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About My Collection & New Additions ABOUT MY COLLECTION-I started collecting baseball cards at age 5, in 1955, in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. I quit collecting during high school, but as Michael Corleone would say, "Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in."
So, I found myself collecting again at age 29, in 1979, about the time when card collecting became a mainstream hobby for adults. There were hobby publications and price guides, card shops and conventions.
I left the hobby in the early 1990's only to return in 1998, at age 48, to a hobby world of eBay, internet auctions, chat boards, and most importantly, encapsulated graded cards.
When I look at cards from the 1950's like those in my Red Man Tobacco and Red Heart Dog Food sets, I remember all the great players from a simpler time. I am amazed by my tobacco cards from the early 1900's, especially my Ty Cobb cards. However, my main interests in collecting are the sets of the 1930's like my Goudey Gum and Sport Kings sets. I even have non-sport sets like the National Chicle Sky Birds and Goudey Indian Gum sets. I have quite a few 1930's movie star sets too.
In short, I collect what I like, in the best condition I can find and afford. I think there is something of interest here for almost anybody. I am thankful for my hobby friends and contacts, a wife that understands my addiction, and a website like ImageEvent that allows me to look at my collection which is, by necessity, locked away in a bank vault.
NEW ADDITIONS-The easiest way to respond when asked what's new in my collection is to provide a link to here. Plus, this can act as my pictorial collecting blog.
So, check out the 200 most recent additions to my collection, which I will update often. |
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RGold Collection-1933 Goudey The 1933 Goudey set is considered to be one of the top three sets in the hobby. It was one of the first sets issued in gum packs.
Although this innovative set is large and contains many expensive stars, the 1933 Goudey cards are widely collected and the competition is fierce.
The set has the distinction of including four different Babe Ruth cards. There is a batting pose with both red and yellow backgrounds, a portrait with green background, and a full body shot.
One of the rarest baseball cards from a mainstream set is card #106 Napoleon Lajoie. It was not originally issued in 1933, so the set could not be completed from packs. In 1934, Goudey issued the card to collectors that sent letters to the company complaining about the missing #106 card. Ironically, the Goudey Company sent the card to those few lucky collectors through the mail attached to a letter with a paper clip. Therefore, many of the surviving copies of this rare card show damage, resulting in it being hard to find in mint-like condition. It is now considered to be one of the "Big Three" most desired baseball cards along with the two cards from the T206 set depicting Honus Wagner and Eddie Plank.
There are only two recognized variations in the set. Card #6 Jimmy Dykes was originally produced showing his age as 26 and was subsequently corrected to read 36. Card #47 Heinie Manush pictures a fence or no fence above the outfield wall. None of the variations carry a premium. The set is fairly mistake free and contains only minimal spelling errors which were common in the era of this production.
My set is now about 99% complete and stands as the #1 1933 Goudey set on the SGC Registry. I am still missing the Lajoie card and one of two Lou Gehrig cards. I have 163 cards graded SGC 88-92 which represents about 68% of the total set. I may never finish this monster, but I am having fun trying. |
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RGold Collection-1952 Red Man Red Man baseball cards were the first national sets of tobacco cards produced since the golden days of tobacco cards in the early part of the 1900's. The 1952 Red Man Tobacco set is the rarest and hardest to complete of the four years that the cards were issued.
My set was once rated All-Time Finest on the PSA Registry, a listing of all the top baseball card sets. I retired my set after being ranked the best 1952 Red Man set for five years in a row 2002-2006. In 2002, my set was recognized as the top set in its category of regional sets.
In 2007, I began having my collection re-graded by Sportscard Guaranty(SGC), the company I consider to be the best in the hobby.
This set now consists of the very best cards from my old 1952 Red Man set combined with the very best cards from the Tony Conte collection which I purchased in 2008. It is now the #1 1952 Red Man set on the SGC Registry, and in 2010 won the SGC Best of Registry Award.
I plan to continue upgrading this set in SGC 88 or better. Check out my website www.redmancards.com |
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RGold Collection-1933 Sport Kings The 1933 Sport Kings set is one of the most popular and beautiful sets of the pre-war era.
The set consists of 48 stars from a variety of sports. Included are such names as Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Red Grange, Knute Rockne, Jim Thorpe, Bobby Jones and Jack Dempsey, to name a few.
The set is also interesting as it illustrates the state of sports in America during this era. For example, the three aviators were considered to be major athletes of the time.
My set is currently the #1 1933 Sport Kings set on the SGC Registry. I will try to upgrade the set in SGC 84 or better. |
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RGold Collection-1910 T218 Champions This set was issued by different tobacco companies as shown on the back of each card. The brands most commonly found are Mecca and Hassan. Tolstoi backs are very rare in any condition.
