Cycleback’s The Vintage Collector
FINDING RARITIES ONLINE
INTERVIEW WITH FRANK K. WARD, October 2001
(With all the talk
about fake cards and everything else on eBay, Frank Ward is specialist at
obtaining unique cards online)
QUESTION: Where are
you from and currently live, and how did you get into collecting?
ANSWER: Im originally
from Kaneohe Hawaii, but have lived in the North San Francisco BayArea (Santa Rosa) for many years
now. I got into collecting in the late
1970's mainly because I played little league baseball at the time, and collected the Topps, Hostess, Kelloggs,
etc., cards of the time. I was a lefty
pitcher (low to mid 90's, at 17 years old) I got as far as Jr. college ball,
and was drafted in the 4th round, Jan 1985 draft, by the Montreal Expos.
I blew arm out in summer American Legion ball that year, never signed,
and lost full ride to Pepperdine (ranked #2 in those days). My teammates on a
few High School/American Legion All Star teams of the time included Gregg
Jeffries (best player Ive seen in HS level), Matt Williams, John Wettland
(teammate for many years). And played
against players like Barry Bonds (fast 175# base stealer), Devon White (very
fast), Ed Sprague Jr., Gregg Vaughn to
name a few.
QUESTION: The reason
I'm interviewing you is because you have the proven ability to find extremely
rare and previously unknown baseball cards.
Please describe some of your finds and how you got them.
ANSWER: 1926
Holland Ice Cream cards (Peckinpaugh, Harris). This lot was auctioned in early 1999 on eBay in the Pre1950
category by a non collector in the Manitoba Canada area. She said she found the
2 cards while cleaning out an older home in the area. At first I saw the auction, but didnt know much about the Holland
Ice Cream cards, as I never owned a single card from the set before. I took a look in the 1999 SCD Catalog, and
was very surprised to see that the #16 card was listed as "unknown",
not knowing the name of the player, as no #16 has been cataloged before. I did one of those last minute max bids of
about $500, and lucked out and won the 2 cards for just over $300 (later
selling the Bucky Harris for $100). I
then wrote Bob Lemke the editor of the SCD Catalog, and showed him photos of
the card, hopefully expecting it to be cataloged in the 2000 edition for close
to what the 1923 Maple Crispette #15 Stengel ($12,000), or the 1932 US Caramel
#16 Lindstrom ($90,000) go for. I was
disappointed to find it listed at only 10 times the common card value ($2,500
NRMT), expecting 2-3 times the value they came up with. I have had a few tempting offers in
trade/cash, but passed on all at the time.
A few months ago Lew Lipset had what he thought to be a complete set of
19 Holland cards (missing the #16), as a single lot in his auction, so I decided
to write him. I showed the Peckinpaugh
card to Lew, and he was surprised to find out the #16 did exist, and wanted to
feature it in his Oct auction. I
thought about it, but decided to hold out for a good offer. Just recently I was in need of some money,
and have since sold the Peckinpaugh for a fair price (equivalent to a $8,000
NRMT value, since card is in VG condition). Sold last month, on a lay away down
payment/monthly payment deal.
IMAGE OF 1926 HOLLAND
PICKINPAUGH:
IMAGE: http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/kealoha707/hollandrp.jpeg
* 1933 Blue Bird
Soda Babe Ruth unknown "side view" pose variation. This auction was found on eBay in late 1999,
lost in the large Baseball Memorabilia category, listed as a Spalding Babe Ruth
picture. I wrote seller for a better
picture of the card, front and back (only the front was shown in auction, and
it was a blurry picture). I also asked a few questions, like what was written
on the front/back, and what the size paper stock was like, and where did they
find it? The lady from North Carolina
who was selling it said it was removed from a 1930's era scrapbook, and she
thought it to be an advertising photo for Spalding (the ad on back says to save
Blue Bird soda caps for an offer for a Spalding ball or glove). I was familiar with the 1933 Blue Bird Soda
Ruth cards, but always remembered seeing the "practice swing (Goudey #144)
pose", never seeing the "side view real game swing pose" before
(except on an Exhibit card of the time).
I wrote back to seller and offered $50 for the card (no one had bid on
it),and she accepted it happily, not thinking it was worth much at all. When I received it in mail I was happy to
see it look original in every way, exactly the same card stock and size as the
other pose. It did have a light glue residue on the back corners, but this was
removed surprisingly easily with a damp tissue. Since then I have had the chance to compare (in person) this
unknown card to a couple of the more common Blue Bird pose variations, and it
matches in every way, as far as design and paper quality, only having a
different Ruth photo on front. Again I
wrote Bob Lemke, and was disappointed to find the 2000 catalog value only
slightly more than the more common variation.
I have never seen or heard of another Blue Bird with the same picture as
mine, since finding this one 2+ years ago.
