Multiple 1909-1911 T206 cards of legends Ty Cobb, Cy Young, and Christie Mathewson highlight the newest collection proudly purchased by Just Collect. Owned by ONE family for over 100 years, this collection is near and dear to my heart as my 9-year-old son, Crosby, joined me on this amazing trip!
A gentleman named Kevin reached out from the Boston, Massachusetts area, telling me he had a collection of 1909-1911 T206 cards passed down from his grandfather. The incredible part about this collection of tobacco cards is that every single card has been in Kevin's family since the day the cards were made! For 113 years, these baseball cards have never been seen publicly. Think about everything in the world that has changed in last Century. Television was not invented. The Internet hadn't been thought of. Baseball games were played during the day because lights weren't installed. Kevin told me that his grandfather passed the cards down to him when Kevin was only 9 years old. Before I gassed up my car and hit the road, I just knew that I couldn't make this trip without my 9-year-old son, Crosby!
Between 1909 and 1911, each of these baseball cards were inserted into various brands of tobacco products. When you were a kid, you opened up wax packs that had a few cards and a stick of gum. When Kevin's grandfather was a kid, these T206 cards came from packs of cigarettes! Imagine that today. In total, 16 different brands of tobacco placed an advertisement on the back of each baseball card and placed them right into their pouches and packs. Some of the cards are rarer based on the brand of tobacco advertised on the backs of these cards. Recently, I did a podcast to explain the different backs and how rare each one is that you can see HERE.
Kevin stored the collection of T206 cards inside of an old tin. As a baseball card treasure hunter, I am always finding cards in unexpected places! Seeing cards stored in a tin truly takes me back to the days when safely storing baseball cards never crossed a single mind. We're talking about cards being placed inside of a pack of cigarettes - nobody was putting cards in holders back then.
As you view the cards in our slide show below, you can see cards of some of the greatest players ever to step onto a baseball field. Two different cards of Ty Cobb are here. The red background and the bat-on-shoulder versions of Ty Cobb were stored in Kevin's tin! Ty Cobb won 11 batting titles in his career and despite not playing a game since 1928 still has the second-highest batting average for a career at .366. You can see how sharp the red background Ty Cobb card is in the second photo below, displayed in the center of the top row.
Next to Ty Cobb in the second photo is a green background portrait of Cy Young. Perhaps you've heard of the Cy Young award, given to the best pitchers each season? This is THAT Cy Young. Young holds the MLB record for most career wins by a pitcher with 511. For perspective, the most wins by an active pitcher currently are 260 by Justin Verlander. Verlander is now 40 and if we had to bet, won't come close to Cy Young's win total. There are three different Cy Young cards in the T206 set, and Kevin has all three in this collection!
As your eyes move along the second photo in our slide show, a few cards of Christie Mathewson stand out. Mathewson dominated in just about every pitching category for his entire career. Mathewson twice on the pitching triple crown, meaning he led the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA. Mathewson led his team to a pair of World Series victories, too. Like Cy Young, Christie Mathewson won MANY games, tallying 373 career wins which is good enough for third all-time.
Other stars and Hall of Famers are in the collection. While scrolling through the photos below, you'll see names such as Tris Speaker, Nap Lajoie, Eddie Collins, Rube Waddell, and others soaked in baseball glory.
Here is a slide show of photos from this T206 collection:
Crosby and I arrived to Kevin's house near Boston, MA. Your local card shop is generally not well equipped to appraise or purchase vintage collections like this. The retail stores are focused on selling modern products and simply don't have the time or the knowledge to carefully evaluate vintage collections. This is where I am happy to help you. With decades of experience handling and purchasing collections, I take the time to treat your collection with the care it deserves.
