, one of card collecting’s most legendary rarities, in Very Good condition (reserve $10,000) sold for $58,750. A lower grade T206 Plank example, in Good condition, but extremely attractive for the grade, sold for an almost as strong $49,937. The W600 Sporting News cabinet cards of Christy Mathewson (reserve $5,000) and Ty Cobb (reserve $1,500), each set records for these important rarities, selling for $35,250 and $38,188 respectively. The highest graded T206 Walter Johnson (reserve $10,000), graded Mint 9 by PSA, was hammered down for an extraordinary $55,813, also by far a record price in any grade for this classic 1910 era card. Nineteenth century cards were very strong, as always at REA. Two sizable collections of 1886-1890 Old Judges (each comprised of over 300 cards) sold for $82,250 and $94,000 respectively, while high-grade Hall of Famers such as Ed Delahanty ($16,450) and Kid Nichols ($15,275) sold for record prices individually. 

 A 1911 D304 Brunners Bread card of Ty Cobb, graded Near Mint to Mint by PSA sold for an exceptionally strong $94,000. An example of the famous 1933 Goudey #106 Lajoie, perhaps the most popular card of the 1930s, was also included in the sale. Always extremely valuable in any grade, this very attractive Ex-Mt example was from the Charlie Conlon Collection, and sold for $26,438. The T206 Walter Johnson with the Drum Cigarettes advertising back proved once again that all significant rarities associated with the famous T206 White Border set are always of great interest to collectors, especially important back rarities. This was the first Walter Johnson Drum back example that REA has ever offered. The reserve was $1,000. It did not go unnoticed. The final selling price was $38,187.    

Additional significant auction highlights: One of the most interesting cards in the auction was the 1893 Just So Tobacco card of Buck Ewing, a particularly exciting recent discovery. Ewing was previously unknown to exist, though because the rare Just So Tobacco card set features only members of the 1893 Cleveland Spiders, and Ewing was on this team,  collectors have long speculated that a card of him may have been issued. This card survived behind the walls of a house in Pennsylvania. Since approximately its year of issue in 1893, it had been nailed to a wood stud behind a plaster wall, where it had remained for decades until its accidental discovery. REA’s consignor discovered the card while doing some work remodeling the bathroom of his mother’s home, which had been built in the late nineteenth century and had been in the family since the 1920s. He began by tearing apart a plaster wall, creating holes in the process. When he looked inside the first hole in the wall with his flashlight to assess the situation, he was startled to see what appeared to be a small photo staring back at him, stuck to a crossbeam with an old square head nail. It was the Just So Tobacco card of Ewing! One important fact about baseball cards that is proven time and time again: Important rarities sell for big money in any condition. Despite the holes and being in Poor condition, the Ewing card sold for $17,625, more than paying for the home renovations, and adding a new player to the checklist of the extremely rare 1893 Just So Tobacco card set in the process.

More Highlights: The 1903 E107 Breisch-Williams Candy card of the legendary “Wee Willie” Keeler in Good condition realized $21,150; 1914 Cracker Jack #103 Joe Jackson in Vg-Ex condition (reserve $3,000) sold for $19,975; 1952 Topps #311 Mickey Mantle, graded EX-MT by PSA, sold for $19,975; Joe Jackson’s rookie card, issued in 1909 by the American Caramel Company and another one of card collecting’s great classics, was offered in PSA 5 EX condition and sold for a very impressive $44,063. A 1911 T205 Gold Border set (reserve $10,000) ranging in grade from Poor to Ex-Mt condition sold for $29,375; while an example of key T205 Gold Border rarity Hoblitzell “with no stats on reverse” variation card in EX-MT condition sold for $26,437 all alone! An uncut sheet of 1933 Goudey Gum Company cards including card #1 Benny Bengough (reserve $10,000) was another highlight, selling for $32,312. A complete set of 1921 E253 Oxford Confectionery: the #1 SGC Set (reserve $5,000, estimate $10,000+) sold for $26,437. A complete set of 1934-1936 Batter-Up Complete Set realized $29,375. The auction results of an impressive original “childhood” collection of 1930s bubble-gum cards, which has remained literally untouched since the 1930s and was saved by the family of the original owner, overwhelmed the consignors. Presented in twelve lots (one of which was just the wrappers that once held the cards!), the childhood collection sold for an incredible $118,381.  

Modern rarities and complete sets were on fire: An extremely high grade 1957 Topps set sold for an astounding $76,375, an all-time record price for this set. The 1956 Topps Complete PSA-Graded NM-MT 8 Set: #11 PSA Set Registry (reserve $10,000, estimate $25,000+) sold for $41,125. The two cases of 1975 Topps “minis” (each of which originate from the legendary Charlie Conlon Collection) sold for $11,750 and $12,925 respectively. A 1972 Topps set in extraordinary high grade (including 173 GEM MINT cards) sold for $38,187, by far a record price for a 1972 Topps set at REA (and for any post-1970 Topps set). 

Record prices were set on countless items, both in cards and memorabilia, and spanning all eras. The 1720 lots, offered on behalf of 276 different consignors, were won by an incredible 678 different bidders, illustrating the power of the marketing and auction process, and the breadth of bidder interest. Successful bidders included some of the nation’s most prestigious museums, universities, and corporate institutional collections, as well as representatives from numerous Major League teams. “All areas of the auction received a tremendous response and very strong prices. Nineteenth-century baseball items were unbelievable, as always, as were all early baseball cards, advertising and display pieces, graded cards, Babe Ruth items, autographs, memorabilia, non-sport cards and artwork.”

Thousands of bidders from all over the world participated. Exactly 24,716 bids were placed and more than 99% of the lots sold (all but four). The average lot sold for $5,883 and on average realized more than double the high-end estimate.

Notes REA president Robert Lifson, “Part of the great success of the auction, of course, is due to having great material, but part of this is also because all of the most serious collectors in the world are comfortable bidding at Robert Edward Auctions. Our Honest-Auto Bid system allows bidders to place limit bids and know that they are the only ones in the world that know their limit. The fact that we are truly an all-consignment auction, maybe the only one in the field, and the fact that we don’t allow auction house executives, employees, or the auction house itself to bid, is also very confidence-inspiring to serious bidders. Compared to some companies, Robert Edward Auctions is a small firm. But that’s actually part of our strength. We pay attention to details. We do everything better. No matter what criteria you have, we believe that we do the best job in the world for buyers and consignors. Our philosophy has always been very simple: If we do a great job, great things will happen. We don’t take any shortcuts in processing collections. Bidders have confidence in our expertise and opinions. We don’t own the material so we naturally have more credibility than auction houses that are also dealers. Our commitment to research and authentication is universally recognized as unparalleled. Our expertise in general is highly valued by bidders in a way that is very rare for an auction house. There are many collectors that only bid with us. It’s not an accident. We go out of our way to do a better job. It shows in the prices realized.” 

