Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #58 (February 2009)      www.oldcardboard.com

Please Note: If images are not loading in this email, click here. Welcome to Old Cardboard, the most complete reference resource for information about collecting vintage baseball cards and related memorabilia.  More information about this eNewsletter and its companion website and magazine are found at the bottom of this page. Contents: 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar 2. Variation Noted in the 1949 R302-2 Bob Lemon Card 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website 4. 1869 Peck & Snyder Trade Card Grabs National Spotlight 5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) 1. Updated Auction and Show Calendar The following is a summary of vintage card events coming up in the next 30-45 days. For the most current listings on additional vintage card shows and auctions, see the Show and Auction Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.

OC eNewsletter Sponsor

February 2009
12	Phone/Internet	Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
25	Phone/Internet	Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
25	Phone/Internet	Clean Sweep Auctions #157 (see website for details).
25-26	Phone/Internet	Mastro Classic Collector Auction (see website for details).
28	Willoughby, OH	Fusco Auctions (see website for details).
March 2009
5	Internet	Brockelman & Luckey Auctions (see website for details).
6-7	Exton, PA (Live)	Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
13-15	King of Prussia, PA	Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
18	Phone/Internet	Mile High Auction (see website for details).
20-22	Rosemont, Il	Sun Times Sports Collectibles Convention (see website for details).
28	Phone/Internet	Legacy Sports Rarities (see website for details).
TBD	Phone/Internet	Memory Lane Auction (see website for details).

