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Originally Posted by Stonepony
Thanks Brian! I know I can count on you to appreciate and lend your expertise to any regional issue no matter how obscure. I plan on tapping into that by buying your book soon. Dave
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You're most welcome, Dave. I stand ready to answer any questions you might have on my book, and promptly service your order should you decide to buy a copy.
Take care, and nice going again on the Johnston Cookie Henry Aaron. In the past, when I would speak with Wisconsin collectors, they were mighty proud of their Braves and those Johnston Cookie cards---and rightly so!
One of the themes I strove to bring out in NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN is something I heard named Interpretive Investigative Collecting 501. Applying that to your gorgeous Johnston Cookie Hank, one of the brilliant facets of this set is its size---2 inches wide by 3 7/8" long. Now, most kids tended to put all their cards together, whether small or larger, though with over-sized items such as the 1960 Home Run Derby, 1967 Coca-Cola Premiums, and the majestic 1960 Post Cereal, a boy would tend to have other, much more destructive places to enjoy his "free prize". Back to Hank, with its length being 3 7/8", that is exactly 1/8" longer than BOTH the Topps and Bowman gum baseball sets. Ponder for a few moments Dave, the implications of that extra 1/8" in length. Whether a boy stored his cards horizontally or vertically in his shoe box, the top of the Johnston card would stick out by 1/8", making it most vulnerable to dings, corner creases, being noticed a lot by the kid so he'll wind up handling it a lot more, causing more card degradation. He might decide to ultimately trim the card so it would fit nicely with his Topps and Bowmans.
Isn't that a scream? Perhaps not in 1954, but maybe fifty years later in 2004 when he took it to a major show, or tried to consign it to a large auction house. You could just imagine the look of disgust and self-recrimination.
Applying this Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning makes understanding how vulnerable the set was to heavy wear. Coupled with the fact the leftover "free prizes" via Wholesale Cards Co. brought the hobby a small supply of essentially pristine cards for posterity. A posterity that in time would gobble up Bruce Yeko's supply in short order!
Let's take this further. As for those '54 Johnston Cookie cards purchased from Wholesale, when we consider how feeble and all-too-often destructive the honest efforts to preserve the condition of these treasured sporting cards & coins were, as covered in NEVER CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, this then makes your PSA 8 Near Mint - Mint Hank Aaron all the more remarkable.
Ah, the wonders of Interpretive Investigative Collecting 501 to be found in Never Cheaper By the Dozen. I actually didn't mention the term in my book, but when I heard it after it went to press, a chord struck within me---that's precisely what I brought to my book. Employing this method brings much more appreciation, probably in more ways than one
, of those pesky, gorgeous, fascinating post-war regional / food issues.
Really, Dave, I wanted to convey this to give you an even deeper understanding and appreciation of your new Hank Aaron. That extra 1/8" is a glowing facet to understanding the significance of this card. Most all of them that wound up in kids' hands and cigar and shoe boxes did not survive well at all. Nothing new in some ways, but again, the extra eighth inch compounds the matter greatly.
Sorry for the long post. All the best --- Brian Powell