The 1911 T211 Red Sun Tobacco Card Collection of 74 (out of 75 in the set) was another extraordinary auction highlight. The near-set carried a reserve of $5,000. The total Standard Catalog guide value on the set in the offered condition was less than $15,000. “We knew this was a special set. The T211 set is one of the rarest of all 1910 era card issues, and this was the largest collection to ever come to auction” notes REA president Robert Lifson. “This was the kind of set that collectors throw the guide books out the window when assessing. With special cards like these, only an auction can really give insight into true market value.” But there’s more to the story of the sale of this set. “The way the REA auction is run and closes ensures that lots go for what they’re really worth, and sell to the person who is really willing to pay the most. That’s what all auctions are supposed to do, but the way some auctions close lots, they often don’t accomplish this. REA always does. This isn’t just market theory. Our results prove it. This can be seen time and time again in REA’s auctions. The T211 Red Sun set is a prime example. A reasonable person would have thought that the bidding for this set was done at $25,000, which was the high bid on the morning of the day of the auction. No bids had come in for more than four days on this lot prior to the $25,000 bid, and that impressive level was almost double even the highest guide prices. But the unique REA auction process makes sure that the auction isn’t over until the high bidder on every lot is actually the bidder who is willing to pay the most for that lot, and that every bidder has the opportunity to move their money around from lots they have been out-bid on to other lots they might still have an interest in, without being shut out of the auction. This is great for bidders. This is great for consignors. The auction officially ended at exactly 3:53 AM the morning of May 2rd. In the final hours of the auction, just before the auction close, the T211 set was bid up from its already impressive hammer price of $25,000 to an even more incredible, simply unbelievable final selling price of $88,125. That’s a big difference. On top of that, in the remaining minutes of the auction that followed, the unsuccessful underbidder went on to move his funds to other lots that he might not have otherwise bid on, moving other expensive lots much higher. The winning T211 set bidder was able to add this set as a key addition to one of the most important and advanced collections in private hands. The consignor of this lot naturally made out much better, and the consignors of other lots also benefit. No other auction process could have delivered this result. And these same auction dynamics occur repeatedly at REA with other lots, large and small.”   

Additional Auction Highlights:

Nineteenth-century cards and memorabilia were extremely strong, setting record after record, as is always the case at REA. The newly-discovered 1875 Hartford Blues CDV team card with Candy Cummings (purchased by the consignor on eBay for $200 just months before being consigned to the REA auction) sold for an incredible $17,625. The 1887 Red Stocking Cigar advertising trade card of Charles Radbourn  (res. $5,000) was another exciting noncollector family find. Fortunately saved for decades in a drawer, this gem was highly prized by advanced collectors, as expected, and sold for $19,975. The 1887 Kalamazoo Bats tobacco card of Mays graded Fair by SGC realized $15,275.

Memorabilia was also extremely strong: Babe Ruth’s 1917-1920 era bat (once owned by Barry Halper) sold for $64,625; Ty Cobb’s bat dating from 1922-1924 realized $55,813; Lou Gehrig’s signed New York Yankees contract from 1938, his last full season (res. $5,000), set a record for the highest price ever realized for a player’s contract at REA, selling for $70,500. Al Kaline’s 1954 Tigers jersey was consigned by a former ballplayer who had a “cup of coffee” in the Tigers farm system in the 1950s. He was given then-recycled jersey to wear in spring training in 1956, and saved it as a souvenir of his playing days for over 50 years. The jersey sold for $21,115.

The Fred Tenney Collection, consigned directly by the Tenney family, was highlighted by a 1908 New York Giants uniform (reserve $5,000) which sold for $29,375. An extraordinary panoramic photograph of the American Negro Giants including the legendary Rube Foster was offered with a reserve of $5,000 and was hammered down for $35,250. A rarely seen 1905 World Series program, another recently discovered gem, sold for $16,450. The 1922 Giants World Series ring of Hall of Famer Ross Youngs, of all the more special note being the first year players were issued World Series rings, sold for $58,750. Autographs were particularly strong. This auction featured one of the most impressive personally collected single-owner signature collections ever offered by REA. Assembled by one of the pioneers of baseball autograph collecting and almost all obtained in person or through the mails in the 1950s and 1960s, the collection was broken down into 32 lots, and sold for a total of $110,625. Prices on rare single-signed baseballs (such as Harry Hooper; reserve $1,000; sold for $8,812) and signed photos (1928 Ruth-Gehrig photo; reserve $5,000; sold for $17,625) were also extremely strong. The 1943 autograph book assembled as a youngster by famous baseball author Donald Honig featuring the signatures of many Negro League stars including Josh Gibson, one of the rarest and most important of all Hall of Famer signatures, was recognized as extraordinary by many advanced collectors. But no one could have predicted the incredible battle for this HOF signature treasure. Opening with a reserve of just $1,000, the dust did not settle until the final price reached $32,312. 

Other sports and Non-Sports:

The auction also included an impressive selection of select items from other sports, Americana, nonsport cards, and original card artwork, all of which sold extremely strong, including: A 1969-70 Gordie Howe Detroit Red Wings photo-matched jersey (reserve $10,000) realized $58,750. The 1968 Topps Test Basketball Complete PSA-Graded Set of 22 cards (reserve $5,000) sold for an extraordinary $29,375. An exceptionally high-grade 1949 Leaf Football complete set of 49 cards was hammered down at $23,500. The 1940 R145 Gum, Inc. Superman Complete Set (#2 PSA Registry) realized $32,312. The 1955 Topps “Rails and Sails” unopened wax box sold for a record $6,462. The original artwork to card #51 “Crushing The Martians” in the 1963 Topps Mars Attacks set, a popular card with strong graphics including Martians (reserve of $5,000) sold for $26,437. President Barack Obama’s car was by far the most unusual of the few Americana lots offered. The 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee was consigned by an Illinois woman who bought the car used in 2004. When she bought it, the sales person told her to save all the documentation. “You never know, he could be President some day.” She’s been driving it ever since, but with over 130,000 miles on it, the jeep was approaching the end of its life as a reliable vehicle. It was time for a new car. Rather than trade it in, she contacted Robert Edward Auctions. REA decided to offer the car as a unique historical collectible, and to use the car as an opportunity to raise money for charity, donating all REA commissions to CARE. CARE, a leading humanitarian organization devoted to fighting global poverty, was chosen because of the great importance of its work and because President Barack Obama has personally expressed support for this charity. The minimum bid was The Kelly Blue Book value of $3,500. When the dust settled, the car sold for $26,437! The auctioning of the car (which was purchased by University Archives) has provided the consignor with $20,250, far exceeding expectations and more than enough to make a significant contribution toward the purchase of her next vehicle, while at the same time raising $6,137 for CARE.

Many other auction records were shattered for pre-1948 baseball cards, nineteenth-century baseball cards and memorabilia, non-sport cards, and Americana. Further information and complete auction results are available online at http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/

Copies of the 750-page full-color premium catalog are also still available free. Go to http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/, click “Free Catalog,” and fill in your name and address. Robert Edward Auctions is currently assembling its next sale. For further information contact: Robert Edward Auctions, PO Box 7256, Watchung, NJ or call (908)-226-9900.

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Robert Edward Auctions, LLC is a one of the world’s leading specialty auction houses, devoted exclusively to the sale of rare baseball cards, memorabilia, and Americana.

                        

                                       click images to enlarge

The spring auction catalogs will mail on April 9, 2010. We will put the auction online a few days later (we may actually be able to do this earlier as we are ahead of schedule) and the final day of bidding will be Saturday May 1, 2010.

A quick reminder from Robert Edward Auctions: If you are a new collector or for any reason have never been on our mailing list, we make our catalogs available free of charge and would be happy to send you a complimentary copy of our spring auction catalog. You don’t have to bid or be a big collector to get a free catalog. It’s our pleasure to send a catalog to anyone interested in collecting, or the history of baseball!