The cards complement my 1933 Sport Kings set, as they were issue 23 years earlier, and illustrate how sport in America has changed over the years. Besides the beauty of the cards, the most striking thing is that only a handful of the stars are remembered today.
The set does feature heavyweight boxing champions Jack Johnson and James Jeffries. The set also includes featherweight boxing champion Abe Attell who later gained notoriety as a key figure in baseball's Black Sox scandal. However, for the most part, the set is dominated by long forgotten boxers and Olympians.
The set is large, and becoming expensive to collect. I will try to collect SGC cards as I can find them, but a complete set with both Mecca and Hassan back variations would seem to be out of reach. I will also collect Tolstoi backs of the boxers. |
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RGold Collection-1954 Red Heart The Red Heart Dog Food set is a favorite of collectors. It numbers only 33 cards, but it is full of stars, Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial being the most desirable.
The set is made up of three series of eleven cards each, with red, blue and green backgrounds. The red backgrounds seem to be more difficult to obtain.
The cards are not particularly rare, and it has been reported that the cards were still available from the company in the early 1970's. However, the set is certainly condition sensitive.
Centering and registration problems, along with print dots in the backgrounds, plague these cards. I have completed the set in SGC 88 or better. It is currently the #1 1954 Red Heart set on the SGC Registry. |
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RGold Collection-1936 R312 Premiums The 1936 R312 premium baseball set, issued by National Chicle, is comprised of twenty-five individual player portraits, fourteen multiplayer portraits, and eleven in-action photos. The beautiful, rich pastel colors of R312 premiums make them one of the most striking and distinctive of all 1930s issues.
The R312 premiums have received very little attention from collectors, in part due to the fact that they are larger than standard cards, measuring 4" x 5 3/8". Also, they are blank-backed with no identification of the issuer.
A note of interest is that Joe DiMaggio’s name is misspelled “DiMagio” on his card.
This is another set that I may never complete, but I will try to collect any that I can find, as they can be quite hard to acquire in decent condition. |
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RGold Collection-Gashouse Gang The St. Louis Cardinals Gashouse Gang won the World Series in 1934 led by four future Hall of Famers Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, Frank Frisch and Leo Durocher. Although he is not in the Hall of Fame, Pepper Martin was the heart and soul of the Gashouse Gang, a ball club that represented the rough-and-tumble Depression era.
I like to collect wire photos of these players from the Gashouse Gang. Wire photos are 2nd generation photographs, developed from duplicate negatives or wire transmissions within approximately two years of when the pictures were taken. Wire photos were used by the press, and many have been becoming available as newspaper files are being closed. |
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RGold Collection-T205 Gold Border Cobb The 1911 T205 Gold Border Tobacco cards are widely considered to be the most artistically ornate cards ever issued. Due to their gold embossed borders being extremely susceptible to surface wear and flaking, they are among the most condition sensitive vintage cards in the hobby, with near mint specimens few and far between.
My favorite card from this set is the Ty Cobb card which can be almost impossible to find in mint-like condition. Besides being obscenely expensive, even the highest graded T205 Cobb will exhibit some damage to the gold borders.
The T205 Cobb comes with Piedmont, Polar Bear, Hassan, Honest Long Cut and American Beauty advertising backs. Piedmont backs from Factory 25 are the most common but those from Factory 42 are the rarest. American Beauty backs are the second rarest followed by Honest Long Cut and Hassan. Polar Bear backs are the second most common after Piedmont Factory 25.
I am happy to have two T205 Cobbs in my collection, both with rare backs. One has been graded Authentic by GAI, which indicates that the card has been identified as being authentic, but also that it shows evidence of being altered.
It has been most likely trimmed as it does measure just a little bit short. However, many cards from this era vary in size due to lax manufacturing standards. This particular card, as designated on its reverse, was produced in Factory No. 42, which has been known to have had size "issues". So, while I believe that the card may not be trimmed, it will, nevertheless, remain in this holder until it can be proven otherwise. |
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RGold Collection-Ty Cobb Portrait No baseball card collection can be considered complete without at least one turn of the century Ty Cobb keepsake. One of the most renowned baseball card images is photographer Carl Horner's iconic portrait of the incomparable Cobb.
This portrait of the "Georgia Peach" was used twice in the historic T206 White Border set with both red and green backgrounds. The image was also used in several other minor pre World War I sets.
While T206 Cobb cards can be easily found, those in higher grades can be very expensive. The portrait with green background is much rarer than the red background. T206 Cobb cards with the more scarce advertising backs, and those from the minor sets, are hard to come by in any condition. Thus, eye appeal trumps technical grading.
