Your first prewar card

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Posted By: Tim James

Julie,I think you got a good deal on that one !

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Posted By: David McDonald

My Dad grew up in the Mission in San Francisco not far from Seals Stadium and used to see them play in the late twenties and early thirties. His favorite player from those days was Henry Oana. My very last conversation with my Dad was about watching the Prince fire strikes from centerfield to home plate in those long ago days. I bought this Zeenut, my first vintage card, in tribute to my Dad after he passed away in 2001.

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Posted By: bob

A T206 Abbaticchio( brown sleeves) from a catalog (Wholesale Cards) in about 1972 for 55 cents.

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Posted By: Daniel Bretta

N172 Old Judge Dan Brouthers in 1986...along with two other N172's "commons". My dad found them in an old scrapbook and gave them to me.

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Posted By: steve

my first tobacco card i bought was in 1989, it was a mecca doyle/meyers card, i still have it

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Posted By: Rich Klein

T206 Joe McGinnity which I bought as a common at Sports Corner on one of my many trips there in the mid 1970's.

Al -- I remember Greg's store in Ridgewood very well, he turned over so much $$$ and knew everything about cards old and new. The last I heard, his brother Danny still has a store in Northern New Jersey.

I used to love to go to those Mahwah and Parsipanny shows. In fact, I set up in Parsip from 1982 through 1989.

Regards
Rich

P.S. I grew up in Saddle Brook

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Posted By: Al Crisafulli

Rich:

Greg was an AWESOME guy, especially for a young kid. I always wondered what happened to him. He really did have a shoebox of cards that he told me was "just for me" - he's the guy who got me into vintage cards, and I used to spend hours in his store, going through the shoebox. I did go there once in the very early 90s, and sure enough, after I jogged his memory a bit, he remembered me.

He would sit and tell stories about old players, or various card types. The guy had so much character, I could have listened to him all day, which is saying a lot considering I was the type of kid that wasn't into sitting and listening to adults talk. I'd pull out a card of a player, and he'd say "That's Sal 'The Barber' Maglie" and then tell me a story about the guy.

I still have a stack of beat-up old Bowmans and T206s that I bought from him as a little boy.

One time he sold my friend a 1954 Hank Aaron for $5. It was kinda beat up, but not that bad considering the price.

I always got the feeling that by letting us dig through such a great selection of vintage cards at such low prices, he was making a long-term investment. Either that or he really did care about the hobby, and wanted to do his part by getting young people into vintage material. Whichever, I probably have him to thank for this obsession of mine (don't know if that's good or bad)

Thanks for letting me dig up some old memories.

-Al

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Picked it up at one of the old Labor Day shows in Anaheim for $12. Still have it.

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Posted By: Martin Neal

My first prewar purchase was in 1988?? A customer brought a box of t206s to a video store I used to own and asked me if I wanted to buy them. I had never seen one before, but they were so interesting I gave him $100.00 for them. There ended up being around 130 of them including Cobb, Johnson and a bunch of variations including a Willis portrait with grey background, A Dahlen No B, two Wagners No B's. Unfortunately, every single one had a pinhole in the top of the card.

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Posted By: Mike Ernst

My first was a lot of 1100+ T-205 and T-206 from a farmer outside of Max, ND, in 1971. He had gotten them as a kid in NYC, and had been looking for someone who might have an interest in them. I'll never forget him dumping them onto his formica-topped kitchen table out of an old Corn Flakes box.

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Posted By: Dan Koteles

1977 at the Troy Hilton, near Detroit. Picked up 85 T206's
and 3 Mayos. 88 bucks !

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Posted By: craig

got 2 pre-war card same day and remember it well. at a garage sale at my neighbors when i was about 10. he had both a 1933 goudey benny bengough, just like above, and a 1938 goudey heads-up bob feller. since he liked me, i showed interest and both were unsold my wonderful old neighbor gave them to me. i still own both and even took the feller to his museum in van meter, he signed it. he also went on to let me know that the card is dead wrong. "if i'd ever thrown a baseball at my dads barn, he'd have skinned my hide." loved hearing him tell that story. for those who dont understand. it states next to his cartoony pic that he learned his control by throwing a baseball through a knothole in the side of his fathers barn.

craig

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Posted By: Joey

Bob,

We have something in common. My first prewar card was the T206 Abbaticchio (brown sleeves)also. Got it in 1986/87 fir around five dollars. At that time I had no real interest in prewar cards. I just wanted to be able to say I had a tobacco card.

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Posted By: leon

Not sure of my first pre-war card but I got started back into collecting (from when I was a younger kid) about 10 yrs ago. My wife and I went to a small mall near by and there was a card show of about 15-20 tables in the middle of it, for the weekend. I saw "Smilin' Dave" and the rest is history. Smilin' Dave is so named as he is a nice, portly, gentleman, probably mid to late '50's, and he's always smiling. He always tells a great story too. I saw a '54 Banks in poor minus condition on his table, in a binder....the thing looked like it had been in some kids pocket all summer long. Then he probably used it for his spokes. It was about $10. I thought to myself that that was really cool that you could buy this 50 yr old card of a great HOF'er for only 10 bucks. Dave's whole table (rather big) had many cards just like this one...a few better but mostly like this one. I learned a lot from Dave and still see him around ever so often. His whole table has the value of about 1 PSA 8 common nowadays. He sure has a lot of fun though. My 1st two notable pre-war cards (don't know if they were my very first) were a PSA 7 T205 Johnson I bought from my mentor and partner in crime, Scott B., and a nice E102 Cobby I bought from John Spencer. It was all down hill after those two cards.....I guess I should blame those 3 gentlemen for my addiction....

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Posted By: Keith O'Leary

1967. 49 T206s given to me by a hunting buddy of my fathers because he knew I had a passion for baseball and cardboard (included 2 Cobbs).

 

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Posted By: Dave

My Mother-in-Law gave me a partial collection of T206 and a few others, so the first card was a set. Here's the first one I bought, on ebay for $40 in February 2004.

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Posted By: Bob Pomilla

Years back I bought three 1933 Goudeys at a rock bottom price. Not knowing my arse from my elbow about prewars at the time, I had no idea they were trimmed (seriously so) and was as happy as a pig in the proverbial at my "bargain".

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Posted By: Tim Caravella

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Posted By: bill

dan I got these at a troy hilton show also

as I was walking out with just $15.00 left
saw a guy with a stack of cards 1939 playball
Joe Dimaggio, Hank Greenberg, Lefty Gomez,
Carl Hubbell, Red Ruffing, Lloyd Waner, and
a 1941 Chas Gehringer autographed and still had
$3.00 when I got home. Oh still have them..