Obak Stamps

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Posted By: Al

I noticed in the previos post, someone mentioned that there were stamps on the Obaks. I have one Obak card and on the back towards the bottom there are two black ink stamps that look like round flowers. Is that where the stamps were put and does anyone know if they are marks of a certain collector, etc. Thank you for any insights. Al

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Posted By: TBob

Al- there shouldn't be any stamps on the backs of Obak cards as they were issued sans markings. Through my pursuit of these cards, I have learned that several west coast collectors long ago "stamped" their names or used stamps with their initals or objects, nefer knowing that some day they would be highly collectible. The "Gilliam Squires" stamp appears all over the place. The guy must have had had a ton. I was also informed that some of the 1911s I upgraded which had beautiful fronts but tons of little tiny writing on the back belonged to longtime collector Buck Barker (did I get the name right?) who was a hobby pioneer and used to write on the backs of the card where the cards came from (seller), etc. I kept a few because of the provenance but had sold most of them already in my never ending search for upgrades.
Bob

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Posted By: Jeff O

I believe that the most "famous" Obak back stamp reads "Gilliam Squires", or something very close to that. I'd be willing to bet that the majority of Obak collectors who have a large number of 1910's have at least one card from this former collector.

Jeff
http://www.seattlehockey.net

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

A little while back, I purchased an obak pack, and the corresponding card that came inside, on the behalf of another collector. The card that came in the pack had two, circular stamps - flower like in design - at the bottom of the card. They were side by side and in black ink. I will try to track down a scan of the card again from the new owner to post a picture.

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Posted By: brian parker

Like Jeff has said, there are an abundance of Obak cards (and some other issues as well) that have the Gilliam T. Squires stamp. And Bob is also correct that the noted hobby pioneer Buck Barker penned on the back of many cards. I would like to add that the various notes he wrote on the back (which besides who Buck purchased the card from and the year, also included the player's full name and some cryptic codes designating that player's complete career including dates they played for various minor and major league teams). Although I don't know that much about him, I know he was at one time involved, along with the recently deceased Don McPherson (whose massive collection Lew Lipset auctioned off in several increments a couple of years ago) in researching the players involved and coming up with a list of Zeenut cards that picture players who made it to the majors. Thus there are also many Zeenuts out there with Buck's writing. He probably appreciated the larger size and the blank backs the Zeenuts offered--writing clearly on the back of an Obak must have been tough.

One thing I have noticed on many Obak backs is a small, two digit number stamped in purple ink, usually not that boldly. I would say almost 10% of the cards have them. Anyone else out there also notice this type of number stamp?

Brian

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Posted By: brian parker

Sometimes you get so involved writing about a topic that you fail to respond to the original post. I have not seen any of the 'round flower' in black ink stamps, unless you are describing something like the one card I have that has a 3/8" diameter black ink stamp of what looks to me more like a basketball, complete with curving lines. My guess is that some kid went nuts with his stamp set one day when he was sick and stayed home from school (probably he faked being sick too).

Brian

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Posted By: Bill Cornell

I have an E107 that I was told came via Buck Barker's collection. I had that thought the "Harry George" at the top was meant to be "Harry Gleason", but perhaps it was the name of the previous card owner.

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Posted By: brian parker

Yes, that is the distinctive format and style of writing of Buck Barker. Although I haven't checked, 'Harry George' should be the full name of the player shown on this card, which besides all his career team movement, also lists his birth year and year of death, expressed in two digits. If I were to guess, Buck Barker was probably one of the people who helped research and identify the players pictured in older issues, identification information that is used in our catalogs today. Perhaps someone who knows or has access to old hobby papers (hi Jeff O.) could dig out some answers and tell us why the Buck Barker name is so relevant to our hobby.

Brian

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Posted By: TBob

He must have loved red ink as all the cards I have with his chicken scratching on the back are in red ink.

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Posted By: Elliot

Nice idea, but it's Harry GILBERT Gleason.

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Posted By: brian parker

I have dozens of 'Buck Barker' cards, and I seem to remember one of them that has seemingly inaccurate name information. That he messed up on the middle name is not that surprising.

To do a little Barker decoding on the Gleason card, the b82 stands for born in 1882, d61 is died in 1961, 5'6" is his height, 140 is his weight, BosA 2 means he played for the Boston American League team in 1902 (he has a floating 01 above it indicating he also played in 1901 for Boston, etc., and as in the case of the cards I have seen, he lists minor league teams the player performed for as well. Quite often he indicates if the player was released, and sometimes I just can't figure out what the heck he was trying to indicate. As in the Gleason example, the information doesn't seem complete--for example, the Baseball Encyclopedia shows he played for Boston in 1903 as well. But perhaps this info in his system is inferred due to the next entry (Sl A, or St Louis American) that has a 4 next to it. As in this card, there are some seemingly later additions--note the penciled in o4-05. Whether this or any other factoid is accurate or not misses the point--this is just how he recorded his research.

By the way, I received this Barker knowledge from none other than Mark MaCrae, the best dang bb vintage card dealer in the world (and I don't care if that brands me as a member of the pro-Mark faction--one could even go as far as saying that I might be considered a MarkMan district captain).

Brian