T206 Cobb portraits with Piedmont and Sweet Caporal advertising backs are the most common, although some factory variations are harder to find than others. Polar Bear was the only brand that was not cigarettes. Cards with Polar Bear backs were found inside pouches of loose or scrap tobacco, thus they usually exhibit some staining. Old Mill backs, while not the rarest, can be difficult to find in high grade.
The T213 (Type 2) of Ty Cobb in the portrait pose is one of the key cards to the elusive and extremely rare Coupon Cigarettes set. Similar in design and borrowing the same images as T206, the T213 (Type 2) Coupon set was issued exclusively in the Louisiana area. Because they were issued in 1914, they are one of the last of the traditional tobacco card issues. T213 (Type 2) are most always kept from higher grades due to light creases which are actually related to how they were produced.
The 1910-11 M116 Sporting Life Cobb was issued as part of a premium set offered to magazine subscribers. The Cobb portrait has both a pastel and a rarer blue background. The pastel background Cobb was issued with either the Type 1 or Type 3 back in blue ink. The blue background Cobb comes only with the Type 1 back in blue ink.
The E254 Colgan's Chips Cobb was part of the Stars of the Diamond set issued in 1909-11. The black and white Cobb portrait graces the silver dollar size disc with advertising back that was included in each round tin container of mint chewing gum. The Ty Cobb Colgan's Chip showing the team name on the uniform is much rarer than the no team name variation.
The 1910 E103 Cobb was part of the set issued by the Williams Candy Company. These cards were inserted in packages of caramels. The Ty Cobb portrait is highlighted by a bright red background, distinguishing it from other caramel cards of the era. Because children were most often the buyers of candy, and because the candy was sold only regionally, the E103 cards are very rare and hard to find in good condition. |
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RGold Collection-T206 White Borders The T206 set was used by the American Tobacco Trust as a sales premium for their tobacco products. The set was issued over a three-year period of time, 1909-1911.
Because of the many variations, a total of 524 different cards were produced with 38 different advertising backs, making a master set of all possible front and back combinations almost impossible to collect.
The set has an abundance of Hall of Famers which makes it very expensive to collect even in low to mid grade condition. Added to that, four of the hobby's rarest cards, Honus Wagner, Joe Doyle variation, Sherry Magie variation and Ed Plank, would alone cost a collector over 3 million dollars to purchase in mid grade SGC 80.
I have referred to many of the sets in my collection as monsters to complete. However, the T206 White Borders set is known throughout the hobby as "The Monster".
Although I cannot undertake such a huge project at this time, I like to collect favorite players, poses and rarer advertising backs as availability and my budget allow. |
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RGold Collection-1914 T213 Coupon Type 2 The T213 (Type 2) Coupon Cigarettes cards were issued in 1914, making them one of the last traditional tobacco sets of the golden era.
Similar in design and borrowing the same images as T206, the T213 (Type 2) Coupon set was issued exclusively in the Louisiana area. They are most always kept from higher grades due to light creases which are actually related to how they were produced.
I like to collect Hall of Famers from this set with nice eye appeal regardless of the technical grade. There are 20 Hall of Famers with variations numbering 55 different cards. |
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RGold Collection-1934 Sky Birds The National Chicle Sky Birds cards feature famous pilots and airplanes of the day. The set has always been one of the most popular of all 1930s non-sport gum card sets because of its bright colors, sharp details, art deco designs, and popular subject matter.
Some of the major stars included in the set are Amelia Earhart, James Doolittle, Baron Von Richthofen (The Red Baron), Wiley Post, Orville Wright, and Charles Lindbergh.
The set includes 108 cards with the higher numbered series being quite rare. Centering and toning are the biggest problems in finding nice cards. I have added the "Series of 144" back variations for cards #25-48 and will upgrade the set if possible. |
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RGold Collection-Goudey Indian Gum Issued from 1933 through 1940, the Goudey Indian Gum set is among the most popular of all non-sports sets. The set contains 216 numbered, multi-colored artwork cards highlighting American Indians and famous U.S. military officers. The set also includes famous action scenes and historical figures of the time.
Highlights include Geronimo, Pocahontas, Sitting Bull, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, General Custer, Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Sam Houston, Kit Carson and Buffalo Bill.
In addition to the scarce blue border and white background variations, the cards were issued in different series as noted on the back of each card, making collecting a master set of all variations quite difficult.
Completing a basic set of all 216 subjects or a master set of 432 with variations is probably out of my reach, but I will add cards as they become available. |
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RGold Collection-1888 N76 Duke Americans The popular 50 card Great Americans set was issued in 1888 by W. Duke, Sons & Co.
The artwork is fantastic, and the choice of subjects depicts an America just 23 years removed from the Civil War. There is even one variation, H.W. Beecher posing both left and right.
