Walter Johnson 1907 Postcard--Wow!

[Bicem]

Originally Posted by prewarsports

As a side note, I live pretty close to Weiser and have been there several times. At one point in time (about the time Walter Johnson was there) there were Opium Dens, whore houses and something like one bar to every 30 residents

Sounds like my kind of town... I mean for the baseball history.

[D.P.Johnson]

Anybody know what the "deal" is with Walter's long-sleeve undershirt??? I mean, the stripes on the right and left sleeves look different. Also, the left sleeve appears "raised" in the forearm area (like he's wearing something under the sleeve)...Just wondering...It's a super cool postcard...

[ZachS]

Originally Posted by D.P.Johnson

Anybody know what the "deal" is with Walter's long-sleeve undershirt??? I mean, the stripes on the right and left sleeves look different. Also, the left sleeve appears "raised" in the forearm area (like he's wearing something under the sleeve)...Just wondering...It's a super cool postcard...

The stripes look the same. I think it's just the lighting. It's a small light colored band on each side with a darker color in the center.

The "bump" in the sleeve looks like where the shirt sleeve meets the cuff... just a long-ish cuff.

[D.P.Johnson]

Originally Posted by ZachS

The stripes look the same. I think it's just the lighting. It's a small light colored band on each side with a darker color in the center.

The "bump" in the sleeve looks like where the shirt sleeve meets the cuff... just a long-ish cuff.

Thank you.

[ls7plus]

[QUOTE=Hankphenom;1520290]

Originally Posted by Vintageclout

Due to the 1907 postage stamp, this card has ZERO ambiguity with regard to its 1907 origin. Not surprised at all with the price, and I firmly believe its new owner got a great deal in lieu of that March 1907 stamp.

JoeT.[/QUOTE

So the consensus seems to be that 24K was a good deal for the buyer. I must be out of the loop on postcards, that seems like a lot to me, even for such a great card. How many postcards have gone that high, and what are some comparables?

It won't be too long before Cobb's 1907 Dietsche Fielding Pose and 1907 Wolverine News rookie postcards (especially the portrait, which has already traded hands twice at approximately $11K in Ex) look like a tremendous bargain at that price. I heard at the 2015 National that a Dietsche Fielding Pose Cobb in Ex went for $8K right around that time. Both quite rare, with significance beyond enormous. Postcards are baseball cards like any others--no different at all from Topps without the gum! As someone recently said on this forum, they are "near-sacred relics that enable the collector to connect physically with the game's heroes and traditions." I like to think of them as two dimensional slices of a single moment in a player's three dimensional life and career.

Re the Johnson, the buyer, long-term, got a bargain, IMHO.

May collecting bring you great joy as you hold the very history of the game right in your own two hands,

Larry

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by botn

For an unsigned postcard, this one..http://catalog.scpauctions.com/CIRCA...-LOT10864.aspx. Suspect it would bring far more than 22K if sold today.

Agreed--figure on at least $40-$50K, IMO. Baseball cards connect you to the player and take you back to the time, and that attribute is enhanced with the quality of the visual image of the player. Some of the best of the latter appeared on postcards, versus rather crudely colored drawings/images of the players of early times on regular cards of the same vintage.

May your collecting fare well,

Larry

[Hankphenom]

Any guesses on what the Johnson card would do in a big auction?

[Vintageclout]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Any guesses on what the Johnson card would do in a big auction?

If appropriately marketed, $35/$40K would not surprise me at all....maybe more if a war develops between 2/3 collectors with a "must have" attitude. We've seen it happen so many times before. Bottom line is...find another one with a 1907 cancellation date!

[GKreindler]

Not for nothing, but I'd kill to paint that image!