Revisiting Two Old Pickups

Revisiting is a nice term for getting old stuff slabbed for protection reasons....plus pre-war and 19th century cardboard looks extra nice in a tuxedo. One of these cards was acquired almost 3 years ago and the other was snatched up 13 and a half years ago.

George Washington out of the 1889 Kinney Brothers N222 Leaders set is the first card I decided to throw into a slab. Washington crossing the Delaware is a fun added touch to his portrait.

William Fly, one of the pirates in the N19 Pirates of The Spanish Main set from an 1888 Allen & Ginter release, is next up. Like George, both present very well for their technical grades of 1 (with Willie looking even better than his predecessor).

The backs on old, old stuff usually do not disappoint -- so here are both.

Original Ginter Is Back In The House!

Another one of the cards I sent to SGC for safe non-sports keeping is today's featured piece of cardboard. It was a cheap eBay pickup and while I may not keep it down the road, for now it fits nicely into my O.G. A&G PC.

*It's original Ginter, so I likely will keep it forever*

Hailing from the 1888 N2 American Indian Chiefs set, Agate Arrow Point returned as a 1.5. I always love the look of the Tux, especially on vintage minis.

For a Ginter offering pushing 140 years of age, the reverse is still remarkably clean!

Allen & Ginter: Arms of All Nations

I picked up another random 1800s Ginter card to add to my small PC of O.G Ginter Goodness. The Twitter group I belong to which focuses on non-sports and specifically vintage non-sports has paid dividends early on with a couple of cheap but fun additions.

This 1887 N3 "Arms of All Nations" score features the Arab Musket and for being a 1, it's in solid shape and even has a fairly clean reverse.

An Awesome 1888 Allen & Ginter Addition: Winfield Scott (Great Generals)

One of my earliest collecting loves has somewhat fallen by the wayside over the last 10 years. I have not stopped enjoying this area of collecting; I don't find it any less interesting or appealing; and it has not necessarily risen in price so as to push me out of chasing it. Things simply change over the years, priorities shift, and work gets in the way and forces condensing of areas of desire.

Original Allen & Ginter remains undefeated! I joined a non-sports group on Twitter and a lot of the guys were posting their vintage Ginter and similar sets. It reminded me how much I enjoy it and reignited some of that earlier passion for adding O.G. A&G to the PC. I snagged a couple of pieces, both slabbed, and the first of those is Winfield Scott from the 1888 N15 Great Generals set.

Scott served as Commanding General of the United States Army for 20 years, fought in numerous wars (including the Civil War), and almost ran for President. This is my perfect type of vintage card, being an SGC 1 but a stellar looking SGC 1.

1888 N2 Allen & Ginter Pickups: American Indian Chiefs

I randomly stumbled upon an awesome pair of cards being sold together on eBay. I thought there was a solid chance they would stay within a range I was comfortable with but figured they would still end up selling for more than I wanted to spend at the time, so a pass would be the end result of it all.

Much to my delight a final price of under $20 delivered including tax yielded these two beautiful pre-1900 pickups. Both hail from the 1888 N2 Allen & Ginter American Indian Chiefs set and suffer from paper loss as the biggest detracting element. Even with that issue they are both gorgeous and welcome additions.

Agate Arrow Point is the first of the two and is the first card in the set, a fun little nugget I discovered after the purchase was finalized. The paper loss, while decent in amount, is confined to the bottom right corner and edge and does not detract at all in my opinion from the aesthetic joy this delivers.

Bull Head unfortunately has the lost paper right on his face but remains a pretty splendid example of a 135-year-old piece of cardboard. Seriously, give me all of the original A&G over anything modern of any kind.

Here are the clean backs which do not have any paper loss, although in fairness I only did a quick pass without the usual amount of light I prefer in such matters. Even if I missed a tiny speck or two these are much nicer backs than I ever expect to find on original Allen & Ginter cards.

Attending The Burbank Card Show!