Please go to http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/ , click on “Free Catalog” on the REA “contact” page and provide your name and address. Catalogs mail on April 9, 2010. (If you have moved please let us know also so we send your 2010 catalog to the correct address). For those interested in additional information at this early date, below is the REA pre-auction press release for the sale. It’s going to be a great auction. We appreciate the support of all the consignors, who have provided the incredible material, and we appreciate all the kind words of support from our many friends in the collecting world all year long. We have worked really hard to do justice to every item. We hope everyone enjoys the auction and the catalog!

REA Presents Baseball Card and Memorabilia Treasures 1787-1987

WATCHUNG, NEW JERSEY.  The catalog for Robert Edward Auctions’ 2010 blockbuster sale will ship on April 9, 2010.  As always, the first copy off the presses will be presented to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York for their library, as is REA’s time-honored tradition.  The remaining 10,000 catalogs will be sent to collectors all over the world who have been anxiously awaiting the baseball collecting world’s most highly anticipated auction.  Inside the catalog will be hundreds of items worthy of the most prestigious collections in the world, both public and private.  The final date of bidding in this year’s auction will be Saturday, May 1.  Bidding begins April 12 by FAX, phone, or the Internet via the REA website at http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/.  Total sales for the event are expected to exceed $5 million.

Serious baseball collectors all over the world look forward to Robert Edward’s annual spring auction. “We try to make it a special event for everyone, to make it fun and at the same time to give collectors and historians some great reading with the catalog,” says REA president Robert Lifson. “With all the problems in the economy, and all the problems even in the baseball memorabilia world, we feel our auction has a special place in the field. We’re trying to do more than just have an auction. We’re trying to create a positive event that is historic, that makes collecting fun, and that everyone can be a part of, as a bidder, a consignor, or just as an observer.” REA’s reputation for hosting the baseball collecting world’s most highly-anticipated event is a reputation built on forty years of experience. “This year, the material is unbelievable. The Sy Berger Collection. The Merkle ball. The T206 Wagner. It’s hard to know what to highlight! It’s an amazing lineup.” 

The Sy Berger Collection. The legendary Sy Berger, universally recognized as the “Father of the Modern Bubble-Gum Card” has chosen Robert Edward Auctions to help him share his treasures with the collecting world. Sy Berger was the face of Topps for over fifty years, and is one of the most important hobby industry pioneers in the history of collecting. REA president Robert Lifson adds “No single individual played a greater role in creating the Topps products that made card collecting such an important part of popular culture in the 1950s to modern times. If it weren’t for Sy Berger’s contributions to the field, I’m not sure where we’d be! It is a special honor for us to have the opportunity to work with Sy. Even talking to him, I feel like I’m ten years old. It’s a great thrill for us.” It will also be a thrill for collectors. Sy Berger’s collection includes, among many other items, 117 original paintings used to create the 1953 Topps bubble-gum card set. The presentation at auction of these items represents a once-in-a-lifetime collecting opportunity that will always be remembered by us and by future generations of collectors.

The Merkle Ball. Possibly the most incredible and historically significant item in this year’s auction is the famous “Merkle Ball.”  This baseball is arguably the most important baseball of the 20^th Century. This is the actual ball held by Chicago second baseman Johnny Evers that, when he touched second base, reversed a game-winning hit and changed the course of the 1908 pennant race for the New York Giants.  Rookie Fred Merkle, playing in his first full game ever, found himself on first base in the bottom of the ninth, with the potential winning run on third and Giants shortstop Al Bridwell at the plate.  When Bridwell lined a single to center, the Giants scored what appeared to be the winning run. Unfortunately, since Merkle had simply followed baseball tradition by scampering to the clubhouse to avoid the fans swarming the field, he never touched second base. In the confusion of a seemingly lost game, Chicago second baseman Evers produced this baseball, stepped on second, and demanded that Merkle be called out at second on a technicality, invoking a little-enforced rule. When the umpire ruled Merkle out at second, the winning run was negated.  Mayhem ensued, and has never really abated. Since the field was then unplayable due to impending darkness and the presence of thousands of fans on the field, the game was called a tie. The season ended with the Giants and Cubs in a tie for first place, which forced the tie game to be replayed.  This time, the Cubs won handily, thereby winning the National League pennant.  Had Merkle simply touched second base, everything would have been different…The Giants would have been awarded the victory, and thus would have likely won the 1908 pennant.  Instead, the Cubs went on to win the World Series - the last Series they’ve ever won. This baseball is the ultimate relic from the most controversial call in baseball history - the one that resulted in Fred Merkle being vilified in the media for his entire career, and the one that resulted in the Cubs winning their last World Championship. The “Merkle Ball” was personally saved as a special keepsake by Johnny Evers and comes with an affidavit directly from the Evers family (reserve $25,000; estimate: open).  

The Jerry Smolin Collection. The auction also features the Jerry Smolin Collection of historic 19^th and 20^th Century baseball programs. Smolin has been well-known as a baseball historian and true connoisseur of baseball memorabilia for decades. He is one of the few collectors or dealers whose experience spans from the earliest days of the organized hobby as we know it to the present day, and he is universally respected and recognized as a true scholar in the field. His collection, not surprisingly, includes many of the greatest program rarities known to exist and is the finest collection of its type to ever come to auction. Included are many extraordinary scorecards from 1872 through 1914. 

T206 Honus Wagner. Also included in the auction is the most highly sought-after and valuable baseball card in the world - the T206 Honus Wagner.  Graded PR-FR 1 by PSA, the “Connecticut Wagner” has been lost to the collecting world, locked away in a safe deposit box for the past 25 years by its owners, a father and son collecting team, who purchased the card along with a complete T206 set for $10,000 at a Connecticut card show in the 1980s.  With a reserve of $50,000 and an estimate of $150,000+ for just the one card, that $10,000 investment seems like a very wise one today.  “But it’s important to remember,” notes REA president Robert Lifson, “that in 1985, $10,000 for baseball cards was real money. Just like today, there are people who thought that was a crazy price at the time. But that’s just what it was worth back then.” The sellers are still collectors, and are parting with their prize with great trepidation. “It’s just too valuable for us to keep. We can’t justify having a baseball card that might be worth as much as a couple hundred thousand dollars, or maybe even more. Whatever it sells for, we know we’re going to make out very well, and we’ll put the money to good use. Depending on exactly what it sells for, we may even take a small percentage to buy a few cards.”

Legendary Card Rarities. In addition to the “Connecticut Wagner,” this sale will include virtually every one of the baseball card collecting world’s most revered “Holy Grails”. One special highlight is a 1909-11 T206 Ty Cobb with Ty Cobb Back (est. $25,000+; res. $10,000), one of only approximately a dozen known. Another great highlight is a 1910 T210 Old Mill tobacco card of Joe Jackson (res. $25,000) featuring Jackson in the minor leagues long before stardom and the Black Sox scandal of 1919. This particular card, among the rarest and most sought-after of all tobacco cards, has the added distinction of having once been owned by legendary collector Barry Halper.  The T206 Eddie Plank, another of card collecting’s most famous rarities, is represented in this auction with not one, but THREE examples - two graded GOOD 30 by SGC (one with a $5,000 reserve and an estimate of $10,000/$20,000; the other with a $2,500 reserve and an estimate of $5,000/$10,000) and one graded VG 40 by SGC (with a $10,000 reserve and an estimate of $20,000/$30,000). The finest example in the world of one of Ty Cobb’s most important cards, the 1911 D304 Brunners Bread Ty Cobb (graded NM-MT by PSA) is featured (reserve $25,000, estimate: open).  Also represented is the classic 1933 Goudey Nap Lajoie, graded EX/NM 80 by SGC (reserve: $5,000, estimate: $10,000/$20,000). Two examples of Babe Ruth’s M101-4/5 Sporting News rookie card, one of the most famous and popular of all baseball cards, and the first to feature Ruth in the Major Leagues as a pitcher with the Boston Red Sox, are included in the auction, one in Excellent condition (res. $5,000; est. $10,000/$20,000+), the other in astounding Near Mint condition (res. $10,000; estimate: open).

