[Al C.risafulli]

15 years ago I was really into the 1938 Goudey set. I did a ton of research on it, and I had a website where I displayed all the things I'd learned, about the wrappers, the two different sheets, and speculation as to why the cards were repeated twice, based on discussions I'd had with a Goudey family historian.

One day out of the blue, I got an email from someone who's grandparents owned a candy store. The way I remember it, he had 20 unopened packs of 1938 Goudey. He hadn't known what they were, and stumbled onto my website while he was trying to figure out what he had. Since I had the wrappers on my site, he emailed me.

I nearly lost my mind. We emailed back and forth a few times, I was hoping to steer him towards REA for the consignment (LOTG didn't exist yet, my company was designing the REA catalog each year and I have a good relationship with Rob), and was hoping to be able to buy just one of the packs myself.

Ultimately, he made a comment about the cards inside being "mint." I told him that the packs were much more valuable than the cards inside, and he disappeared! I don't think there was any reason for him to lie, so I suspect that either A) he wanted to know if there was any value in what he had, and once he realized there was, he put them away for another time, or B) he opened the packs himself.

After I started LOTG I tried emailing him a number of times, with no response. C'est La Vie, I guess. But wow, would I love a find of unopened '38 Goudey.

-Al