Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #70 (February 2010)      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. Featured Set: 1940 Crowley's Milk 3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website 4. Book Review: Vintage Pennant Price Guide (Baseball and Football Edition) 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.

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March 2010
2-4	Phone/Internet	Legendary Auctions Sports and Americana Auction (see website for details).
4	Phone/Internet	Prestige Collectibles Auction 38 (see website for details).
6	Internet	Brockelman & Luckey Auctions (see website for details).
7	Phone/Internet	Cardboard Classics (see website for details).
10	Phone/Internet	Hunt Auctions (see website for details).
12-14	Valley Forge, PA	Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).
18	Phone/Internet	Collectible Classics Auction (see website for details).
24-25	Phone/Internet	Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).

2. Featured Set: 1940 Crowley's Milk The cards in this month's featured set depict players from the 1940 Binghamton, New York "Triplets" of the Eastern League. The unnumbered set contains 18 known cards and was produced by Crowley's Dairy, a local enterprise. The series is not listed in the American Card Catalog. The 1-7/8 x 4 inch player action poses are printed in blue. The images are framed in a red and white drawing of a baseball game in progress. Including this wide frame border, the cards measure 3 by 5 inches. The only labeling on the cards is found inscribed on the lower portion of the image. It consists of a one or two-line product endorsement (e.g., "Crowley's is tops," "Make mine Crowley's chocolate milk," etc.) followed by a facsimile signature of the subject player. Several of the players in the Crowley's set also played parts of their careers in the Major Leagues. Binghamton was an affiliate of the Yankees. Most of the Crowley's Milk cards have blank backs, although a few cards are known that have been used as postcards. As seen in the example at right, at least some of the postcards were distributed to customers by the company via US mail. However, the card backs are not pre-printed with a postcard template. The origins of Crowley's Dairy, the sponsor of this set, date back to 1904. That's when grocery-clerk J. K. Crowley purchased a fledgling dairy business in Poughkeepsie, New York. Crowley's corporate assets after the $500 purchase included a horse and wagon, an ice house, a barn, some cans and bottles, and a 200-quart milk route that served 23 customers. Crowley's Milk Delivery (then & now) From this meager start, Crowley expanded and moved the business to Binghamton in 1915. The company continues to operate today as Crowley Foods. While still headquartered in Binghamton, New York, the company now serves a much expanded area--from New York to Florida and as far west as the Mississippi River. The Binghamton Triplets continued to play, although under several different leagues, before disbanding in 1968. A Set Profile and full checklist of all 18 known Crowley's Milk cards is provided on the Old Cardboard website. OC eNewsletter Sponsor 3. Latest Additions 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: 1915   W-unc "Strip Cards" 1924-25   Aguilitas Set Checklists have been added for: 1915   W-unc "Strip Cards" 1923   V89   William Patterson 1924-25   Aguilitas 1940   Crowley's Milk Set Galleries have been added for: 1915   W-unc "Strip Cards" 1924-25   Aguilitas 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 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. Book Review: Vintage Pennant Price Guide (Baseball and Football Edition) Throughout the twentieth century, team pennants have been among the most popular stadium souvenirs. Many pennants from the early 1900s were colorful works of art, making them highly desirable display pieces for sports memorabilia collections. The surviving early examples are of many sizes, some measuring up to 35 inches long. To bring some perspective to these surviving pennants known today, collector Mike Egner has compiled a recently released book, Vintage Pennant Price Guide (Baseball and Football Edition). In his Introduction, Egner briefly traces the evolution of pennants from the early 1900's into the 1970's. In addition, he provides a few tips on factors to consider in evaluating the desirability of a pennant. The bulk of Egner's book, however, is devoted to providing images along with approximate size, rarity and estimated values for over 1200 different pennants. The pennants are organized first between Baseball (Section 1, or roughly two-thirds of the total) and Football (Section 2). Each are then grouped by team, then presented chronologically within teams. The initial baseball "team" pennants include 36 All-Star game pennants beginning with the 1941 All Star contest in Detroit, then continuing throughout the 40's, 50's, 60's and early 70's. In all, twenty-seven Major League teams are represented along with a handful of examples from Negro League and Pacific Coast League teams. Unfortunately, production costs forced the use of black and white images except for composites on the front and back covers. Because of the positive feedback Egner has received so far, he is considering a future expanded edition and perhaps one for other sports. He would welcome input from any collectors with new and expanded information. The 210-page book is priced at $18.99. It can be ordered from the author at gemini147@juno.com; or call (208) 922-4935 between 5:30 and 9:30 MST. 5. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings) E254 Gallery Now Complete.  Thanks to Rob Lifson and REA Auctions, we now have added the final two card images to the 1909 E254 Colgan's Chips Gallery on the Old Cardboard website. Thus, two of the most difficult cards in the set (those for Bris Lord-Philadelphia and Jack Rowan-Philadelphia) have been added to complete the 289-card gallery. The Lord and Rowan cards are part of an astonishing 280-card E254 collection that REA will be selling as one lot in its Spring 2010 auction scheduled for May 1. Details for this and other lots will be posted soon on the REA website. Old Cardboard Issue #22 on Track  The Spring 2010 issue of Old Cardboard magazine (Issue #22) is in final layout and on track for its scheduled delivery of March 15. The featured article in this issue, written by Cesar Lopez, provides a survey of more than thirty card sets produced in Cuba between 1909 and 1950. Other articles focus on the 1932 New York Giants Schedule Postcards and on a recently discovered newspaper ad that pinpoints the sponsor and other previously unknown details of the D382 Tarzan Bread issue. In addition, hobby icon Lew Lipset provides details about an obscure set previously cataloged as an uncatalogued "W-card" issue, including a set gallery that includes a dozen previously uncatalogued player poses. Abstracts for all of these articles can be viewed on the Issue #22 Profile page of the Old Cardboard website. 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.