2. Variation Noted in the 1949 R302-2 Bob Lemon Card 1949 R302-2 Lemon (Chicago) A variation in the Bob Lemon card from the R302-2 "M. P. & Co." set was recently brought to our attention by long-time dealer and Old Cardboard subscriber Mike Wheat. The set, considered by many collectors to be among the ugliest ever produced, was issued in 1949 by Michael Pressner and Co. of New York City. It recycles the same artwork used in a similar set that the company issued six years earlier in 1943. According to Wheat, "A customer of mine alerted me to a variation in the Lemon card." In one printing (see example at left), Lemon is shown with "Chicago" printed on his jersey. In the variation card (see example below right), the Chicago label has been removed. Other more subtle differences can be seen in the positioning of Lemon's name on the baseball pictured on the card, and the position of "Bob" relative to his last name. 1949 R302-2 Lemon (No Team on Jersey) While numerous variations have been noted for the M. P. & Co. card backs, this is the most significant variation ever reported for printing of the card fronts. "Out of curiosity," says Wheat, "I checked my old scans of other 1949 M. P. & Co. cards. I was not able to discover any other variations [in the card fronts]. As for Lemon, I've had two of each over the last several years, so it doesn't appear that either card is exceedingly scarce." An Old Cardboard check with other longtime collectors of the set confirmed that the Lemon variation has not been previously known or noted in any of the hobby checklists. Problem is that Lemon, who was later inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame, never played for Chicago. Rather, he played his entire 13-year Major League career as a pitcher for the Cleveland Indians. 1943 R302-1 Hack (Chicago) A logical explanation for the variation in the Lemon card becomes evident when considering that the 1949 set uses leftover artwork from the 1943 R302-1 issue. The 1943 card with the same artwork as the 1949 Lemon card features Stan Hack, who played his entire Major League career with the Chicago Cubs. An example of the 1943 Hack card is shown at left. No doubt the designers of the 1949 set failed to airbrush out the Chicago reference in the artwork when switching to Lemon from the Hack card used in the 1943 set. Then, when the error was noticed, the producers made the correction in subsequent print runs. Another anomaly in the 1949 card fronts is found in card #109 for Phillies outfielder Del Ennis. The Ennis uses the picture previously used for Carl Hubbell in the 1943 set, which shows NY on his cap. Ennis never played for New York. He's also pictured as being a left-handed thrower, which isn't correct. This error was never corrected, however, and therefore did not result in a variation card for Ennis. Although unattractive in their design, the R302 sets are historically important, with the 1943 issue being the only widely distributed multi-team set issued during the height of World War II. Hobby veteran Andy Cook has studied the sets for some time and has agreed to report his findings in a future issue of Old Cardboard magazine. We expect Andy's article to be published later this year. A Set Profile, Cross-Checklist and complete Galleries for both of the M. P. & Co. sets are provided on the Old Cardboard website. OC eNewsletter Sponsor 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website We are continually expanding the Old Cardboard website with more set profiles, checklists and card galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include: Set Profiles have been added for: 1892   New York Recorder Supplements 1909   Pittsburgh Press Supplement 1952   R414-16 Topps Look 'n See Set Checklists have been added for: 1892   New York Recorder Supplements Set Galleries have been added for: 1892   New York Recorder Supplements Updating the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage sets is an ongoing project, so check back often to check out the latest additions. There are now many thousands of card images on the Old Cardboard website and the list continues to grow. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com. 4. 1869 Peck & Snyder Trade Card Grabs National Spotlight Tonight Show's Jay Leno Displays Rare Vintage Card As vintage card hobbyists are well aware, ours is a niche hobby totalling only a few thousand active collectors at most. It is therefore not every day that prime time television devotes a segment to a vintage baseball card or to our hobby. Recently, however, there's been one very notable exception. A vintage card pulled from a nondescript box by an unsuspecting 72-year old California grandmother generated national news headlines and appearances on Jay Leno's Tonight Show along with several other national talk shows. All the attention was focused on an 1869 Peck & Snyder Cincinnati Red Stockings trade card (see front and back images below). Offered first on eBay for an opening bid of $10, the card was later pulled and consigned to Memory Lane, Inc. It sold earlier this month for just over $75 thousand in a special auction promoted by the West Coast auction house. That's easily the highest ever paid for a Peck & Snyder card. The grandmother, Bernice Gallego, watched Superbowl-style with a room full of friends as auction activity unfolded on a big-screen television hooked up just for the occasion. As the group munched on hot dogs and Cracker Jack, Bernice told Old Cardboard, their jaws dropped at the final bid price when the auction closed. Peck & Snyder (back) 1869 Peck & Snyder (front) The card is one of several similar cards produced by Peck & Snyder, a leading manufacturer and seller of sporting goods equipment based in New York City. This card measures approximately 3-5/16 inches high by 4-3/16 inches wide. Cards of the Cincinnati club of similar design are also known that are a little smaller. Peck & Snyder cards featuring the 1868 Brooklyn Atlantics, the 1870 Chicago White Stockings and the 1870 New York Mutuals are also known to the hobby. The importance of the 1869 Peck & Snyder is not just that it is among the very first baseball cards, but that it features the first professional baseball team (the Cincinnati Red Stockings, also known during the period as the Porkopolitans). The players pictured in the photograph are identified on the card, along with the position they played. They are (left to right; standing): Hurley, Sub.; G. Wright, S.S.; Allison. C.; McVey, R.F., Leonard, L.F.; (sitting) Sweasy, 2d B.; Waterman, 3d B.; H. Wright, C.F.; Brainard, P.; Gould 1st B.   Baseball's well known Wright brothers (George and Harry, both now members of the baseball Hall of Fame) are both pictured on the card. It was two years later in 1871 that the National Association, acknowledged as the first major league, was formed. By that time, four of the above players from the 1869 Red Stockings (McVey, Gould and both Wright brothers) had joined the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association. Winning bidder for the auctioned card (dubbed by some as the Peck & Snyder "Leno" card) was Jeff Rosenberg, owner of Tri-Star Productions, a producer of sports card and collectibles shows. Rosenberg has indicated that he plans to take the card on tour, including a stop at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland this summer. The card has been graded "Authentic" by PSA. A profile of Peck & Snyder Trade Cards is provided on the Old Cardboard website. 5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) SCD Branches into Auction Business. Krause Publications, publishers of long-time hobby publication Sports Collectors Digest (SCD), is throwing its hat into the auction house ring. However, the announcement of the launch of its Collect.com Auctions earlier this week drew less than favorable responses from some vintage card collectors. Voicing their concerns on the Network 54 Vintage Baseball Card Forum, collectors noted an already ample supply of auction houses as well as a not-well-disguised conflict of interest created by Krause in competing with their own magazine advertisers. Perhaps the most positive news in the announcement was that Bob Lemke, a respected stalwart in the hobby, has been re-hired by Krause to serve as consignment director for the new venture. The company is now taking consignments for its inaugural sale, slated to be held June 18. Lyman and Brett Hardeman Old Cardboard, LLC. Old Cardboard, LLC. was established in December 2003, to help bring information on vintage baseball card collecting to the hobbyist.  Produced by collectors for collectors, this comprehensive resource consists of three components: (1) Old Cardboard Magazine, (2) a companion website at www.oldcardboard.com and (3) this eNewsletter. The Old Cardboard website contains more than 500 pages of descriptive reference information for baseball card sets produced fifty years ago or longer.  Each of these set summaries has a direct set-specific link to auctions and a similar link to 's powerful search engine for further research.  The website also includes a Show and Auction Calendar, an eBay Top 50 Vintage Sellers List, and much more.  As a result, the Old Cardboard website makes a great "Alt-tab" companion for vintage card shoppers and researchers.  Old Cardboard eNews provides current hobby news, upcoming shows and auctions, and updates to the website and the magazine.  It is published around the middle of each month.  For a FREE subscription to the eNewsletter, or for subscription information on Old Cardboard Magazine, please visit the website at www.oldcardboard.com.  If you find this information resource helpful, please tell your friends.  We need your support and your feedback. Thank you.