Your Information Resource for Vintage Baseball Cards
  eNews Issue #101 (September 2012)         www.oldcardboard.com

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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. Baseball's First U.S. Postage Stamp
3. Latest Additions to the OldCardboard.com Website
4. 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 Key Events Calendar on the Old Cardboard website.


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September 2012

20Phone/Internet Sterling Sports Auctions (see website for details).
20Internet Sports Card Link (see website for details).
20Internet Sirius Sportscards (see website for details).
27Internet Mile High "Extra Innings" Auction (see website for details).
27Phone/Internet Collectible Classics Auction (see website for details).
28-30King of Prussia, PA Philadelphia Sports Card & Memorabilia Show (see website for details).

October 2012

3Phone/Internet Clean Sweep Auctions (see website for details).
4Internet Sirius Sportscards (see website for details).
4Phone/Internet Goodwin & Co. Auction (see website for details).
6Phone/Internet Paragon Auctions (see website for details).
11Phone/Internet Huggins & Scott Auctions (see website for details).
12Phone/Internet PWCC (see website for details).
18Internet Sirius Sportscards (see website for details).
24Phone/Internet Mile High Catalog Auction (see website for details).
25-26Phone/Internet Heritage Signature Sports Collectibles Auction (see website for details).
27Internet Love of the Game Inaugural Auction (see website for details).

2. Baseball's First U.S. Postage Stamp


1939 U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamp
(about 2 times actual size)
While everyone now agrees that baseball's roots predate Abner Doubleday's "invention" of the sport in 1839, baseball's "centennial" was nevertheless widely celebrated in 1939.

The year marked the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. It was also the year that the U.S. Post Office distributed its first postage stamp to commemorate America's favorite pastime.

Illustrated at right, the purple-on-white design features a group of youths participating in a sandlot game over the title: "Centennial of Baseball, United States Postage." A panel on the left displays crossed bats with a baseball in a catcher's mitt surrounded by a wreath. The dates 1839 and 1939 appear above and below the crossed bats, with the stamp's value (the 3-cent standard rate for mailing a letter at the time) printed at the bottom.

Perhaps appropriately, the stamp was first issued from Cooperstown on June 12, 1939 with both Baseball Commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis and Postmaster General James Farley on hand.

As with many other post office commemorative issues, the baseball centennial stamps were also distributed as "first day covers" with numerous different cachets (engraved or printed envelope designs) all geared toward the stamp collecting hobby. An example of one of these cachets is illustrated below.


Example First Day Cover with Baseball Centennial Cachet

With more than eighty million baseball commemorative stamps produced in 1939, the 73-year-old-commemoratives are available today at very reasonable prices. They can be readily found in Current Auctions on eBay averaging in the $1-2 range, with cachets running typically from $5 to $50 or more depending on design.

Ironically, the U.S. was not first to issue an official postage stamp depicting America's Favorite Pastime as the theme. When based on the date of issue, the U.S. can only claim a distant fifth place. Top honors in that category go to the Philippine Islands. The Philippines issued the first ever baseball-themed postage stamp in 1934. The Phillipine issue was then followed by Columbia (1935), Nicaragua (1937) and Panama (1938) before the U.S. issued its stamp in 1939.


Most Recent U.S. Baseball Postal Stamps (July 2012)
In the last few decades, however, the USPS has made up for its slow beginning with the issue of many dozens of baseball-related stamps. The most recent of these are "forever" stamps released in July of this year to honor Hall-of-Famers Joe DiMaggio, Larry Doby, Willie Stargell and Ted Williams.

According to the USPS, the new baseball stamps set a record for pre-orders of the issue. A few days before their release, the Postal Service reported orders for more than 2 million of the four-stamp series. At those quantities, the stamps are not likely to become hobby rarities anytime soon.  

As with the first USPS baseball stamp in 1939, this year's series was dedicated in Cooperstown with the Postmaster General (now Patrick Donahoe) on hand for the ceremonies.


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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:
1934-1950   Official Baseball Postage Stamps (All Countries)

Set Checklists have been added for:
1934-1950   Official Baseball Postage Stamps (All Countries)

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 every month. We welcome and encourage feedback with checklist additions, card images, error corrections and suggestions. Please send all input to editor@oldcardboard.com.

In addition to these additions to the Old Cardboard website, we continue to expand and refine our eBay Custom Search Links to make finding vintage baseball cards on eBay easier than ever. The results of these searches are continuously changing, so check back often to find the most recent listings.

4. News Briefs (A Digest of Recent Hobby Happenings)

Mixed Reaction to Modern "Remakes" of Vintage Sets. Opinions among vintage collectors are mixed regarding current baseball cards designed to take advantage of early tobacco card set names. In a recent Net54 poll, vintage collectors were generally unimpressed with a 2011 Topps card featuring Babe Ruth under a "Gypsy Queen" label. While some think the design looks "weird," others believe that such cards may help promote the vintage hobby. You can view the latest poll results and register your vote on the Babe Ruth Gypsy Queen poll page of the Net54 website.

New Auction House Announced. Bidding will begin in early October at the inaugural auction of Love of the Game Auctions, a new internet sports auction house based in Great Meadows, NJ. The new venture was announced recently by long-time hobbyist and Auction Director Al Crisafulli. The auction, which ends October 27, is highlighted by a PSA Near-Mint example of the 1935 National Chicle card of Bronko Nagurski, considered the most coveted and valuable football card. Baseball items featured in the auction include a grouping of nine D304 General Baking cards (including set key Cobb), an autographed 1933 Goudey card of Lou Gehrig, an 1887 N690 Kalamazoo Bat card of Joseph Mulvey, and much more. Registration and details can be found on the Love of the Game 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.