I attended the Burbank Card Show in Ontario, California two days ago (branding has a way, kids). It's the first show I've been able to go to since before Covid hit and I was excited to be in that environment again. I was going to make the journey despite not anticipating being a buyer. My pessimism on buying was twofold -- one, the show was likely going to be mostly ultra-modern and finding a Zack Wheat was unlikely. Two is the fact that I am currently trying to sell a bunch to finance a super rare Wheat card I have on hold. So if you've ever seen something on my site or you have general collecting interests, e-mail me or drop a comment. Who knows!

I met up with some friends, saw some old friends and acquaintances, and was treated to a nice dinner. That alone would be a win in my book. Add in seeing some truly awesome and unexpected vintage gems and meeting a former major leaguer (albeit it a Giant 😉, but a Giant who had a minor league deal from the Dodgers once upon a time) and it was a great day indeed! But I snagged some stuff too!

I assisted some of my friends in finding cards for their business and in doing so found a couple I wanted to buy myself. My efforts to help them ended up persuading them to give me the four cards I eyed for free as a thank you for my help. I'm a cheap date, really.

All four came from the former major leaguer's table (Ryan Sadowski, super nice as were his folks) and all four hit different areas of my vintage collecting passions. First up, a trimmed but beautiful 1966 Topps Sandy Koufax. It was in Ryan's $10 bin originally and even with the trim at the upper left it presents nicely.

Next up, long-time friends of the blog may remember I have a very soft spot for 1800s Allen & Ginter. It was one of the earliest vintage areas I became interested in as 2010 Ginter got me into collecting cards in general. I could not pass up setting aside another card from the $10 bin in this 1889 N19 A&G Pirates of the Spanish Main. William Fly is the English Pirate featured and even with some paper loss on the reverse and some specks of p.l. on the front it is gorgeous as can be for a 134-year-old piece of cardboard.

Fly was killed by hanging in Boston and his body was put on display to warn other pirates. Here are his reported final words:

"Our Captain and his Mate used us Barbarously. We poor Men can’t have Justice done us. There is nothing said to our Commanders, let them never so much abuse us, and use us like Dogs."

Another $10 gem now in my clutches is this trimmed strip card of President Teddy Roosevelt. It hails from the 1924 W562 Strip Card set featuring Presidents and Presidents alone. I picked up an 1800s card of Honest Abe a while back and Teddy was just a cool find in the midst of so many sports cards at Sadowski's table. I am not going to start collecting Presidential cards and if I ever did they would most definitely be of the 19th century variety. Into the random vintage PC it goes!

The final item I desired and worked off like a child laborer is this Jack Dempsey....something. I have not been able to identify it yet but whatever it is, it has certainly seen better days from a condition standpoint. Pinholes, creasing, minor paper loss, and a dog bite -- what hasn't happened to old Jack here. It's a stellar item nonetheless and I really liked it when I dug it out of the $15 pile. It is indeed a fine addition to my very modest Boxing PC.

Well, there's my show recap. Fun, free-ish cards, free food, and friends made for a stellar 14-hour day. Hopefully more shows will be in my 2023 future and word is a big one is coming to Anaheim later this year. Whether I am still a Californian by then remains to be seen, but one way or another I'll be at another show this year!

Here's An Original Allen & Ginter Tobacco Coupon From 1888.

I like buying weird vintage items whenever I can. An original tobacco coupon from 1888 certainly qualifies. An original Allen & Ginter coupon, taking into account my love of A&G and how it got me into collecting in 2010, is the perfect item.

I simply could not pass up this fantastic and oddball addition to my 1800s Allen & Ginter Collection. I especially could not pass it up for less than half a blaster.

The artwork is great, the color has withstood the test of time, and the "Washington Album" it applies to -- which you can see below -- is just super cool.

1887 N28 Allen & Ginter Mike "$10,000 King" Kelly, PSA Authentic (Altered)!

Today's post features what might be my all-time white whale I never thought I'd actually own. This was my "when/if I get rich" bucket list item but thankfully patience and timely eBay searching paid off. I spotted the below raw and for auction and decided to take the plunge and hope it was the real deal. My top acquisition of 2016 (on January 17th....I'm slow people) is easily....

