Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
eNews Issue #26 (June 2006)      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: 1916 D381 Fleischmann (and Ferguson) Bakery 3. Latest Updates to the OldCardboard.com Website 4. Old Cardboard Magazine Issue #8 on Target for July Delivery 5. Ruth Sold; Checks Used in Transaction Now For Sale 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

June 2006
22	Phone/Internet	Mastro Internet Auction (see website for details).
24	Live/Internet/Phone	SCP Auctions w/ Sotheby's (see website for details).
25	Internet/Phone	Heritage Internet Only Auction (see website for details).
July 2006
26-30	Anaheim, CA	National Card Convention (see website for details).

2. Featured Set: 1916 D381 Fleischmann (and Ferguson) Bakery D381 Fleischmann Johnny Evers D381 Ferguson Eddie Burns In 1916, two bakeries (one in New York City and one in Boston) each issued this set of more than 100 oversized cards. Today, the series sponsored by Fleischmann Bakery of New York is the more common and best known. As a result, the cards are most often referred to in the hobby as "Fleischmanns." They are also sometimes called "D381s," the number that they are assigned in the American Card Catalog. The cards measure about 2-3/4 x 5-3/8 inches (which includes a 1/2-inch coupon at the bottom). The black-and-white cards are printed with narrow borders. Some cards in the set (but not all) carry the copyright "Underwood & Underwood" within the player image. All are blank-backed. Much less known by collectors is a second related series of cards using the same player portraits and general card design, but produced by Ferguson Bakery of Boston. Finding the Ferguson cards is very difficult--and finding them with the coupons still attached is even greater challenge. Two such Ferguson Bakery cards of common players (one is the Burns example shown here) recently sold on eBay for $2,300 each. The large card format of the D381 cards permit the display of some of the most detailed player portraits of any cards of the period. Many (but not all) of the cards carry an Underwood & Underwood copyright inside the lower left portion of the image. The differences between the Fleischmann and Ferguson series are in the player labeling and in the wording on the coupon at the bottom of the cards. As seen from the enlarged images at left, the card labeling on the Fleischmann cards include the player's full name and position, followed by his team and league affiliation on a second line. On the Ferguson cards, all of this player information is contained in a single line of text. In addition, the Fleischmann cards carry a tag line that identifies the producer as "Bradford & Co. Pub. St. Joseph, Mich" along the lower left edge of the card but above the coupon cut line. As might be expected, the redemption messages contained on the coupons are different for each of the two sponsors. The Fleischmann coupons are redeemable for an album to hold the cards. It reads: "Send or bring 50 of these coupons with 50 cents to Fleischmann Bakery, 540 East 81st Street [some cards read 'Bronx Road & Post St.'], New York City, and receive a beautiful leather Kodak Album, in which you can mount your pictures of base ball players. Will hold 100 photos." Unfortunately, there are no known examples of the "leather Kodak Album" in the hobby today. The Ferguson redemption coupon offer is somewhat more interesting to today's collectors. It reads: "Bring or send fifty of these coupons to Ferguson Bakery, No 853 Albany St., Roxbury, Boston and receive in exchange a Beautiful Felt Pillow Top made from Star Baseball Pennants or Favorite Moving Actor Pennants. This photo card was wrapped with Peerless Bread, ‘Perfect for the Home Plate.’" Although extremely rare, there are two known examples of the "Felt Pillow Top" premiums described in the Ferguson redemption offer. One of these will be pictured in an article about the 1916 BF3 Ferguson Felt Pennants that are well known to vintage collectors. The BF2 article, including a very colorful gallery of all 97 pennants in the set, will be published in the Summer 2006 issue (Issue #8) of Old Cardboard magazine. Summary information about the D381 card set is 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 set galleries. Recent (past 30-40 days) additions include: Set Profiles have been added or significantly expanded for: 1910 T100 Silhouettes 1924 Crescent Ice Cream 1943-47 Centennial Flour (added front and back card image examples for all four years) Set Checklists have been added for: 1936 R312 Color Tints 1924 Crescent Ice Cream 1929 Star Player Candy Set Galleries have been added for: 1936 R312 Color Tints 1924 Crescent Ice Cream 1929 Star Player Candy We continue to update the website with checklists and full set galleries for additional vintage issues, so check in 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. Old Cardboard Issue #8 on Track for July 15 Delivery Issue #8 (Summer 2006) of Old Cardboard magazine is now at the printer and on track to be in subscriber hands by July 15 as promised. The issue marks the completion of two years of publication of the magazine--with all issues sent on (or ahead of) schedule. The cover for this latest issue is keyed to our lead article about the 1916 BF2 "Ferguson Bakery" felt mini-pennants. Authors Jim and Chris Sexton have been working on the set for many years and have recently uncovered new information that both affirms (and casts a little doubt) about the true sponsor for the set. The article includes by far the most comprehensive information about the set printed to date as well as a complete gallery of all 97 pennants in the set. Both a pillow top and a related large format pennant also offered by Ferguson Bakery are also described along with example images, and much more. The Summer 2006 issue also includes an overview of the A. C. Dietsche set of Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs postcards written by Robert Silverman. Silverman, a longtime collector with a special interest in baseball postcards, brings a fresh new perspective to this widely distributed 1907-09 issue, designated PC765 in the American Card Catalog. Among the other articles is one written by Jerry Spillman about the W600 Sporting Life cabinet card premiums, as well as a brief look at a familiar news-service photograph of Ty Cobb and a few of the card sets in which the pose is found. The above feature articles are in addition to the magazine's regular "Editor's Notebook" and "Collector's Dugout" sections and lots of informative messages from our sponsors. More detailed abstracts for each of the above articles, including thumbnail images of the full-color page layouts, can be viewed on the Old Cardboard website. 5. Ruth Sold...Checks Used in Transaction Now For Sale By 1918, the Red Sox had won their fifth World Series, which was unprecedented at that time. One of their talented young pitchers was George Herman Ruth, better known among vintage card collectors today as "The Babe." Late the following year, however, Red Sox owner and Broadway producer Harry Frazee, financially strained because of slumping attendance at his shows, was prompted to sell Ruth. He reached a deal on December 26, 1919 to sell Ruth to Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert for $100,000. As part of the deal, the Yankees also promised to loan Frazee $300,000 with Fenway Park as collateral. Now eight and a half decades later, two of the bank drafts used as part of the transaction are on the auction block. They have important historic significance in that the loan that they represent cemented the deal that sent Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees in 1920. That deal is considered by many to be the most historic and lopsided sale in sports history. The checks are part of the infamous trade that sparked a Yankee dynasty and an 85-year draught in Boston known as "the curse of the Red Sox." Although the Red Sox "reversed the curse" by finally overcoming the Yankees in 2004, the Ruth sale more than eight decades ago marked the beginning of the celebrated and intense rivalry between the two clubs that continues to this day. The two checks, both made payable to the "The Boston American League Baseball Club," are signed by Ruppert and fellow Yankee owner T. L. Huston. They are also endorsed on the back by Frazee. One from December 30, 1921 is for $100,000 and the second from February 4, 1922 is for $50,000. The checks are featured in the Sotheby’s with SCP Auction scheduled to close on June 24th. They are are part of the Jacob Rupert Collection, containing thousands of historical Yankee-related documents, letters, official notes, payroll and other checks also being auctioned. Items to be auctioned will be on display at Sotheby's New York galleries until the day before the auction. Further details about the auction can found on the Sotheby's or the SCP Auctions website. Not sure when your subscription to Old Cardboard magazine ends? Send us an E-mail. We'll be happy to look it up and let you know. 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. 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