[GoldenAge50s]

FINALLY--I can say I own some PreWar tobacco cards! As you can tell by my avatar, my collection consists of cards from my boyhood days (late '40's) on up to modern, although I did own a small OJ collection which I sold several yrs ago.

Up until now, I am probably the oldest Board member (almost 70) to NOT have had any PreWar in my possession to post about!

I just secured a collection of 136 T206's after over 2 mos of negotiation and received them Tues. The cards have never been in hobby circulation. They originally belonged to a Minor Lg pitcher by the name of Roy Mellinger, who played for the Cedar Rapids Rabbits in the Central Association from 1914-1917. Around 1970 the cards were 'willed to" & put away by the person I bought them from.

I've spent the last 2 days going thru them and here are some of the facts you might be interested in:

(1) 135 cards are either Piedmont or Sweet Cap 150--1 card is Pied 350!

(2) Vast majority are P150 Fac 25--2nd most are SC150-Fac 25--and 12 are SC Fac 30--4 cards are SC 150 Fac 649 OverPrints

(3) 16 teams represented---No SL's & no exotic backs.

(4) There are 20 diff HOFers represented on a total of 26 all different cards and all 136 cards are different--no dupes!

I want to give a big THANK YOU to T-Rex Ted Z, who I prevailed upon for advice & value assessment, which he graciously gave w/ his time & helpful EMs, before I decided to take the plunge & buy!

Here are the 8 Detroit cards that were included---They are typical of the overall condition of the collection---I welcome any comments or questions and am excited to finally be able to post about something I HAVE rather than something I wanted!