Burdick Letters and Hobby stuff in Hunts last night

[Leon]

Did anyone follow the Hunts Auction of Burdick letters last night? Thoughts?

[Comiskey]

Yeah, I had the high bid on the Burdick letter about acquiring his T206 Wagner, but lost out in the end. I though it was very cool, the final price was $495ish, probably should have put in another bid! Did anyone win any of the letters? There were multiple available.

Jeff

[Comiskey]

http://www.huntauctions.com/phone/im...2&lot_num=1081

[brass_rat]

I had placed bids on almost all of the lots...and then I forgot to up them all last night. I'm so used to ignoring Hunt email notifications that I didn't even think of it.

Darn, those were pretty interesting, and it would have been nice to pick some up.

Steve

[4815162342]

I was having trouble browsing the auction online, until I remembered that it's optimized for Netscape.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Comiskey

Yeah, I had the high bid on the Burdick letter about acquiring his T206 Wagner, but lost out in the end. I though it was very cool, the final price was $495ish, probably should have put in another bid! Did anyone win any of the letters? There were multiple available.

Jeff

I managed to nab them. I was just seeing who was watching. They will most likely be shared with our community eventually.

[slidekellyslide]

Nice score! I generally only search Hunt's auctions for a few keywords so missed seeing these. Pretty cool.

[gnaz01]

I was the underbidder on several, especially the 1939 ACC one, I stopped at $1800+ as I liked it, but didn't think it was worth that, IMO. Did you get that one too, LL??

[Comiskey]

Leon

You won them all? Wow, congrats! Glad to see them go to your collection.


Jeff

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by Comiskey

Leon



You won them all? Wow, congrats! Glad to see them go to your collection.





Jeff

+1

[Robert_Lifson]

Because this thread is about correspondence to hobby pioneer John D. Wagner, I thought this would be a good place to share this hobby memory (and even though I know I'm still young, just writing this I'm feeling really old!):

I knew John D. Wagner very well when I was much younger. I forget exactly how I found him, but he was a legendary collector who was well known for at one time having a T206 set including Wagner (he was one of the first serious collectors known to have the Wagner) and I naturally wanted to contact him if possible. I somehow I tracked him down (I probably found a family member who told me how to contact him – I don’t remember exactly simply because it was a long time ago – I’m guessing this was circa 1980).

Anyway, he was at the Old Soldiers Home in Washington DC – that’s where he lived (very comfortably, it was almost like a hotel room but with doctors to check up on his health) – and he was very happy to have me come visit to make deals and talk cards. Washington was not the easiest place for me to get to – I remember taking the train and a cab- and I visited with him three times as well as talking on the phone. When I visited, mostly we talked cards and old-time collectors (he knew Burdick and Bray and all the early collectors), but he somehow would also pull cards out of drawers and we made a few deals (thinking back, I’m not sure how he would have cards at the home, but he really lived there, so I guess he could bring whatever he wanted there).

Most of his cards were elsewhere in storage (including his T206 set with Wagner), and he had gotten rid of part of his collection already. I remember he told me he did some dealing with a great (and very colorful) early dealer by the name of Tom Collier, who at one time or another had virtually everything. (Interesting note: Tom Collier was also the “TC” with Mike Aronstein when “TCMA” was first formed). John Wagner was sharp as a tack and true gentleman. I was very aware when talking to him that he was a link to the past of the collecting world, an almost lost world, and had all kinds of information that was fascinating, at least to me, so it was a special treat to be able to talk collecting with this living legend.

The most fascinating thing he told me involved the legend of the T206 Wagner. I asked him if he ever met Honus Wagner, what with John D. Wagner sharing his name – “John Wagner” – as well as having Wagner’s T206 card. Also, as I recall, John D. Wagner was originally from the Pittsburg area, so it seemed like a reasonable question. I was surprised when John Wagner told me that yes, he had met Honus Wagner.

I naturally asked if he had, by chance, happened to ask him about the legend of his T206 card and whether it was true. He said yes, he absolutely did! And that Wagner personally told him that he did not allow his card to be issued because he did not want to encourage youngsters to smoke.

To me, this was the most amazing thing to hear, and something that I will never forget: a first-hand account, just one person removed from Honus Wagner himself confirming the legend of the T206 Wagner.

I have no doubt that John D. Wagner spoke to Honus Wagner about the story, and that John D. Wagner recounted the conversation accurately. This was an unexpected highlight of my many hours of speaking with John Wagner, and I thought the collectors on Net54 would appreciate this as well.