Nineteenth Century Baseball. Nineteenth-century baseball cards and items of great historical significance have always been a special area of interest for REA. This auction has some of the most remarkable items in this important area to ever come to auction. A newly-discovered example of the famous 1889 Round Album poster is a special highlight (res. $25,000; est. $50,000+). An original circa 1865 albumen photograph of James Creighton, baseball’s first superstar, is the first photo of Creighton to ever come to auction and has been consigned directly from the family of legendary collector and sports writer Charles W. Mears (res. $10,000). Over eight-hundred Old Judge baseball cards issued by Goodwin & Co from 1886 to 1890 are also included in the sale. This is one of the largest offerings of Old Judges to ever come to auction. This unprecedented offering includes at least one of every Hall of Famer in the set, several important newly discovered checklist additions, a near-complete set of 1886 N172 Old Judge New York Mets “Spotted Ties” (reserve: $2,500, estimate: $5,000/$10,000+), and a particularly extraordinary high-grade example of 1889 N172 Old Judge of key Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty that is graded NM 84 by SGC (est. $5,000/$10,000; res. $2,500). Also presented will N173 Old Judge cabinets of Hall of Famers Roger Connor and Tim Keefe; a selection of 1887 N690 Kalamazoo Bats cards highlighted by a rare New York Mets portrait card of Al Mays (res. $10,000); an incredible newly discovered 1893 Just So Tobacco card of Buck Ewing (res. $5,000), the only documented copy in existence, which was literally found in the wall of a house being remodeled in Pennsylvania (when the bathroom was broken through, it was discovered nailed to a wood beam; it had been used as a marker during construction in the 1890s and had been there since the house was built); a newly-discovered 1887 Red Stocking Cigar card of Charles “Hoss” Radbourn  (reserve: $5,000, estimate: $10,000); and a host of rare and desirable cards from a wide variety of nineteenth-century issues.  Also included will be an extraordinary example of one of 19^th Century card collecting’s most intriguing and extreme rarities: an N172 Old Judge California League player - Cornelius Doyle of the San Francisco team of the California League.  This is the first California League Old Judge that REA has EVER had the opportunity to auction, and has a reserve of $100,000.

1933 Goudey Gum Uncut Sheets. This auction includes two of card collecting’s greatest sheets: The finest example in the world of the famous “Triple Ruth Sheet” which features 24 cards including three Babe Ruths and one Lou Gehrig (res. $25,000; est. $50,000+); and a 1933 Goudey “Bengough Sheet”, one of only two examples known and also the finest in the world, featuring key early number condition rarities including #1 Benny Bengough. This is the first “Bengough Sheet” to ever come to auction (res.$5,000; est. $10,000+). 

The Fred Tenney Collection: One of the great highlights of the auction and a special honor to present is The Fred Tenney Collection, consigned directly from Fred Tenney’s great-grandaughter. The Tenney Collection includes Fred Tenney’s 1908 New York Giants jersey (res. $5,000), Tenney’s Game-Used First Baseman’s Glove, as well as perhaps his most treasured keepsake: the 1897 Boston Trophy Ball, the decorated game ball that clinched the pennant for Boston over Baltimore on Septemeber 27, 1897. Fred Merkle was appearing in his very first full game on September 23, 1908 when the famous Merkle ball game occurred.  The player he was replacing in the lineup on that fateful day was veteran Fred Tenney. Tenney, one of the game’s greatest early stars, was nearing the end of a long and distinguished career in 1908. Fans and newspaper accounts of the day lamented the fact that if only Tenney had been kept in the lineup instead of being replaced by 19-year-old rookie Fred Merkle, the Giants would have won the game and the pennant. The consignment of the Merkle ball and the Tenney Collection in this same auction are totally unrelated and is simply a remarkable coincidence. It was meant to be!

Game-Used Bats:  The auction features THREE of the finest Babe Ruth game-used bats in existence. Each dates from a different period of his career, and is of extraordinary museum-caliber quality. Each accompanied by outstanding provenance: the 1916-1920 Ruth game-used bat was once the prize Ruth bat of the famous Barry Halper Collection; the 1920s Ruth game-used bat was a Christmas gift directly from Ruth to his great friend, restauranteur Jimmy Donahue, and is personally signed, dated (December 25, 1924), and inscribed to Donahue by Ruth; the third Ruth bat dates from 1934 and is the actual bat Ruth used to hit home run #702; it is signed by the Yankees team, including Ruth and Gehrig, and is accompanied by remarkable documentation including newspaper accounts tracing the bat’s history directly from Ruth’s hands, when he gave it as a special gift  between games of a double-header in 1934. It is one of only three known fully documented Ruth home run bats. Each of these Babe Ruth bats can lay claim to being one of the best in the world from its respective era. Each carries a minimum bid of $25,000 and an estimate of $50,000+.

The auction presents one of the finest selections of game-used bats to ever come to auction, including those of legendary Hall of Famers such as Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie McCovey, Frank Robinson, Miller Huggins, Joe Cronin, among others, as well as more modern stars such as Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. Also included is by far the finest Ty Cobb bat Robert Edward Auctions has ever offered and arguably the finest Ty Cobb bat in the world: an early 1920s side-written example that is graded A10 by MEARS (res. $25,000; est. $50,000+).

Game-Used Uniforms: An exceptional selection of important baseball uniforms includes Al Kaline’s 1954 rookie jersey (res. $5,000, est); 1911 Jack Killilay Boston Red Sox Road Jersey (Res. $2,500; est. $5,000/$10,000); 1919 Muddy Ruel New York Yankees Home Jersey, recently found in the Harry M. Stevens estate! (res. $2,500); 1969 Orlando Cepeda Atlanta Braves Game-Used Home Jersey (res. $2,500; est. $5,000+). In addition to uniforms, the auction includes Sandy Koufax’s circa 1955 game-used Brooklyn Dodgers Cap (res. $2,500; estimate: open), one of the most remarkable Sandy Koufax items in existence.

Autographs: Autographed memorabilia is another extremely strong area. In addition to autographed items from all eras, and signed photos of legends such as Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, the collection of hobby pioneer Larry Killeen, assembled with great care over a span of decades beginning in the 1950s, will be featured. The collection includes thousands of autographs and is especially noteworthy for its remarkable level of quality throughout and its inclusion of hundreds of Hall of Fame signatures, including checks, photos, letters, and one of the most advanced collections of signed Hall of Fame postcards ever assembled. The auction also presents an extremely impressive collection of particularly rare and noteworthy single-signed Hall of Fame balls, including Warren Giles, Chuck Klein, Ed Walsh, Bill Klem, Tom Connolly Willie Wells, Hilton Smith, Elmer Flick, Tris Speaker, Harry Hooper, Chick Hafey, and Sam Crawford, in addition to spectacular high-grade examples of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. The highlight of all autographed items in the auction may be the 1933 Ed Hanlon Letter (res. $5,000), originating from the collection of early hobby pioneer Dr. John O’Meara. It is the only Hanlon letter to ever come to auction and may be the only example known. Hanlon’s signature in any form is one of the true Holy Grails of Hall of Fame signature collecting and a virtually impossible-to-obtain stumbling block to any complete Hall of Fame signature collection.