We will get to the realness momentarily but let's just bask in the glory that is a Mike "$10,000 King" Kelly 1887 N28 Allen & Ginter card! The seller mentioned that the card had been sent in to Beckett but they wouldn't holder it due to the damage you can see right near Kelly's right shoulder that runs to the left border of the card. I was confident I could submit it through work assuming my boss thought it was real and have PSA encase it for all eternity.

My boss did think it was real and I figured PayPal, eBay, or my credit card company would back me if it came back as a fake. I sent it in and thankfully I inquired as to its status before it came back as I was told PSA would not slab it.

So we made a call to our rep and I told him I would happily take the card in an authentic holder with a qualifier. It was real and that's all that mattered to me, so if PSA felt the same then slap an Authentic label on it, qualify it however you please, but please don't return the card in a flimsy protecto.

So much thanks goes to our rep J. This is easily one of my top 5 favorite cards and would probably crack the top 3 if I sat down and gave it real thought. It will remain top 5 for the rest of my collecting life.

I find King Kelly to be one of the more interesting baseball characters. He's credited with popularizing the hook slide, the catcher backing up first base, the hit and run, the double steal, and players signing autographs for fans. He got his $10,000 nickname after being sold for that sum by the Chicago White Stockings to the Boston Beaneaters.

I first recall hearing about King Kelly in a history class at UCLA when my professor played us the song Slide, Kelly Slide! which is considered the first "pop" song in American history by some.

The back didn't scan in all that well but it is clearly a clean back which is fantastic. Original Ginter backs are awesome for the simple fact that I just enjoy looking at the various subsets of athletes featured, from pugilists to oarsmen to rifle shooters.

Allen & Ginter, 1887 Times Two.

I haven't chased any original Allen & Ginter cards in a long time -- almost two years....yikes! -- and I regret that. 2010 Ginter is what got me back into the hobby, I love the original cards, and I work in a shop that specializes in vintage. I've really dropped the ball, clearly, and it's time that changed.

I decided to snag at least one A&G when I spotted a slew listed on eBay. I targeted this one in particular as it really caught my eye. Jimmy Carroll hails from the Pugilists subset of the N28 Ginters which were released in 1887. That mustache and fighting stance were enough to entice me to go strong after this PSA 2.

What's better than one original Ginter? Two pieces of A&G cardboard goodness! Another N28 from 1887, this time featuring Billiard Player Jos. Dion. It's slabbed a PSA 1 but has much better eye appeal than one would expect from a 1.

Less than $25 shipped sealed the deal. Oh, and for those who enjoy card backs....

A Manly Mustache On An 1880s Ginter.

I love picking up cheap Allen & Ginters from the late 1880s. There's something so satisfying about knowing a card came from the nineteenth century and survived until now relatively unscathed.

My latest addition is John McKay, an oarsman from the N28 World's Champions set released in 1888. The card ran me 99 cents plus $1.50 to ship it my way.

A Cockatoo and a Notornis From 1889 Ginter Join The Plaschke Party.

It's been quite some time since I added any original late 1800s Allen & Ginter to my modest collection, but thankfully that long wait has recently come to an end. I came across a seller on eBay with a number of original A&G pieces available and I was fortunate to snag a pair for a stellar price. For a paltry $4 delivered, my newest arrivals were had. Both cards hail from the 1889 Birds of The Tropics (N5) set.

First up we have the Yellow-Crested Cockatoo, a majestic creature if I've ever seen one. Beautiful color, beautiful artwork.

The Notornis was the second card I picked up. I don't know what a Notornis is but I know I want one if it's just going to run me two measly dollars.

The card backs, which I normally just show to show but actually like showing when it comes to vintage Ginter. The Cockatoo has the cleaner back. As it should.

I've Caught A 124-Year-Old Tasmanian Devil! Take A Gander!

We're taking another trip back to the 1800s as I continue with the Card Draft # one-funded purchases (a few biggies left to wrap it all up, and they're awesomely awesome, I assure you). Picking up the below beaut got me back to my vintage ways after a small hiatus, and I'm thrilled to add it to my modest collection of Original A&G. And the price? Well, the price just couldn't be beat.

