Hey all. First of all I want it to be known that while I have dealt with Jack Zugay over the years (even got a nice compliment from him is a PSA article once upon a time) I have not spoken or corresponded with him in months. I was suprised to see he was selling his entire golf card collection (it appears that way at least) and I do hope that all is ok and it is simply a case where he has decided to move onto other avenues.
I took the time to write to REA to see if they could give me a teaser of a breif description of the lots that they would be offering for Jack. While many are PSA Registry sets, and any of us could view those on the PSA site, I know he has some single cards that are very high grade that might be offered.
Below are the twenty-five lots from the Jack Zugay Collection that will be offered by REA. Too bad I do not have a better description of a few lots, but still it was nice for the REA folks to reply to me when I asked if they could provide a list ahead of the catalog coming out. The auction catalogs are being mailed the first week of April and the auction ends on May 7th.
I have added some comments to each of these, feel free to comment as you see fit. I never have met Jack in person, although I had many deals with him via email over the years. He was always a nice person in my dealings with him, and I can assure you this is likely the biggest collection that will hit the market any time ine the near or distant future.
1914 Marsuma "Famous Golfers and Their Strokes" Complete Set (50): #1 PSA
Set Registry! - A real tough set should be interesting what this goes for as I believe Jack bought it on last years REA auction.
1923 Cope Bros. & Co. "Golf Strokes" PSA-Graded Complete Set (32) - I have the #1 set from this very tough issue. I need to look to see if any would upgrade mine and I might have a standing offer for the winner of this one
1927 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Famous Golfers" (Large) Complete Set (12): #1
PSA Set Registry! -Jones, Hagen, Vardon, just 12 cards but large size and rare...what more do you need to say?
1924 W.D. & H.O. Wills" Golfing" Complete Set (25): #1 PSA Set Registry! - A fabulous set featuring some of the more popular golf courses of the day, St Andrews, Muirfield, Cruden Bay just to name a few (how many of you have been to these places or played any of them?) I can claim 6 of the 25 in the set as personally played or visited. A nice set with great artwork, mid grade examples are normally affordable so I am interested to see what this one does.
1928 J. Millhoff & Co. "Famous Golfers" Complete Set (27): #1 PSA Set
Registry! - I have conversed with Jack many many times over the years...this was his favorite set bar none. He was always a millhoff guy and when early copies of "9's" started hitting the market, I just got out of his way as I was costing him money. I actually sold him a number of cards in this set. It is really a top notch set and probably was his toughest one to part with.
1928 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Famous Golfers" (Large) Second Series Complete
Set (12): #1 PSA Set Registry! - Old Tom Morris Large Size...this is actually more rare than the 27 Large set in my opinion, wonder if someone will chase both of these issues down simultaneously?
1930 W.D. & H.O. Wills "Famous Golfers" Complete Set (25): #1 PSA Set
Registry! - Highlighted by Vardon and Hagen cards, Another great set with epic artwork. Just think if they had a 1930 Wills Bobby Jones...sort of like Topps Missing out on the 54 and 55 Mantle cards.....dang it anyhow.
1931 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Prominent Golfers" (Large) Complete Set (12):
#1 PSA Set Registry! - This is a TOP SHELF set. Unreal GPA - Sharp cards with caricatures. This one might go a bit nuts...it is always a popular one.
1936 John Cotton Ltd. "Golf Strokes" A/B Complete Set (50): #1 PSA Set
Registry! - The Cotton cards have grooves in the side like they were supposed to be held together with a string or a rubber band and then viewed much like a flicker book. Never one of the more Popular sets but they are rare in high grade
1936 John Player and Son "Championship Golf Courses" Complete Set (25): #1
PSA Set Registry! - These cards look more like golf course architectural renderings that would make my cousin the golf course designer proud. A nice set that features many big name courses.
1937 John Cotton Ltd. "Golf Strokes" C/D Complete Set (50): #1 PSA Set
Registry! - see my notes from the A/B set above, I think this may be a bit more rare but not sure.
1901-1902 Ogden's Guinea Gold PSA Graded Collection (11) - Curious as to if these are tabs, or F series sportsment etc. Will there be a Morris? How many vardon's? One thing I would wager money on is that they will all be high grade.
1901 W. & F. Faulkner "Golf Terms" PSA Graded Collection (3) A very tough set and just three cards, not sure which ones.
1926 Lambert & Butler "Who's Who In Sport" Golf PSA-Graded Complete Set
Including Jones (5) - The Jones has to be a minimum of an 8 - this one will draw some interest for sure.
1928 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Men Of The Moment In Sport" (Small) Golf
Near-Complete PSA NM-MT 8 Set Including Jones (9) - A striaght 8 set - With Sarazen, Hagen and Jones, a nice way to pick up the golfers from this multi sport set.
1930 Major Drapkin & Co. "Sporting Celebrities In Action" Golf Complete PSA
MINT 9 Set Including Jones (3) - Wow Jones Drapkin 9, also a Hagen 9, a free gift to the first person who knows the other golfer without looking it up that is.....This 3 card offering is sure to go for a LOT of money. Drapkin cards are notoriusly poorly centered and they are more rare than a lot of other mainstream issues.
1926 Spalding Champions PSA MINT 9 Collection (4) Including Walter Hagen - I have a Hagen 9, but there are some other great ones that might be included in the other three including Ouimet, Sarazen, can't wait to see what else is part of this lot.
1927 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Famous Golfers" PSA-Graded Near-Complete Set
(38/50) - I think these are all PSA 8's at a minimum. Jack was trying to buy my Morris 9 once upon a time, so I would not be suprised to see some 9's in here as well. The complete #1 set last year went for over 20K with the juice attached...Yikes!
1928 W. A. & A. C. Churchman "Men Of The Moment In Sport" (Large) #7 Bobby
Jones - PSA NM-MT 8 - This is a TOUGH card in this type of grade...but wait it gets better.....
Extremely Rare 1932 Abdulla & Co. "Sport Records" #200 Bobby Jones - PSA
NM-MT 8 - I know Jack once offered this card to another collector (not me) and valued it at $10K. Not sure what it will go for, actually curious what the opening bid will be. This is an impossible card in any grade ( I have a PSA 5 that I originally bought raw for a song, and doubt I would fork the money to get one any nicer)
Circa 1910 T218 and T227 Golf Cards Graded Collection (4) Probably a Hilton and Mcdermott? We can only hope, and knowing Jack these are higher grades than most you will ever see
1928 J. Millhoff & Co. "Famous Golfers" PSA Graded Collection (11) Including
Jones & Hagen - Maybe leftovers? I am guessing these are still PSA 8 range cards. A nice lot for someone here to be sure.
Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century PSA Graded Golf Card Collection (4) - can we Hope for Fj Smiths and Ogdens Cricketeers? Maybe a Baines Sheild or Golf Ball card or two......anyone want a side wager what this lot will be?
Arnold Palmer Upper Deck PSA GEM MINT 10 Autographed Card Collection (2) - I think Jack used to do some accounting work or something similar with Arnie in the past (maybe still does)
1920-1973 Hall of Famer and Stars PSA-Graded Golf Card Collection (133) - wow. 133 cards...that is a HUGE group, I am guessing some more obscure stuff here, Kellogs Pep, Wheaties, Barratts, Strip cards, who knows...A big amount of graded cards - 133 is a BUNCH, will be curious to see what this lot all has.
That is the entire list, would love to hear what your favorites here are or if any of you have any thoughts about any of the offerings!
Happy Collecting!
Dave