Such interesting reading, nice to peek inside their world. Thanks for sharing Leon.

My guess is that in the far future these treasures might end up in a museum and be on display for all to see but for now our board will have to do. This August 10th, 1960 letter is his most poignant yet.

http://luckeycards.com/burdickeletter1960aug10z.jpg
http://luckeycards.com/burdickletter1960aug10zb.jpg

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing.

Oh my, that is touching. I wonder if he is referring to George Lyons theater critic and father of Jeffrey? I made some great T206 purchases from him in the mid-70's.

couple dozen
 

tobacco banners - OUCH!

I don't think that's right. It might be George Lyons but he was not the father of Jeffrey according to Wikipedia.

The George Lyons you are referring to was a stock broker. He got involved with card collecting in the '70s. He used to call me 3 or 4 times a week from his job. Jeffrey Lyons is his brother and long time newspaper columnist, Leonard Lyons, was his father. George wrote a column for Dan Dischley's Trader Speaks called "The Lyons Roar". He certainly did!!!

Thanks!

Here is the last Burdick letter from the John Wagner hobby letters and publications sold by Hunts several months back. There will be many more 1930s and later letters shared from other collectors too. Enjoy.....

http://luckeycards.com/burdickletter1960y.jpg
http://luckeycards.com/burdickletter1960b.jpg

Oh boy
 

That 40 to 50 cents for baseball caramel cards sure sounds good .

Back in 1960 that was still some money.

Thanks for the clarity, Bill. Hope all is well your way.

Anyone collecting old hobby publications knows how rare anything from the 1930s is....We have approximately a thousand new members since this was last bumped, and the hobby history threads seem to be well received, so here are some Burdick letters again.

Added a few more Burdick letters from later in his life, to famed collector and associate, Buck Barker. They were lamenting printing costs for what would be Jefferson's last version of the ACC.
Thanks much to a board member for these....and the fact I saw his BST listing in less than 10 minutes :)....

http://luckeycards.com/burdickletterjan1960.jpg
http://luckeycards.com/burdickletterfeb1960.jpg

1962 Letter
 

A new addition all the way from Canada. And ironically the latest letter collected so far. Mr. Burdick wrote this approximately 13 mos. before he passed away. He was in severe pain by now. Most believe his death was due to complications from his severe arthritis.

http://luckeycards.com/burdickletter1962.jpg

Been a while....
 

Since it has been a while, and we have had lots of new registrants, a friendly bump is due for an interesting (to me at least) thread from 4 years ago. I am always in the market for more Burdick letters! (shameless plug) :o
Enjoy.

.

cool
 

Thanks for resetting this thread. Fascinating stuff. If you don't mind me asking, where did you acquire the bulk of these original letters?

They were in a Hunt auction. They might have come from the great hobbyist John Wagner's collection. (no relation to Honus).

Great posts Leon! Thank you for posting these....

Letters should be listed on the Non-Sports site also, they may be interested. Mostly non-sport items.

A nice picture of Burdick and the only one I have ever seen..

https://luckeycards.com/burdick1.jpg

Awesome read!!!!

Thanks for bumping this Leon.
B.T.

Those are the old set designations before the T,E,R etc he went to.

T206 was set catalog number 521
T207 was set catalog number 522

Yes, thanks Leon! I hadn't see this before either. Amazing pieces of card collecting history!

Thank you for bumping this up to the top. Reading these letters is fascinating. The thing that struck me is Burdick's generosity of spirit. He really seemed more interested in helping others than actually being compensated for it.

If you'll indulge me, it reminded me of when I first got back into collecting about 10 years ago. I was just starting to build the 1976 Topps baseball set when I was notified that I was being laid off. I went on a hobby hiatus while I was out of work. Early in my unemployment, when I was still feeling sorry for myself, I got an unsolicited package of a large number of cards for my 1976 set from Chris Stufflestreet. It was just a friendly gesture from one collector to another and he never wanted anything in return. He passed away not six months later and I never had the opportunity to pay his generosity back. I've tried to pay it forward, but I don't trade much anymore, so I probably still have a ways to go to get out of the debt, so to speak.

Nice post Jeff.
You'll still find folks like that here and on OBC. Giving away cards to a fellow collector is, how do I say this, the most fulfilling thing about this hobby. IMO the last card in a set should always be a gift and I look forward to giving more cards away because I think I receive more from giving a card than the person getting a card. Giving in this hobby eclipses any monetary level, it's the highest compliment you can pay to yourself and a fellow collector.

Most folks don't get it but the ones that do are in a pretty exclusive club.

I enjoyed revisiting the thread. They don't make them like JB anymore.

One of the many reasons I love Net54. A couple short years ago, I was madly in love with cardboard (as I am now...as I have been for years and years) and didn't even know the name Jefferson Burdick. So happy that this place keeps this history alive and well!

Yearly bump for those whom might not have seen it

Thanks for the bump Leon.

That's a great read. It's great to see the history of the earliest days of our hobby.

Terrific

+1

Bi-annual bump as we have over 1000 new members since the last one... Happy collecting!
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My father worked with Burdick at Crouse-Hinds in Syracuse, NY before the war and me.:D

Unfortunately he did not recall meeting him in person and Burdick never sent him a letter.:(

Burdick was born in 1900. There is a pretty concise bio of him on Wikipedia.
He was a young guy, early middle age anyway, when these letters were written.

My question, what is the source of the Burdick letters? And is there anyone around today who knew him. 60 years is a stretch, but it's possible.

lumberjack

The source of the letters was from the John D Wagner (no relation to Honus) collection. I got them in a Hunt auction 9 yrs ago. A good hobby friend alerted me to the auction and I think I won all of the lots except 1. I don't think it had Burdick letters in it. I gave my friend, a board member, one of the envelopes with a Burdick signature and he was happy. A win-win...
I would have to guess there are still a few people alive that met him, but not sure.
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Time for a yearly bump for those that might not have seen these. Enjoy!

.

thanks Leon.
my grandfather and a couple of his brothers worked at Crouse-Hinds for decades and i am sure they knew Burdick since they were of the same age. My dad was born in '25 and would have been 100 last month and was collecting cards in the 30s and now i wonder if he met Burdick since he would have been a kid in the same neighborhood as Burdick. sadly when my dad and i went looking for his cards in my grandparents attic back in the 70s we came up empty, maybe they ended up in Burdick's collection? LOL.
great letters from a bygone era of collecting.

Agree...and they even sent cards out before receiving payment!

Unfortunately, it looks like the South Course Street in Syracuse is now a parking lot. The Briggs Street address in Harrisburg and the Ridgeview Avenue address in White Plains look probably much like they did in 1936…