Rare Books: The finest selection of rare baseball books ever presented by Robert Edward Auctions is highlighted by an extraordinary copy of the extremely rare children’s book, A Little Pretty Pocketbook, by John Newberry, published in 1787 by Isaiah Thomas, Worcester, Massachusetts (res. $5,000; est. $10,000+). It is one of fewer than five examples known to exist of this extremely important book, which is of enormous significance to the history of the game and America as it features the first known appearance in print of the word “Base-ball”. Exceptional examples of the 1861 Base Ball Player’s Pocket Companion (Res.$2,500; est. 5,000+) and 1868 Chadwick’s American Game of Base Ball (Res.$2,500; est. 5,000+) are also featured, each universally recognized as  among the most important and rare of all early baseball volumes.

Memorabilia: Extremely rare example of a 1922 New York Giants World Series ring - the first World Series ring ever produced! Its rarity notwithstanding, the fact that this ring was issued to Hall of Fame outfielder Ross Youngs, and remains in near-pristine condition, makes it one of the most significant World Series rings that could possibly exist (reserve $10,000; estimate $25,000+). Other extraordinary memorabilia items include: Lou Gehrig’s 1938 Signed New York Yankees Contract from his last full season (res. $5,000); the single greatest period Babe Ruth store advertising display ever produced: The four-foot tall 1928 Fro-Joy Ice Cream freestanding diecut advertising display (res. $10,000; estimate: open); and the “Mighty Casey” Original Bronze Statue by Mark Lundeen - The most famous of all baseball bronzes - Currently on Display at the Baseball Hall of Fame, on loan since 1987 (reserve $10,000; estimate: open). 

Prewar Card Rarities. In addition to the rarities described above, this year’s auction includes a staggering number of incredible prewar baseball cards. Among the many highlights are an exceedingly rare 1915 Victory Tobacco Ty Cobb Graded GOOD 30 by SGC (res.$5,000 est. $10,000); an outstanding example of the 1915 E145 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson, graded EX-MT 6 by PSA (res.  $2,500, est.$5,000/$10,000); and a high-grade 1916 M101-4 Sporting News Joe Jackson (graded PSA 7 with a reserve of $5,000 and an estimate of $10,000+).  The collecting of rare T206 advertising backs has long been a very popular area of collecting but no one has ever assembled a complete set. That may change soon. This auction will be the first in the history of collecting to include every rare advertising back in the T206 set. Included in the offering will even be the famous Southern League Old Mill Overprint back, the only example known of one of T206 collecting’s most legendary rarities (and for those who are familiar with the story, this very card was the inspiration for the fake T206 Old Mill Overprints that were circulating until 2009, when a group of dedicated collectors presented their findings to the FBI, whose interest exposed and put an end to the fraud, and convinced the perpetrator to make all victims whole). 

Additional prewar baseball cards highlights include: The highest-grade example of T205 Gold Border R. Hoblitzell “no stats” variation (graded PSA EX-MT 6), the extreme key rarity of the T205 set (res. $5,000; est. $10,000+); a collection of six 1904 Allegheny Card Company cards (res. $1,500, est. $3,000+); an extraordinary selection of W600 Sporting Life cabinets including Ty Cobb (res. $1,500, est.$3,000/$5,000) and Christy Mathewson (res. $5,000, est. $10,000+); 1909-1911 T206 Walter Johnson - PSA MINT 9 - Highest Graded (res. $10,000; est. $25,000+); a high-grade 1909 E90-1 American Caramel Joe Jackson (his rookie card) graded EX 5 by PSA (res. $10,000, est.$20,000+); a 1910 T210 Casey Stengel graded EX-MT 6 by PSA (reserve: $10,000, estimate: open); and an almost unprecedented offering of fifteen different examples from the 1911 T208 Cullivan’s Fireside tobacco cards including Hall of Famers Chief Bender (graded VG 40 by SGC) and Home Run Baker (graded VG/EX 50 by SGC). In some cases multiple examples of significant rarities are included: The auction presents FIVE examples of the famous T206 Sherry Magie error card in varying grades; three T206 Ray Demmitt St. Louis American variations; three T206 Bill O’Hara St. Louis variations including one graded EX 5 by PSA; and three T207 Brown Background Louis Lowdermilks including the highest-graded example in existence (graded NM 7 by PSA).

Postwar baseball cards are also in abundance in this incredible sale, including several examples of the classic 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle (graded PSA 6, SGC-50, and PSA 3); two high-grade 1954 Topps Hank Aaron rookie cards (both PSA NM-MT 8); a complete, uncut 1954 Wilson Franks sheet; and extraordinary, high-grade examples of 1950s and 1960s cards of the era’s top stars like Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, and more.

PSA-Graded Sets: Featured is a remarkable selection of PSA-graded complete sets of the card collecting world’s most classic issues. The highlight of these may be an incredible 1911 T3 Turkey Red set.  The  highest-grade complete set of T-3 Turkey Red cards to ever come to auction in the history of collecting is entirely graded by PSA (#2 on the PSA Registry; average grade 5.3), carries a reserve of $50,000, and is expected to sell for well in excess $100,000. The sale includes the #1 ranked T207 Brown Background set on the PSA Set Registry, by far the finest complete set of this classic issue to ever be assembled in the history of the universe! Nothing else even comes close. An incredible 146 of the 206 cards in the set are the highest graded examples. The set is in such incredibly high grade that, frankly, we’re not even sure how it came to be assembled. Because there are so many high value cards in the set, it has been broken down into twenty-nine lots, presenting the most valuable cards individually and in groups by condition. Additional graded sets: An extraordinary 1934-36 R318 Batter-Up set (#3 on the PSA registry, res.$10,000, est. $25,000+); 1938 R323 Goudey “Heads-Up” complete set (#7 on the PSA registry, res. $2,500; est. $5,000+); a 1949 Bowman PCL complete PSA-graded set (res. $2,500, est. $5,000+); a 1954 Bowman PSA-graded master set (#3 on the Registry, res. $5,000, est. $15,000); a 1956 Topps PSA-graded set (#11 on the Registry, res. $10,000, est. $30,000), a 1957 Topps PSA-graded master set (#5 on the Registry, res. $15,000, est. $30,000+); and an extraordinary 1972 Topps PSA-graded set (#3 on the Registry, the average grade is an astounding 9.2, res. $15,000, estimate: $30,000+).

