Buck Barker writing on card backs

[Leon]

"Staying Home tonight.....Happy New Year"

Sort of apropos on a few levels...

[rc4157]

In today's world, Buck's letter would have been an email and probably lost forever.

RC

[Rich Klein]

Was I ended up with Buck Barker's Post Cereal Card collection after he passed and several of the cards I sold had his signature on the back. I was young then, although reasonably into hobby history, and now realize I never should have sold ALL those cards but kept 1-2 for myself.

I do have some Buck Barker "archive' materials so if Leon ever wants to come over and scan some of them for the board he is welcome to do so. We'll save that project for early next year though

Rich

[brianp-beme]

The Old Judge cards shown on this thread have a completely different handwriting on the back than the Zeenut, E107 etc. cards shown that Mark M. has confirmed to be from Buck Barker. Check out the G's between the two. I have a ton of Buck's former cards...let's just say I have been a good customer of lower grade Z's from Mark for years. Maybe Mark can chime in on the Old Judge examples.

Brian

[barrysloate]

Someone just emailed me and said he did not think the writing on the back of the OJ's was Barker's. Do we have any consensus of opinion?

[sb1]

I studied this a bit this morning and it certainly does not appear the same. Buck tended to list the player and his stats, teams, position, last year in BB, etc.

Scott

[barrysloate]

Scott- you are probably correct, but there are so many Old Judges with a back notation similar to the two on this thread that one would think another important collector once owned them. Any thoughts?

[oaks1912]

Barry.... Based on what I've seen, Buck's cards had either the rubber stamp with his name / address or the detailed career notes in shorthand. The other cards with a set notation, or just numbers are inconsistent with anything that I've seen directly attributed to Buck. Buck was more about researching the player and providing a reference for himself. Our current understanding of series such as Old Judge, E-107, and Zeenuts benefitted greatly from his research...... I should also add that Buck was not the only longtime collector, or individual to write on the backs of his cards. Many cards which were handled by Frank Nagy had his unique handwriting on the back. The experienced PCL / Zeenut collectors will also be familiar with several 'fingerprint' collections that have turned up over the last 40 years . Not to bore the average reader, there are many collections which have turned up with unique markings, wear patterns, flaws, writing, etc. over the years. As Yogi Berra would say, Seeing these cards recirculate is like deja vu all over again.

[cfc1909]

after taking a closer look the ojs are by the same person but not Buck...

[oaks1912]

Barry... The "G-58-9" designation is from the first volume of the World Tobacco Index in 1956 where the Goodwin photographic cards were divided into 7 sub categories. The further "-1" was for mixed subjects, baseball, athletics, actresses, celebrities. Small size.... The "List 1" is likely a reference to "CTL's" or Cartophilic Typed Listings which were reserved for large sets that were constantly being added to.... Almost like the current 'Old Judge" book released earlier this year, which has charted new additions since it came out (Note to Jay, Richard & Joe...You'll simply HAVE to do an update every year.... ... )..... Not sure which collector inscribed those catalog numbers on the back, but I have seen numerous examples, in different handwriting, over the years. There were likely done sometime in the fifteen years between 1956 and 1970. By the time I became aware of Old Judges they were referred to as 172's. When the Sports Collectors Bible came out, they added an "N" to the designation