I’m very excited to share a interview I recently conducted with Paul of t206collector.com. Paul has put together a mind-blowing collection of autographed pre-war baseball cards. As you could surmise from the name of his website (t206collector.com), Paul is a T206 collector at heart. However, as you’ll see in the Gallery below, he doesn’t pass up a chance to add a significant signed card from any of the other sets produced during the era. In my opinion this collection belongs in a museum. After you read the article, please take a couple minutes to scroll through the Gallery below. I’m always blown away when I look at Paul’s cards. It’s almost beyond belief that this many signed Pre-War cards reside in a single collection.
Without further ado, here is our conversation:
What was the first signed card you acquired?
I met Mark McGwire in October 1987, right after he broke the rookie record for home runs in a season. He signed my 1985 Topps Olympic card. I still have it.
What was the first signed tobacco card you acquired?
In or about 2004, there were four signed Rube Marquards from the same collection listed on ebay over a couple of weeks. I won them all. Two of them, my hands at sides and my portrait, I still have. The others (dupes obviously) were traded or sold over 10 years ago.
Was there a specific moment when you decided to steer your collection in the direction it has ultimately taken?
I would pick up a signed T206 Snodgrass batting and a signed T206 Doyle Batting between 2004 and 2007, but my interest took a serious turn as a result of the Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 Cards in 2007.
When did you decide “I’m going to get as many signed T206s as I can?”
I didn’t see that as a realistic goal until 2007, when The Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 cards began hitting eBay. I thought about getting all the dupes too, but quickly ran out of money!
How many signed pre-war cards are you able to add in a given year? Has it varied over the years? I’m assuming it has gotten tougher as they have all dried up (thanks to you, haha)?
Exactly. It’s about 1 per year over the last seven or 8 years. Normally I already have the poses signed that come to market. Goodwin just had 7 signed T206s last month. But, I already had them all (and had previously owned many of them as well, but had upgraded).
Do you have a favorite card in your collection?
That is a really tough one, and it changes periodically. I love my signed T206 Lajoie, T206 Clarke, T206 Doyle Batting, M116 Sporting Life Wagner, M101-2 Speaker,1914 Cracker Jack Marquard, T201 Leifield and T201 Wheat, among others.
Do you have one or more favorite stories of how you acquired certain cards?
Being connected with an old time autograph collector who sold me the signed Lajoie and Wagner, as well as a signed T206 Baker and signed T206 Crawford batting, was outstanding. I literally flew from NYC to North Carolina over the Christmas Holiday to visit with the collector and peruse his collection. It was amazing.
Did you make any fun trades along the way?
Yes, my trades for the signed T206 Clarke and T206 Young both came from the same pre-war autographed card collector. I had some rare signed Goudeys, T201s, T202s, and T205s I was able to trade him.
With all the amazing stuff in your collection, is there anything else left to search for? Are there any “white whales” you are still after?
I need a signed T206 Cobb. That’s the “white whale” and I have gotten pretty close a few times.
Because your collection is so advanced, do you find yourself getting bored in periods of time when you aren’t able to add anything new?
Yes, that does happen. It’s during those down periods that I find interest in different unsigned sets for a period of time. That rarely lasts more than a year or two, before I am selling everything to make a run at a new signed T206 that I just have to have!
If so, do you have any other things you collect to pass the time?
Unsigned T206s and some caramel cards.
Do you have any big plans for the future with your collection such as showing it in a museum or anything like that?
That would be cool, but I do not think there are too many museums that would be interested in showcasing it. Instead, I’m happy to keep the collection in my bank’s safe deposit box, and share the scans online with anyone who is interested!
That meeting with the collector in NC sounds amazing. Is there any more you can tell us about that meeting? Like what kinds of stuff he had, or stories he might’ve told you? I know you may not want to say too much in the interest of keeping his anonymity, but if you can tell any stories, I’d love to hear them.
It was crazy from a travel perspective – flying from NYC to Charlotte to have him (a complete stranger) pick me up at the airport and take me to his house to look at baseball cards. Ever since I started speaking with Jeff Morey in 2007, I have had a tiny little want ad in his “The Autograph Review” or “TAR” mailing. In December, a guy who also subscribes to TAR found out about the NC guy’s collection and connected me for a finder’s fee. The NC guy is maybe in his mid 60s, a dentist, with a passion for baseball and music autographs. Most of his stuff he bought at auction or in old baseball card catalogs over the past 30 years. Most of his signed pre-war (he had Cobb, Cy Young, Tris Speaker) were obvious fakes, but he had struck a little gold now and again — he had bought the M116 Wagner from a memorabilia shop in Texas in the early 90s. What he didn’t sell to me, and what was authentic, he consigned to Robert Edward Auctions. He made over $100,000 in the April 2017 REA, mostly driven by some sick early, pre-Ringo Beatles autographs. He has a bunch of lesser items still being listed in the October REA. And a few smaller lots were listed in Sterling Sports Auctions.
From that collection I got the M116 Wagner, and signed T206s of Baker, Lajoie and Crawford Batting. Many of the other cards in my collection come from Jeff Morey’s collection – a dozen or so signed pre-war cards he didn’t consign with Mastro in 2001. The great balance came out of the 2007 Great Pittsburgh Find of Signed T206 Cards and a Hunt Auction that November.
Sorry, no stories of getting the signatures myself. I was not even 8 when the last T206er died (Marquard)! I wouldn’t own an unsigned T206 for another 17 years, or a signed T206 Marquard for 24 years!
Is there anything that I didn’t think to ask, but you think people would be interested to know?
On our wedding day, after the ceremony, but before the dinner/toasts, my wife pulled me aside and gave me a T206 Groom card – as I was the groom that day. Now that was awesome!
Please take a couple minutes to view the complete collection below in the Gallery!
*All of the scans used in this article and the Gallery below are courtesy of T206collector.com. Please check out the site!
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