Complete Sets: a 1909 T204 Ramly complete set (reserve: $10,000, estimate: $20,000/$30,000); a 1910 T211 Red Sun Tobacco complete set minus one (reserve: $5,000, estimate: open); a 1909-11 T206 near-complete SGC-graded set (518 of 524, #9 on the registry -  reserve: $15,000, estimate: $30,000+); a 1911 T205 Gold Border Master Set minus on, #1 on the SGC Registry (reserve: $10,000, estimate: $30,000); a 1916 M101-5 Sporting News complete PSA-graded set minus 4 (reserve: $10,000, estimate: $20,000/$30,000); a complete high-grade set of all six 1911 M110 Sporting Life Cabinets including Honus Wagner, Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Frank Chance, and Nap Lajoie, each offered individually; a 1913 T200 Fatima Team complete set, #1 on the SGC Registry (res. $2,500; est. $5,000+); a 1921 E253 Oxford Confectionery SGC-graded set (#1 on the Registry, res.  $5,000, est. $10,000+); a 1933 R300 George C. Miller SGC-graded set (res. $5,000, est. open); an extraordinary high-grade 1957 Topps SGC-graded set (#1 on the SGC Registry, reserve: $25,000, estimate: $50,000 +); a 1968 Topps 3-D complete SGC-graded set (reserve: $2,500, estimate: open), plus complete or near-complete sets of virtually every major postwar issue from 1948 to 1972. 

Other Sports: Sports other than baseball are also represented by a significant selection of extremely high quality items, including an extraordinary photo-matched 1969-70 Gordie Howe Detroit Redwings game-worn jersey, one of the finest hockey jerseys in existence  (res. $10,000; estimate: open);  the #1 ranked 1949 Leaf Football set on the PSA Registry (reserve: $20,000, estimate: open); a complete 1957-58 Topps Basketball set (#1 on the SGC Registry, res.$5,000, est. $10,000+); a complete, PSA-graded 1968 Topps Test Basketball set (res.$5,000, est. $10,000+); a 1927 Churchman “Famous Golfers” complete set (#1 on the PSA Registry, res. $2,500, est.$5,000/$10,000); a 1964-65 Topps Hockey complete SGC-graded set (res.$2,500, est.$5,000+); and additional football, basketball, hockey, golf, and boxing cards and memorabilia.

Non-Sport Cards: A strong selection of nonsport cards and related items are yet another highlight section of the sale. Thousands of nonsport cards dating from the 1880s to the 1960s are included. Most important among them are the 1940 R145 Gum, Inc. “Superman” Complete Set, #2 set on the PSA Registry with an incredible 7.03 GPA (res. $20,000), and a 1940 R145 Gum, Inc. “Superman” Low-Number Uncut Sheet (#25-48) that surfaced from a Gum, Inc. employee in the 1970s and has not seen the light of day since (res. $2,500). Also offered is an extremely rare complete 24-card set of R90 1935 Gum, Inc. Mickey Mouse and the Movie Stars Complete Set (est. $3,000/$5,000; res. $1,500). Other important sets include: 1933 R39 National Chicle “Dare Devils” Complete PSA-Graded Set (24);  1935 R89 Mickey Mouse Bubble Gum Complete Set (96) with 28 PSA-Graded; 1939 R156 Gum, Inc. “True Spy Stories” complete set (24); and many others, including significant sets in high-grade from the 1950s and 1960s, including 1963 Outer Limits (one of the highest-grade sets ever assembled) and 1967 Wacky Package Die-Cuts Near-Complete Master Set SGC-Graded (51 of 60).  

A remarkable selection of original artworks used to produce cards from many sets are included: 1966 Topps “Batman” (Norm Saunders), 1951 Bowman “Jets, Rockets, Spacemen”, 1941 R157 “Uncle Sam”, 1963 Topps “Beverly Hillbillies”, 1942 R164 “War Gum”,  1941 R158 “Home Defense”, among others. Many of these original card artworks are for cards that collectors consider to be the best or among the very best from their respective sets. The original painting for 1940 R83 Gum, Inc. Lone Ranger card #35 “The Haunted House”, which is signed by Lone Ranger creator Fran Striker on the reverse, is a special highlight (res. $2,500; est. 5,000+). Any Mars Attacks original artwork is a prize in the nonsport collecting world. The 1962 Topps Mars Attacks original artworks for card #51 “Crushing the Martians” and for card #9 “The Human Torch” are included in the sale. Each is an iconic painting by Norm Saunders and among the most desirable nonsport card artworks in existence (each res. $5,000; est. $10,000/$15,000).

Copies of the full-color premium catalog are available for free.  To review the catalog online, learn more about Robert Edward Auctions, receive a complimentary copy of the catalog or inquire about consignments, visit http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/.  Robert Edward Auctions is currently assembling its next sale.  For further information, contact Robert Edward Auctions, PO Box 7256, Watchung, NJ  07069, or call (908) 226-9900.

Robert Edward Auctions, LLC is one of the world’s leading specialty auction houses, devoted exclusively to the sale of rare baseball cards, memorabilia, and Americana.

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1909-1911 T206 Honus Wagner - “The Connecticut Wagner”

Every T206 Wagner naturally has a great story, sharing the Wagner legend that is now part of classic American folklore, and every Wagner also has an additional story relating to its provenance. Collectors have always been fascinated with all aspects of the history of Wagners: how they were discovered, where they have been purchased, when, for how much, where they have been, how they have happened to survive. This is a particularly interesting card in that it has never been up for auction, or been photographed, or even been seen before in the modern collecting world. To Wagner scholars, it would appear to be a newly-discovered card. That conclusion, however, would not be accurate in this case. Despite having never been seen before, this is not a newly discovered Wagner. It has been known for many decades and may even be one of the earliest known of all T206 Wagners. It has simply not had occasion to be seen or made its whereabouts known in any way in modern collecting times.  It has been the prize possession of two private family collections going back many decades. We have taken the liberty of calling this example “The Connecticut Wagner” simply because that is the state in which it was long ago purchased by our consignor. The card has actually been consigned by a father-son collecting team, who had (and still have) a great interest in vintage cards, and were very active in the 1980s, even setting up at local card shows to sell new cards to make money to buy old cards for their personal collection. 

In 1985 they were set up at a small local card convention in Connecticut when an older gentlemen came up to their table and asked if they would be interested in the complete T206 set. “With the Wagner,” he stressed. The father and son naturally found this to sound incredible, all the more so because they did, in fact, have a great interest in a T206 set. And they especially had a great interest in a Wagner! If the gentleman really had one. He did! The son, who was then just sixteen years old, vividly recalls, “He showed me the card. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest. It was in a simple lucite holder. From the instant I saw it, I knew it was authentic. Not in great shape, but not trimmed or cleaned up or anything.” The owner of the collection explained to our consignors that he not only had the Wagner, but he also had Plank, Magie, and every card and variation in the entire T206 set, all 523 cards, and he proceeded to show the balance of the set. (The rare Doyle was unknown at this time; in 1985 this was considered complete including all rarities). He was a very old-time collector, and he explained that he meticulously collected this set with his father! The Wagner and the entire set had been in their family for decades. He had come to the show to sell their T206 set, that they had meticulously checklisted and assembled with such great care over so many years, and he knew exactly what he wanted for it: $10,000 for the entire set including the Wagner.

While $10,000 today, of course, sounds like a very modest sum for a Wagner (let alone also including the balance of the entire T206 set), in 1985 this was real money. It was a reasonable price, it may have even been a good deal, but it was not a “giveaway” price. $10,000 was approximately what a reasonable person might think the set was worth at that time. Our father and son consignors looked at the set (most cards were circulated, in approximately Good condition, although condition was not the priority it is today); they then looked at each other, and instantly knew what they had to do: They had to buy the set. As the son fondly recalls today, “The gentleman who sold us the set - his name has been lost to me - he had made up his mind to sell it, and he happened to pick that particular day, that particular show, and our table. An incredible coincidence, one that I haven’t really stopped thinking about, even after all these years.”

