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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: peter ullman
I just got back from NYC where I spent the weekend with my family for mothers day. I took in a yankees game and made my 2nd visit to the met to see how they were currently demoralizing the burdick collection. It isn't easy to find tucked away in a dark corridor in the american history section near endless glass cases filled with examples of american furniture and on the other side bordering the european impressionistic paintings...quite impressive I might add. This museum is sick...if you've never been...just packed to the hilt with endless examples of every treasure you could imagine. what better place for the burdick collection...right? Attached are as many photos I could get on photobucket before my computer pooped out. An average array of cards...in my opinion. Kids were gauking at the 59 bazookas speculating as to how many existed and one guy even knew the 51 bowman mantle to be his rookie. Compared to the gems posted on this site regularly...this display was pretty lame...imagine if someone knowledgable was the curator? |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Frank Evanov
Great post Peter. Such a shame the way these treasures are hidden. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Donald Johnson
Peter, |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Keith O'Leary
I also thank you for taking the time Peter. One of these days I will make my pilgrimage. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Rob NYC
Ah cool. They changed it from the last time I was there. They had T207s up for display at the time. I wonder how often they change the displays? |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: dan bartenbaker
it's disappointing to me to see the museum not have room to display the entire collection at same time,as is the case with the hall of fame that displays only small amount of what they have tucked away in the basement,from what i have heard. they need to expand so we can view our national pastimes treasures. i would donate to this cause. welcome any feedback on this subject thanks dan. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Chris
It is disappointing Dan, I agree... and I don't think anyone here would argue. But I think it comes down to the fact that to 99% of people, once you've seen some of those cards, you've "seen them all". I think I'd have a hard time getting most of my friends to spend more than an hour looking at gallery exhibits of baseball cards... |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Ted Zanidakis
Peter |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: James Gallo
Peter |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: peter ullman
ted...i had no written approval to view the collection...i just went to the met like anyone else and was entitled to view what was on display. i'm not familiar with the protocol necessary to view the collection as you did. i'd love to do that! i understand you have to specifically state what cards you're interested in viewing as well! |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: jay behrens
In all likelyhood, if there is an open spot, the cards was stolen. Many of the true rarities were stolen over the years when you could view without special permission. I am sure that more than a few unscupulous collectors that knew Burdick had left his collection to the Met visited the collection to get cards they needed for their own collections, as I am sure security in the 60s was lax, at best. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: peter ullman
for sure jay. it would have been feasible for people to upgrade their cards as well...swap examples or even swap one set for another in sets with similar poses...or swapping rare variations vs the common card! the permutations are limitless to the unscrupulous mind! |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Corey R. Shanus
Here's an interesting story that sort of sums up the lax attitude the Museum had about the Burdick Collection for many years, and why so many cards are missing. Many years ago (in the 1980's) when I saw the collection I noticed the Goudey Lajoie (which I remember being a really nice one) dangling from its album page, secured to it by a single piece of adhesive tape (at that time I don't remember there being a plastic covering around it). Had I wanted I could have easily pulled the card from the page, put it in my jacket pocket and walked out. Nobody was watching me. Concerned about such lax security for such a valuable card, I informed the Museum's representative who was administering the viewing for the collection that perhaps they might want to take better precautions for such a valuable card. The person responded by asking me to write a note listing the card and stating its approximate value (which at the time was around $6K) and leave the note sticking out from the card's album page. I did this and then left. Six months later one of my friends went to see the Burdick collection. When I asked him how the visit went, he told me of the following strange thing. When he was looking at the Goudeys, he noticed in the page where the Lajoie was located a note listing the value of the card at $6K. The card was still dangling from a piece of adhesive tape just as it did 6 months prior. So here you have it that not only did the Museum do nothing to safecard the card, they actually made its theft more likely by highlighting the card's value!! No wonder, I guess, so many cards are missing. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: drc
People often lament collectors auctioning off significant baseball items instead of donating them to a museum. As this and other museum stories illustrate, if you care about your rare collection it is often best to sell it to a private collector. If you sell it through someone like MastroNet, your collection will be published in a catalog for posterity. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: peter ullman
point well taken...most art snobbs probably consider baseball cards a joke...but this is just their ignorance. this is the metropolitan museum of art...not the public library. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: BruceBabcock
I saw the Burdick collection at the Met in 1999 and the T206 Wagner was on display at the time. I can't remember what else was on exhibit but I've seen shiny stuff at shopping malls displayed with more eye appeal. Coincidentally, on the same trip, I saw a second T206 Wagner just a short distance away at the NY Public Library. I can't recall now why it was on display and who it belonged to. |
#17
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: dstudeba
Based in purely fiscal terms, looking at the Met's entire collection, baseball cards are a joke. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Frank Wakefield
Thank you, Peter, for posting the photos, and telling us of the trip. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: Griffin's
I saw it a few years ago as well, tucked in the hallway. At the time it had a few T205's and some Remars and '53's. I guess you have to check in regularly to see a decent part of the collection, and only baseball at that. |
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My trip to see the Burdick Collection
Posted By: barrysloate
I've viewed the collection many times over the years, including trips with board members Jay Miller and Ted Zanidakis. I can fill everyone in on a few things. When the collection was finally completed in the 1960's, it was readily available to anyone who wished to make an appointment. Until about 20 years ago (Burdick finished mounting the cards around 1962) it wasn't looked at very often and was only known to a relatively small number of people. It's hard enough to find the room, hidden behind musical instruments, and I don't think too many people knew it existed. As the baseball hobby gained popularity in the 80's, the Museum found themselves swamped with too many visitors and I remember one of the curators telling me that too many people were handling the cards and they feared damage and theft. Their response was to make it much more difficult to see the original albums, unless you were doing research for a book, and they decided to take portions of the collection and simply frame them and put them up on the walls for viewing. However, you could only look at what was on the wall at that time. Years ago Jay Miller and I went to view the Old Judges- it's a huge collection with an Anson in Uniform included- but all the cards were pasted in so it is doubtful they will ever be removed and displayed. Other cards were placed in albums differently and can be removed more easily, and those are probably the ones they show to the public. However, it has been several years since I have been there so they may have now instituted a new system. I think the sheer number of requests they were getting to see the collection just became a nuisance. Everyone in the room always seemed a little too busy and felt the baseball card crowd was an imposition. |
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