I never tried to buy any cards from John Wagner that he did not offer me, so I never actually discussed buying his T206 Wagner. When he passed away, as I recall, family friend and fellow hobbyist Chris Benjamin (an extremely fine gentleman who also has made enormous contributions to the baseball card world as well as the non-sport card collecting field) helped the family sell the T206 Wagner and set for what was then a retail price to Barry Halper, who was always happy to purchase an extra Wagner (even though he already had two or three at the time!)

Robert Lifson

Robert Edward Auctions LLC

www.robertedwardauctions.com

[1880nonsports]

thanks

[ullmandds]

great story Rob.

[brass_rat]

Very cool story, Rob -- thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Steve

[Leon]

Originally Posted by 1880nonsports

thanks

+2 on that. That is an awesome story Rob. Thanks a ton for recounting that experience and some of your experiences with John Wagner. It certainly gives a lot credibility to the "Honus didn't care for tobacco" hypothesis we have heard forever. Great story and thanks again for sharing it.

As for the lots in the auction posted about, there were periodical lots with old hobby letters and things. They were lots 1076 through 1087. I was lucky to get all of them except lot 1083 (4) Bray lettters.. It should be a lot of fun going through the stuff and sharing it with the community.

[barrysloate]

That was a great story, one which will hopefully find its way into the Net54 archive. And I never knew what TCMA stood for.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

That was a great story, one which will hopefully find its way into the Net54 archive. And I never knew what TCMA stood for.

Ya...that was most interesting to me...what TCMA stands for.

[4815162342]

Awesome pickups, Leon, and thank you Rob for posting that little insight into hobby lore!

[gregr2]

Great story, thanks for sharing! Interesting to get some first-ish hand knowledge about why the Wagner card is in such short supply.

[toppcat]

That reminds me I must pick up a spare Wagner or two one of these days!

[Rickyy]

Great items in the Hunt auction...I wish I saw that... terrific story by Rob to add to the thread.

Ricky Y

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by Rickyy

Great items in the Hunt auction...I wish I saw that...

I am kicking myself that I missed the 1908 Reading Pretzels postcard in the Hunt auction last month. That is one of my white whales because I live 20 minutes from Reading, Pa., and have wanted a Home Run Baker Reading Pretzels postcard for a while now. It sold for $534 at Hunt's and is now on eBay for $1,500. I never realized the postcard was at auction until i did a Google search.

[yanks4]

Rob ..Thanks very much for taking the time to share your story....your story is the type of reading that I hope would be shared by the many collectors on this board both old and new.........Also Leon I look forward to your planned sharing of your recent Hunts Burdick letter pickups.. Glad you got them!

[TCMA]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

Ya...that was most interesting to me...what TCMA stands for.

Indeed, it stands for Tom Collier/Mike Aronstein but also "The Card Memorabilia Associates."

[dstudeba]

Thanks for the post Rob, very interesting!

[T206Collector]

I am very fortunate to have a signed T206 card, photograph, and letter from Fred Snodgrass to Wagner. In one of Leon's old posts about Burdick's newsletter it shows Wagner as one of the very first baseball card enthusiasts that Burdick used to deal with. I have a theory that Burdick, who stamped the T201 Leifield below on the reverse, traded this card to Wagner, who had Leifield sign it. I'll never know for sure, but it makes a lot of sense to me!

[Leon]

I spoke with Hunt's yesterday and persuaded them to ship my items without waiting the whole 10 days to hold my check. I guess some AHs still hold checks ten days. I convinced them my check wouldn't bounce and they shipped yesterday.

The papers should be here around Wed this coming week. I have a feeling this was most of, if not all of, John Wagner's personal hobby periodicals. Very recently Hunt sold the first items of his, the 1939 ACC and Card Collector Bulletins from his collection. I believe I was the under bidder .
John Wagner, from everything I have read, might have been the most ardent baseball card collector back in the day, besides Burdick himself.

[4815162342]

So Hunt's thought you were gonna stiff 'em? Lol

[toppcat]

That Snodgrass-Wagner letter is amazing, what a great piece of history!

[gnaz01]

Originally Posted by Leon

Very recently Hunt sold the first items of his, the 1939 ACC and Card Collector Bulletins from his collection.

Fortunately I was able to pick these up from Hunt's and having read through the Bulletins, they are an amazing read!!