After reviewing each card with Crosby, I made a spreadsheet. Crosby has been learning math, so he was Mr. Accountant today. I then explained my buying process to Kevin and how I usually offer 50 to 60% of retail value for ungraded cards. The spreadsheet contained each card, condition of each card, the retail value of each card, and the amount I would offer to purchase each card for. For professionally graded cards, I offer more than 50 to 60% of the value. What most vintage card owners may not realize is that the cost of grading a rare and valuable card could be quite expensive. For example, a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card even in poor condition is still quite valuable and therefor expensive to have professionally graded. Using a scale of 1 to 10 with a 10 being gem mint, a Mickey Mantle rookie card graded 2 out of 10 is worth about $50,000. The cost to grade this card at PSA, one of the top grading companies in the world, would be $1,499. I valued Kevin's collection around $20,000. As neither card was graded, my offer to Kevin was $13,500 - about 68%! Why did I increase my offer by so much? This is a one-family-owned collection loaded with Hall of Famers! It's not every day I find a collection of cards with such provenance.
With Crosby by my side, I wanted to repay him for all the hard work he did with me. Crosby and I went to an adventure park in Rockland! During the trip, Crosby asked if we were going to be able to purchase the collection from Kevin. Truly, I was not sure, but I was enjoying every single moment of this trip with my son.
Right before I packed up our hotel room to take Crosby to York, Maine for a little more fun in the Sun, my Vice President John called and said Kevin was on the way to my hotel to sell his collection to Just Collect. I cut Kevin a company check and paid him on the spot. When you choose to sell your collection to Just Collect, we pay you how you want to be paid! If you prefer cash, check, or wire transfer, we'll make it happen.
Kevin opted to meet Crosby and I at our hotel because his driveway was being worked on. Here, Kevin and Crosby hit it off. We took photos and videos together, and now any time we head back out near Boston, we may need to visit "Uncle Kevin."
I did two things before making the deal complete. First, I asked Kevin if I can take the tin back with me to take photos of where the cards were stored in for social media and our blog. I also told him I would return it along with a T206 card from a Boston player so he can have something to remember the collection. Next, I picked out a T206 card and gave it to Crosby. This is Crosby's very first T206 card and he'll always have it to remember the first collection he helped me purchase.
I made a video of this T206 collection that I got to share with Crosby:
I am always buying collections, especially T206 cards. Recently, I discovered and purchased a collection that included 22 very rare Hindu backs that you can see HERE. If you're interested in selling a collection, reach out to me directly: Leighton@JustCollect.com.
Just Collect is always buying vintage sports and non-sports cards from 1879 to 1979 as well as select modern cards. If you have a collection that you are considering selling, contact us today to discuss or get our industry-leading purchase offer. If you have a collection that you want appraised, please contact us and we would be happy to discuss your collection and help you understand the real cash value of your collection in the current marketplace. Check out the Just Collect Buy List.
We always offer a FREE APPRAISAL for your collection here at the Just Collect site. Just click here:
We offer may ways to evaluate your cards other than or using our website, too.
If you can make the trip here like the son from my hometown did for this collection- we can make a deal at the office. We once met a father-son duo that drove eight hours from Virginia to meet us to sell a Michael Jordan rookie card stored in Tupperware since 1986 - great read here.
We keep a LIST of card shows we'll be attending. Come stop by the Just Collect table and chat.
If you have a valuable collection and want us to come to you, we'll hop on the next plane out.
If you're near New York City and would like to meet in a public place, our owner, Leighton, would be happy to meet you; read all the information here.
If you choose to mail your cards for an appraisal, we will evaluate your cards for FREE still. If you choose not to sell the cards, we'll ship them back shipping fees paid by us! We can offer our FedEx account with 2-day shipping, fully insured, all covered by us. Simply contact the office to set up this option.
We've run into a wide range of people and collections over the last 25 years. Although Just Collect is known for buying vintage sports cards and especially vintage baseball cards, we are also extremely interested in buying non-sports cards, too!
Every collection and every collector is different and we treat EVERY collection with the respect and attention that we show for our own collections. We understand that many have put their heart and souls into building their collections. So when you're ready to sell, we understand the feelings that you're going through and will work with you to help you reach a decision that is a WIN/WIN, because if you're not happy, we're not happy.
Whether you have vintage cards or modern wax you want to sell, you can reach out to us any time!