Hailing from the N25 Wild Animals of the World set released in 1888, the above Tasmanian Devil is in pretty good condition, what with it being 124 years old and what not. It's retained most of its color, and there is little surface damage on either the front or the back. It ran me a measly $5.90 delivered.

The N25 set seems like it would be a blast to put together, with a lot of interesting subjects depicted on its century-plus old cardboard. Perhaps one day....

I Prefer My Allen & Ginter To Be Of The 1880s Variety.

2011 Ginter has been a challenge to complete, with some cards trickling in here and there over the last few months. So, with those struggles in mind and a desire to knock off '11 Ginter before '12 Ginter hits the shelves, I decided it would be best to do some Ginter shopping. Shopping for original Allen & Ginter, that is. All of this vintage goodness on display inspired me to hit up one of my absolute favorite eBayers, from whom I've made a handful of purchases from in the past.

My quick trek to eBay yielded - for the low, low price of just $6.99 shipped - the awesome 1888 N11 A&G Flags Of The States and Territories lot of three you see above. Let's take a look at each of these new additions to my vintage A&G PC.

I was unaware that Virginia's motto is "Sic Semper Tyrannis", which translates to "Thus Always To Tyrants". It sometimes pays to be a History major....and on multiple occasions seen National Treasure. I'm in love with the aesthetics of this card, from the motto to the great classical image of tyrant bloodshed on the flag accompanied by what I can only imagine is tobacco being picked on a riverbank. A very appropriate addition to my collection, considering where Allen & Ginter originates from.

Such an awesome card that it's hard to decide upon a starting point. The dual pistols is just nails, and add in some tools, a caravan of wagons (or a train, it's difficult to tell), and a beautiful scene of Mother Nature - including Bambi, it would appear - and we have ourselves a winner for just $2.33.

Finally, we move further West to Oregon. Another instance of magnificent scenery, and added on to that is a strikingly patriotic flag with a sunrise portending to a better today and a brighter future.

A quick look at the backs reveals, in all likelihood, the primary reason these were so cheap: there aren't any backs to speak of in this "trimmed" lot (the seller's words, and perhaps skinned as well, or whatever the term for non-existent backs on hundred-plus-year-old cardboard is).

I'm stoked to have stumbled upon this lot of great, great A&G when I did, and even more pleased with the price it checked in at. Picking up original Allen & Ginter when I can is one of my favorite aspects of the hobby, and I'll always be on the hunt for affordable Ginters from the 1880s. The N11 set is one I'd actually very much like to put together one day.

1880s Allen & Ginter: Part 3

The final installment. A riveting series, I know.

1888 N33 Smokers, "Asiatic Turk", PSA 1, $9.99 plus discounted shipping as it was part of the three-card purchase of Ginter originals.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but this seems at least a tad under-graded, considering it's in pretty damn good shape for an 1880s card. I'm nothing close to an expert on card grading, but I look at this card and think a 3, maybe 3.5. Regardless, I really like it a lot.

And thus concludes some old fashioned 19th century card goodness. The troika of 1880s Ginters ran me just, just under $30 once factoring in a very reasonable shipping cost of four bucks. I'm sure I'll pick up another couple of these in the future, especially if I can find them PSA'd and around the same cost. They'll probably come from the same seller, in all likelihood.

Part 1
Part 2

1880s Allen & Ginter: Part 2

1887 N9 Flags Of All Nations, "Siam", PSA 2 (MK). By a solitary year, my new oldest card.

$9.99 plus shipping, from the same seller I purchased the Circassian smoker in Part 1 off of. Someone clearly had fun with the checklist on the back at some point in this card's existence.

To see the first installment: Part 1

1880s Allen & Ginter: Part 1

Oh, hello there, new oldest card I now own. But don't worry 1909 E75 American Caramel Jimmy Britt boxing card, I still have a special place in my heart for you. And of course, I still care deeply about the oldest baseball card I own.

1888 N33 World's Smokers, "Circassian", PSA 1 (MK).

$5.99 plus shipping.

I figured, what with Allen & Ginter being awesome, why not grab an 1880s Ginter. And if I was going to do that, why not get one that depicts smoking, what with Ginter's history and what not.