M101-2 Supplements in Memory Lane

[A2000]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I'm the guy Dan is talking about...I picked up the Cobb/Wagner, shoeless Joe, and wajo/street. I was also the underbidder for the 96/100 run last year. Man was i bummed...I was majorly excited when the singles popped and was able to get my 3 favorites!

This may sound odd to some, but once more people see these, I don't think there's going to be enough supply of them regardless if a slew of them are graded.

When I showed these to people, they had the same reaction as I did: they are jaw droppingly gorgeous. Many have expressed "I've got to get me some of these!" After having seen them for the first time. Before June of 2020, I didn't even know these existed. They are true hidden gems, and I think the psa slabs add "legitimacy" to them for many of that makes sense.

Very nice pickups, there can't be too many of these that survived the last 100 years.

[mouschi]

Originally Posted by BobC

Mouschi,

That is great, I am so glad you are happy with them. Can't believe you've never seen these until recently though. They've been around and aren't hiding. I remember at one of the old Cleveland Nationals talking with a guy who had about 30-40 raw ones for sale, in decent shape, who had told me he actually found them in someone's garbage and picked them out. I think they're beautiful, and a great set to work on. Check out the way Dan has his displayed in binders, which is the same way I keep mine.

And one of the nice things about this set was that you could always find them at reasonable prices....at least you used to. LOL The first ten issued in 1909 are especially nice, and loaded with some all-time great HOFers. They've all got that white border at the top of the supplement that says it a supplement from the Sporting News, St. Louis, and gives the issue date the supplement was included with. Be sure to check out the Ed Walsh pose on the 9/9/1909 supplement, it is fantastic. And they've got some great team photos that are double pages as well, including the Pirates with Wagner, and the Tigers with Cobb. They are huge and the images are really clear. The Tigers one is especially nice as the entire team is in suits and ties, and Cobb has a great bow tie for himself. You get a really good, clear, detailed look at some of these players that you won't find on their cards, and also great shots of the uniforms styles and equipment. Some of the pictures do look a little odd, and seem almost like a drawing as opposed to an actual photo. Not sure, but they may have done something like for a few of these. Check out the Vean Gregg and Richard Marquard supplements from 11/2/1911 and 11/9/1911 and you'll see what I mean. There's also some super single page team photos as well, one of the Red Sox from 10/10/1912 and then the NY Giants from 10/17/1912 . Another really fantastic image is of Clark Griffith standing on the dugout steps, looking out at the field from the 11/21/1912 issue, it is a fantastic shot and study of him. And possibly the weirdest image in the whole set is of Frank "Ping" Bodie from the 1/11/1912 issue. The way his right arm is in the photo just makes it look strange, and their appears to almost be something like a white border around some parts of his body, especially where the dark uniform is. Kind of makes it look like someone took a different photo of him and then cut it out, leaving a slight border around it in some places, and then attached it to a different background. If you find one you'll quickly see what I mean. The set also contains some portraits of various baseball owners/execs you don't normally see anywhere else, and even has one supplement from the 3/31/1910 issue with four major league umpires in their suits on it. Two from the AL and two from the NL, which includes two HOFers, Bill Klem and Billy Evans. So for someone looking for a contemporary issue of a HOFer during their active career days, you get a two-for-one with this supplement. And for whatever reason, the hardest supplement for me to ever find was of Ray Schalk, another HOFer by the way. No idea why, just never seemed to come across one.

That near set were you were bidding on last year that went for around $12K, depending on the condition and assuming it included all the major stars, that sounds about right to me for what that should have gone for. But now seeing a Jackson by itself going for that much only a year later just blows my mind. This recent ML auction included arguably the 4 most valuable supplements in the set, Cobb, Cobb/Wagner, Jackson, and Wagner, with the Jackson being the outright most valuable. If these do start taking off pricewise now, I'll be very curious to see if these price increases trickle down to the other HOFers in the set, and then to the common players. And another interesting fact/question, is there another set out there that has the likes of Cobb, Wagner, Jackson, Matty, WaJo, Speaker, Joss, and Cy Young in it, all during their playing days? The 1914 Cracker Jacks come close, but they're still missing Joss and Young. The 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1 set is even a little closer, but they're still missing WaJo. It is a heck of a set. And for a lot of the HOFers in it, these are some of their earliest images included in an issued set, aside from just a postcard or single photo.

Great pickups. Are you going to try for the rest of the set now? If so, good luck.

I think the fact that I hadn't seen them prior to 2020 is a testament to how vast our hobby is. Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about pre-war, primarily about issues that I knew nothing about previously. When you pigeonhole yourself into only new stuff for years (and a single player for me) nothing else really matters. Learning about these and others was like being a kid in a candy shop! It was almost as if someone said "hey, kid ... you think the new stuff is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet ... check these out ... NO ONE is talking about them!"