The Wagner has been locked away, eventually put into a safe deposit box due to its escalating value, and has not seen the light of day for the past twenty-five years since purchased at that show in Connecticut. The card is not being sold because the owners don’t like it. They do! They are still collectors and are keeping the balance of their collection and the T206 set! But, as they have continued to see the card go up in value to stratospheric levels over the years, they think think the time has come for them to sell the single most prized T206 Wagner card. It is strictly an economic decision. While they are sorry to see it go, as the son communicated to us, for them it is just “the right thing to do.” As the son  wrote us, “I will miss having the card, but like the man who went into the card show that day, I have made my decision. The only reason we are selling it is because I have a young family and I could use some extra financial breathing room. It’s just too valuable for us to keep. We can’t justify having a baseball card that might be worth as much as a couple hundred thousand dollars, or maybe even more. Whatever it sells for, we know we’re going to make out very well, and we’ll put the money to good use. Depending on exactly what it sells for, we may even take a small percentage to buy a few cards. That way we can have our cake and eat it too!”

The Card: This very attractive T206 Honus Wagner has bold colors, perfect registration, a bright orange background, and a crisp, bold portrait. It is also very well centered. The advertisement for Sweet Caporal Cigarettes is boldly printed on the reverse. Graded PR-FR 1 by PSA, the card naturally has various condition flaws, including rounded corners, creases, and a small area of surface flaking. Yet it also has a very pleasing overall appearance, with a central portrait image that presents beautifully, and is unaffected by the most serious creases of the card. It is a given that most T206 Wagners are in low-grade, so for a Wagner, the overall appearance is of greatest significance and cannot be communicated by just a numerical grade. Every card is different. No one is ever going to confuse this card with the famous Gretzky-McNall Wagner. But this card needs to make no apologies for its appearance. This low-grade example of the T206 Wagner compares very favorably with most other Wagner examples, and is a great-looking card that elicits a positive response from everyone who sees it. It has its condition problems, as do most other Wagners, but that is why it is graded PR-FR 1 and is not valued in the millions of dollars! The T206 Wagner is the one baseball card that generates the greatest interest wherever it is displayed. Kids and adults, and collectors and noncollectors alike, all know about the card, and want to see it in any condition.   

Whether this card will be valued by collectors at more than “The All-Star Cafe Wagner” (graded PR-FR 1 by PSA, sold for $399,500 at REA in 2009), or a level lower than the SGC Poor 10 example that sold at Heritage for $227,050 in 2008 is completely unknown. Valuing Wagners is very subjective. That’s for the bidders to decide. Whatever they decide, it has been a great pleasure for us to properly document the history of this card, that for so many decades has been a “lost to the world” example of card collecting’s greatest treasure. Reserve $50,000. Estimate $150,000+

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The famous “Merkle’s Boner” Ball! This is one of the most exciting items we have ever had the privilege of offering! This is exactly the type of item that makes putting together auctions so much fun for us at REA. This is the actual ball that cost the Giants the pennant in 1908, and secured Fred Merkle’s place in history forever. If only he had touched second…The ball was personally saved by Johnny Evers and sold at auction by his family way back in 1993, where it was purchased by Charlie Sheen, who sold it in 1999 in a private transaction to a fellow collector who has had it ever since. We’ve known about this ball all this time, but it’s been so long since it’s been seen or heard of, even predating the Internet era, that it seems like it is being presented for the first time. But in fact it was sold in 1993 (at that time for $30,250) and is being offered at REA in 2010 publicly for the very first time since. It is an honor!

Here are a couple of great youtube.com links (The Fred Merkle Story; Part 1 and 2) of potential interest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZWt18RWnCU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmpEhTUtCRI

For a free catalog or to inquire about consignments , please contact Robert Edward Auctions at this link:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/contact/index.html

Thank You!

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

www.RobertEdwardAuctions.com

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                    Above: REA 2006 Adverting Postcard (front and back)

We normally don’t get involved in policing eBay for fakes and scams because, well, there’s only so many hours in a day…But during the past week we received so many calls and emails regarding the eBay auctions for two 1912 Schmelzer’s Sporting Goods advertising pins (one of Joe Jackson and one of Hank Gowdy) that we thought it was appropriate for us to contact the seller.

Frankly, we could barely get any work done with collectors wanting to know… what we think about the Schmelzer’s on eBay, whether they are authentic, whether we would take them for auction, how many exist, and wanting to discuss everything from potential bidding strategies to value. Everyone was calling us about these because we are well known for being knowledgeable about rare pins, and also because REA sold the only large group of these rarities to ever surface (a total of a dozen examples back in 2006, an extremely exciting find that approximately doubled the entire known population of these rare pins and even included a couple of previously unknown players in the set).  We got so many calls we checked the ebay listing to see if maybe our number was in there!

There was only one problem with the eBay auction examples, of course: They were fakes. And not very good fakes in our opinion, but you know how collectors are…they want to believe. These fakes were actually made from REA’s advertising literature. The images used were pictures of examples from the 2006 REA find, taken from advertising postcards we sent out in 2006. That’s why the size was wrong (we enlarged the images of the pins on the postcard, pictured above) and that’s why the small printing imperfections (such as the black dot at 8:00 and the camera flash “hot spots” at 3:30 around the perimeter of the Jackson photo) are identical. They are made from photos that we took, including imperfections. We called the eBay seller (his number was in the listing) and he said he had no idea. He asked us to send him the relevant information by email.  Upon receipt, the eBay seller ended the auctions immediately, no problem.

Here are images of and links to the pins made from our advertising materials:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-Vintage-Shoeless-Joe-Jackson-White-Sox-Pinback_W0QQitemZ380172597360QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Sports_Memorabilia?hash=item58840d7870

                                   fake eBay Jackson pin

http://cgi.ebay.com/1914-Vintage-Harry-Gowdy-Boston-Braves-Baseball-Pin_W0QQitemZ380172590016QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Sports_Memorabilia?hash=item58840d5bc0

                                       fake EBay Gowdy pin

Here’s a link to when we sold the collection of twelve 1910 Schmelzer’s pins that are advertised on the postcard for $81,200:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2006/932.html

We wanted to be on top of this so that if collectors see other fake Schmelzer’s pins (fakes are like ants, usually where there’s one or two, there are more…) they are not fooled into thinking “With a name like Schmeltzer’s, they’ve got to be good!”

Additional note: REA actually has a real Schmeltzer’s Sporting Goods adverting pin of Joe Jackson, a recent discovery consigned from a Kansas City estate (from a family that in the 1910 era had a business in the same neighborhood as Schmelzer’s Sporting Goods).  It is real; it is only the fifth Schmelzer advertising pin of Joe Jackson known to exist, and it will appear in the April 2010 auction.   

We have often recommended pure reference books to REA bidders relating directly to the field of baseball collecting. It is our great pleasure to do so. But we are sometimes very impressed with books that on the surface seem to have little to do with our hobby, when in fact they actually do. Some of these books tell stories of true crime and fraud in other fields of collecting, and in the process arm us with knowledge and help us better understand crime and fraud in our field.