IMAGES OF BLUE BIRD
RUTH, back and front:
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/canofprimo/bbruth.jpeg
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/canofprimo/bbruthb.jpeg
* 1906 Ullman
Postcards (Christy Mathewson, Iron Arm McGinnity, Leon Ames, Mike
Donlin). These 4 postcards were found
in the eBay Baseball MemorabiliaCategory in early 2000, as 4 separate auctions
with a minimum bid of $25 each. I
bookmarked them and watched for a
couple days with not a single bid. The
seller had them listed as just "Mathewson Postcards" etc., not saying
if they were vintage, or describing them at all, as far as the "Worlds
Champions" line at bottom. The pictures were taken with a low quality
digital camera, and the name and wording at bottom of cards were unreadable. I knew exactly what they were, as there was
a listing in the 2000 SCD Catalog for a single card from the series, Mike
Donlin. I made the seller an offer of
$160 for all 4, and he countered with $200 for all 4, I was willing to go even
higher, so took him up on the offer. I
have since sold all 4 of the cards at different times over the last year and a
half, for over $3,000 total. I now wish I had kept at least one for my
"type" collection, but I need cash
to further my collection, so need to sell on a regular basis. The cards
are all listed now in the 2001 SCD, with the Mathewson at $4000 NRMT.
IMAGES OF ULLMAN
POSTCARDS:
http://hometown.aol.com/kealoha707/ullmanmat.jpeg
http://hometown.aol.com/kealoha707/ullmanironarm.jpeg
http://hometown.aol.com/kealoha707/ullmandonlin.jpeg
http://hometown.aol.com/kealoha707/ullmanames.jpeg
* ca.1913 E95/E96
"Base Ball Series" Notebook (Clarke, Lajoie, Pfiester, Wagner,
Willett). I found this auction late
summer 2000, it was again lost in the large Baseball Memorabilia Category on
eBay, with a bad picture. It showed a
worn beat up cover to a childs notebook, with 5 cards printed on cover. I was drawn to this auction by the key word
"Wagner" I used in a search.
I looked closely and could tell right away they were the same pictures as found on the more common E95 and
E96 Philadelphia Caramel Co. cards from 1909/10. I remembered reading in Lew Lipsets 1984 "THE ENCYCLOPEDIA
BASEBALL CARDS Vol. #2", page 19, that "Thin, blank backed E95's and
E96's are known and most likely these were cut from display posters. They
should not be considered proofs."
I though that if Mr. Lipset didnt know exactly these blank backed cards
were from a notebook cover, then this may be a good find, and fairly rare. So I went and placed a large proxy bid, and
lucked out and won this complete notebook for a little over $250. The notebook is full of homework from
September and October of 1913, and the original owner was a young girl,
probably saving it from being cut into individual cards the day it was full in
1913. I have since found a group of 4
cards (3 still connected, Donovan, Chance, McIntyre, and a single Ames) from
the same notebook series. These were glued into a scrapbook, and are in low
grade, but are proof there are more subjects in this rare notebook series.
IMAGE OF NOTEBOOK:
http://hometown.aol.com/canofprimo/notebook.jpeg
* 1926 Schapira
Bros. "Big Show Candy" Ty Cobb.
This card was listed on eBay in late 1999 in the pre1950 Category, by a
collector who didnt know what it was. I
actually had a tough time locating info on the card at first. It took a couple days of thumbing through
catalogs before I came across the listing in the 2000 SCD Catalog for the
Schapira cards. The checklist was incomplete, and had no Ty Cobb listed, but
the design, size, caption, etc. all matched, so I was sure it was from same
series. It has the credit line "Underwood and Underwood" in small
writing at bottom, and the name Ty Cobb in white, all consistent with the other
known cards from this rare series. I
was the high bidder on auction, but the reserve wasnt met. I later found out the seller put a high
reserve to be safe, since he didnt know exactly what the cards value was. Well, about a month later the same seller
put 2 Novelty Cutlery postcards on eBay, and I happened to win one of them, he
remembered my eBay ID, and offered the Cobb card to me for $300 plus the $80 I
needed to pay for the postcard I just won.
I took him up on offer, and was happy to find a card of Cobb, not
cataloged yet. Lemke has the Cobb in
the 2001 SCD at $2000 NRMT, which I think is fair. I have since found a Schapira Ray Schalk card that is also now
uncataloged.
IMAGES OF SCHAPIRA
CARDS:
http://hometown.aol.com/kealoha707/bigshowcobb.jpeg
http://hometown.aol.com/mynanaka/bigshowschalk.jpeg
QUESTION: When you
turn to sell or trade an obscure card, do you ever have trouble getting people
to believe it is legitimate?
ANSWER: I have never
had a problem with people not believing the card is legitimate. But in the case of the notebook cards, I had
one collector say they arent even cards. he said, "If you consider them "cards", then you
can cut out any picture from a magazine and call them "cards"
too." I told him the kids determined
they were cards, as they cut out the cards from the notebook cover in most all
cases, and saved them with the other tobacco/candy cards from the 1910
era. I know of a few other advanced
collectors that have a couple of the blank backed E95/E96 cards in there
collection, who were very interested about the discovery of the complete
notebook. There are many cards from
that era that were cut from something, most were cut from candy boxes.
QUESTION: What would
be the ultimate card not yet discovered (like a T206 Joe Jackson)?
ANSWER: I would like
to see another couple cards of Jim Thorpe, and Joe Jackson, that would be
nice. I am always happy to find a card
from a known set, but of a player yet to be cataloged. This week I just picked up a 1909 German
Stamp of Hoblitzell, and it is yet to be cataloged in the 2001 SCD
Catalog. The set is cataloged but no
Hoblitzell is in checklist. I picked it
up for $10.Those cards are always fun to find.
Cycleback’s The Vintage Collector