There are so many beautiful issues in this set. Here are some of my favorites aside from the Cobb/Wagner & Shoeless Joe.



I did a comparison in my article here about the beauty of the Shoeless Joe Jackson in comparison to his other main releases here:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2020/0...-beauties.html



Don't get me wrong, I love ALL of those, but it is just funny how different they are from this:



I'm picky about this set, so I don't *think* I'll ever go after the entire run, but the vast majority of the pieces I love are the ones that have the faded background. I could look at them for hours. In terms of beauty from a sepia issue, I think the M101-2s are unbeatable!

Originally Posted by A2000

Very nice pickups, there can't be too many of these that survived the last 100 years.

Thank you!

[BobC]

Originally Posted by mouschi

I think the fact that I hadn't seen them prior to 2020 is a testament to how vast our hobby is. Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about pre-war, primarily about issues that I knew nothing about previously. When you pigeonhole yourself into only new stuff for years (and a single player for me) nothing else really matters. Learning about these and others was like being a kid in a candy shop! It was almost as if someone said "hey, kid ... you think the new stuff is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet ... check these out ... NO ONE is talking about them!"

There are so many beautiful issues in this set. Here are some of my favorites aside from the Cobb/Wagner & Shoeless Joe.



I did a comparison in my article here about the beauty of the Shoeless Joe Jackson in comparison to his other main releases here:

https://tanmanbaseballfan.com/2020/0...-beauties.html



Don't get me wrong, I love ALL of those, but it is just funny how different they are from this:



I'm picky about this set, so I don't *think* I'll ever go after the entire run, but the vast majority of the pieces I love are the ones that have the faded background. I could look at them for hours. In terms of beauty from a sepia issue, I think the M101-2s are unbeatable!



Thank you!

Maybe not the set, but you might want to look for some of the other supplements. Check out the Clark Griffith one that GeoPoto has showing in post #35. Is that the faded background your were referring to? The scan doesn't do that image of Griffith justice.

Also, in regards to the Jackson supplement, I'm not sure you'll find a better image of him on any issue from his playing days. A lot of the cards are drawings and not pictures, and some of them are downright hideous. I still cringe whenever i see those cards that look like the players are wearing lipstick. Ugh!

[T206Collector]

Beckett does a nice job grading these. I don't like their holders for T206 cards, but I do like them for M101-2s.

But, I only collect them with signatures!

[the-illini]

Those signed supplements look great - I am surprised that they could even be signed without damaging them, given their fragility

[nolemmings]

Those are beautiful signed m101-2s. I have no objection to Beckett's grading on these, but their slabs, at least in the past (maybe they have improved) are awful. Here is an example of what I mentioned earlier--notice how wavy the sides of the premium look as it won't sit flat. Also, for those of us old enough to remember, the thickness is akin to three 33 1/3 LP record albums. Imagine how bulky that would be if you wanted to store most or all of the set, when a three-ring binder would do the trick and look nicer too.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Those are beautiful signed m101-2s. I have no objection to Beckett's grading on these, but their slabs, at least in the past (maybe they have improved) are awful. Here is an example of what I mentioned earlier--notice how wavy the sides of the premium look as it won't sit flat. Also, for those of us old enough to remember, the thickness is akin to three 33 1/3 LP record albums. Imagine how bulky that would be if you wanted to store most or all of the set, when a three-ring binder would do the trick and look nicer too.

Thick is for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if you could drive a car over those without damaging them.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Those are beautiful signed m101-2s. I have no objection to Beckett's grading on these, but their slabs, at least in the past (maybe they have improved) are awful. Here is an example of what I mentioned earlier--notice how wavy the sides of the premium look as it won't sit flat. Also, for those of us old enough to remember, the thickness is akin to three 33 1/3 LP record albums. Imagine how bulky that would be if you wanted to store most or all of the set, when a three-ring binder would do the trick and look nicer too.

They upgraded the holders a couple of years ago, and are now much thinner. Not much room to get "warped" so to speak.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by the-illini

Those signed supplements look great - I am surprised that they could even be signed without damaging them, given their fragility

They weren't 110 years old when they were signed though. But you're right, I wouldn't necessarily want someone to try writing on one of them today.

[the-illini]

Originally Posted by BobC

They weren't 110 years old when they were signed though. But you're tight, I wouldn't necessarily want someone to try writing on one of them today.

Good point - I am sure they were much less fragile 50-60 years ago. It is amazing how many survived in decent condition.