In the auction world we have the privilege of dealing with many great people, but far too often we also have to deal with various types of criminals, forgers, and con men.  We work closely with law enforcement and are always looking for red flags, but criminals can be very tricky. They are often professionals and their “job” is to cheat the auction houses and to cheat collectors. Our job, in the ordinary course of our business, is to stop them. Fake uniforms, fake autographs, fake memorabilia with fake provenance, various types of financial fraud, title issues; most of the problems are able to be addressed long before items ever go to auction (though the nature of the business is that we’ve never had an auction that did not have an item with a title issue or an authenticity issue on at least one lot even after the auction went live; this comes with the territory). No one would believe some of the crazy things that we have had to deal with over the years, and dealing with criminals has caused us to go out of our way to read dozens of books about crime and fraud in the world of collectibles in the hopes that we can learn something from crimes in other fields that will make us more knowledgeable about our field, make our auctions better, and help us be on the lookout for scams.  Below are links to two books that we think are among the greatest classics of this genre that we have found.  They are about the most sophisticated frauds in the art world and the world of rare documents, respectively.

1. Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art is about fraud in the art world. It is by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo and has just been published by The Penguin Press. We highly recommend this book! It is not about baseball collecting, but there are so many similarities to frauds and con men in all fields of collecting that we felt this book spoke to all collectors. If you’ve ever been suspicious of a memorabilia item, a uniform, or an autographed item, let alone been a victim, this is a book that illustrates how collectibles frauds can be perpetrated and how even the provenance can be faked by a great con man. It is an amazing read (maybe more so for us at REA because we have actually dealt with characters that could be in a book like this) but we think anyone interested in collectibles, authenticity issues, and con men will want to have this volume in their permanent library.  

Here is the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Provenance-Forger-Rewrote-History-Modern/dp/1594202206/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257015632&sr=1-1

On page 76 the authors of Provenance describe a scene of their fraudulent art seller “at work,” and referred to the “expertise in the con man’s traditional diversionary tactic of changing the subject and deflecting attention from the original question”.  This phrase rang such a loud bell (it could have been written about con men in any field) that we made a point of marking the page.  

Here are a couple of additional excepts we marked, that don’t give anything away about the book, but when we read these passages, made us think so much of con men in the baseball collectibles field that (along with the previous quote) they inspired the idea of this post:

“Social scientists who have tried to chart scammer pathology describe the con man as a combination sociopath and narcissist. Typically, he is impulsive, amoral, and uncontrolled, highly intelligent, detached, misanthropic, grandiose, and hungry for admiration. Alienated and often self-taught, the con man feels unique and superior until he is trapped. Then he claims to be a victim of circumstance or of an uncaring society. He tells police that he has been knackered by circumstance, that his bitterness is a function of society’s failures and the vagaries of fate. Then, on the way to the lockup, knowing that the game is up, he drops all pretence and declares that his victims deserved to be conned, that greed is a fox-trot and it takes two. One such schemer, quoted in The Psychology of Fraud, a 2001 study published by the Australian Institute of Criminology, told his inquisitors that he felt entirely justified: “The victim had it coming. There’s no harm done. He can afford it.” Under questioning, he admitted that the pleasure of the scam was the point of it all.”

Another famous com man, Ferdinand Demara, is quoted by the authors as having two cardinal rules:  “First, always remember that the burden of proof is on the accuser, and second, when you are in danger, attack.”

We have experienced true con men first hand (and even the wrath of con men!) so reading about it in the context of another field (in this case the art world) was particularly fascinating to us.

2. The Morman Murders: A True Story of Greed, Forgery, Deceit, and Death (by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, published by St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2005). A New York Times bestseller. It takes 576 pages to tell the story of master forger Mark Hofmann, who dealt in rare authentic documents and document forgeries of his own elaborate creation as well. (Forensic testing of 443 examples of Hofmann’s documents ultimately revealed that 248 documents (60%) were authentic, 107 (24%) were forged, and 68 (15%) were undetermined by testing to be authentic or forgeries.) Many of the forgeries (had they been real) were of great significance to the Morman Church and its history. If it weren’t for the murders that Hofmann committed in attempting to cover up his fraud and forgery crimes, the case might not have ever received the attention it did or the commitment of resources by law enforcement, and the certainty and methods of his fraud and forgeries may have never come to light. Hofmann is currently serving a life sentence at the Utah State Prison in Draper for murder.

Here’s an Amazon link to the book:

http://www.amazon.com/Mormon-Murders-Steven-Naifeh/dp/0312934106/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257037060&sr=1-1-spell#noop

Mixing the good with the bad, extreme secrecy, extreme intelligence and superior knowledge, accompanied by devotion to legitimate research, successful self-promotion as a scholar and a true mastery of the subject of the fraud, access to and/or ownership of legitimate research archives that have been contaminated by forgeries, unusual financial arrangements, the juggling of debts and doing whatever is necessary to buy time and keep from getting caught, multiple victims with no communication between them, confidentiality agreements (all the better to inhibit possible communication that might raise questions), operating under the names of different individuals (real and imagined), operating under the names of different companies, nurturing close association with  relatives of legitimate material sources (often accompanied by actual dealings, which is of course ideal for the mixing of the “good” with the “bad”),  charm, aggressiveness, persistence, threats when confronted with suspicions, creating distractions, always manufacturing delay tactics, litigation…

These are just some of the “tools of the trade” of the con man, most of which (and more) are amply illustrated in the context of the collectibles world in the books listed above.  We hope you get them, read them, and enjoy them!  These are two of our favorite books in the world!

Sincerely,

Robert Lifson

President

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/ 

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Over the past year we’ve had a lot of fun on the REA blog documenting the significance and intrigue of the rare T206 of “Slow Joe” Doyle, and, in the process, putting into focus why this card is such a big deal. The Charlie Conlon T206 Doyle example, offered in the April 2009 REA auction, sold for a record $329,000. (Here’s a link to the auction: http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/auction/2009/891.html)

For the upcoming auction, we have just received another Doyle. No, it’s not the rare T206 Doyle, New York Nat’l.  It’s much rarer!

It is an 1889 N172 Old Judge of Cornelius Doyle of the San Francisco team of the California League. In addition to being very distinctive and fascinating, all California League Old Judges are incredibly rare. Only one example of many N172 California League players (including this one) is even known to exist. This is the first California League Old Judge we have EVER had the opportunity to auction, and the only other example we have ever had (and we’ve had thousands of Old Judges over the years) is a trimmed example we sold as a favor to hobby legend Lew Lipset over thirty years ago that we got from the Kurzrok collection.

It is just a coincidence that Cornelius Doyle happens to share the same last name as the T206 set’s rare “Slow Joe” Doyle. We KNOW it doesn’t make any sense, but this coincidence really does make the rarity of this card all the more amusing and interesting to us. We’re only human! What can we say? But more important, this is also just a beautiful card in all respects. And anyone familiar with Old Judges, we think, will look at this card and be struck by how unusual and unfamiliar it is. The Old Judge book pictures nineteen N172 California League players (including Doyle; this card is the plate specimen). It would be hard to imagine that most or all collectors would not agree that Doyle is one of the very best looking of these ultimate Old Judge rarities, in terms of overall condition, contrast, and background detail. The contrast and overall condition of this card is rivaled only by only a few other examples, including Lew Lipset’s ridiculously high-grade McDonald (Oaklands), one of the best cards in the world and which he has assured all who have asked that it will literally have to be pried from his hands after his passing (and, really, we don’t think he’s kidding).

We are excited about this Doyle card. It’s not everyday that we get a California League Old Judge (it’s been thirty years since the last one) and thought collectors would appreciate seeing it early.