These cards are over 120 years old, and can be very hard to find in nice condition. Aside from corner wear and off centering, surface damage and paper loss are common faults found in these cards. I will try to upgrade the set if cards become available. |
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RGold Collection-George Brett My goal was to collect 100 cards of Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer George Brett. I easily surpassed that number, and I will try for 305, which represents his lifetime batting average.
I have never been a modern card collector for the very reason that this collection illustrates. There were just too many different card sets issued from the years 1975 to 1995, which covers George Brett's career.
However, the cards are attractive, if not rare or worth much. And, if anyone deserved this many cards, it's George Brett, who I consider to be the best clutch hitter that I ever saw play in person. |
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RGold Collection-1930's Stars The first cigarette cards were issued in 1879. The idea of inserting a card into a cigarette package quickly caught on, and there were thousands of sets issued around the world from the 1880's through the 1930's. These cards pictured just about every conceivable subject, from sporting figures to politicians to many non-human subjects such as animals, flags, and world scenes.
By the 1920's, American tobacco companies had stopped issuing cigarette cards. Candy and gum products were considered more suitable since the cards were targeting children. Cards were also being used in weighing and exhibit machines.
However, cigarette cards remained very popular in Europe through the 1930's. Movie stars were a very popular subject, and the European cigarette card sets included stars from Hollywood because of the popularity of American films. A surprisingly large number of these old cigarette cards survive in nice condition. This is probably due to the large number of collectors who pursued these beautiful cards when they were issued because card collecting in Europe became an organized hobby long before card collecting gained popularity in the United States.
World War II stopped the production of cigarette cards cold, as they were deemed a non-essential item and a waste of valuable paper. They never really started up again after the war, although there were a few sets issued here and there.
This collection consists of 1930's German cigarette cards of famous Hollywood movie stars, many of which are embossed and have beautiful and unique borders. As expected, German born Marlene Dietrich was represented many times in all the German sets. Shirley Temple cards were very popular, and remain so today. Also notice that Rita Hayworth was still using her real name of Rita Cansino.
I like to collect movie star cards from other countries that are unusual and hard to find as well. |
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RGold Collection-Rothman's Stars Discs The Rothman's Cigarettes Beauties of the Cinema discs were issued in England in 1939. This set features 24 of the biggest Hollywood stars of the era.
The great color portraits have a round glittering gold background. The most popular cards include Claudette Colbert, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Myrna Loy and Barbara Stanwyck. Actress Gloria Stuart later played the 101 year old Rose in the 1997 film Titanic. Fay Wray was the blonde that was carried up the Empire State Building in the 1933 movie King Kong.
There are very few of these cards graded by either SGC or PSA. I will try to upgrade this set to the best condition possible. |
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RGold Collection-Shelby Gum During the 1930's, Shelby Gum Company issued several sets of trading cards. Hollywood Picture Stars was the most popular set, and was reprinted several times.
This forty card set was first issued with purple ink on the back. It was later issued using red ink and having a mail order ad for an album.
Very few movie star trading card sets have been issued in the United States. This is surprising since baseball and other subjects have been generously covered by trading card sets. The movie sets that do exist tend to be very scarce.
Shelby Gum Company is known as the originator of bubble gum. One of their laboratory employees, while trying to come up with a preservative to extend the shelf life of gum, accidentally came up with bubble gum.
The set is a work in progress. Hopefully, a large lot will become available some day soon. |
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RGold Collection-Chilena Okey Series G The Chilena Okey Series G set was printed in Chile from 1936-38. These tobacco cards feature some great entertainers that are not normally seen in other sets from this era.
Included are Bing Crosby, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper, Frederick March, Bette Davis, Olivia De Haviland, Shirley Temple, Alice Faye, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Sothern, Joe E. Brown and many others.
The cards are extremely beautiful with high resolution color pictures, heavy gloss coating and bright, well printed reverses.
I have completed this 45 card set, and will try to upgrade it if I can. |
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RGold Collection-Miss America 1926 This collection includes vintage photographs and other memorabilia from the 1926 Miss America Pageant.
I originally had started, for my two daughters, a collection of programs from every Miss America contest beginning with the first year in 1921. However, in my search for vintage programs, I found and puchased an actual 15 minute film of the 1926 Miss America Pageant, and its winner, Miss Tulsa Norma Smallwood.
I was also able to obtain a photograph picturing all 63 contestants from 1926 which was assembled into a panoramic view by Miss Smallwood's father, who was a traveling artist. The original frame measuring 11" X 27" was also made by Mr. Smallwood, and the photograph was given for safekeeping to an acquaintance, where it remained in an attic for almost 70 years.
The 18 year old Norma Smallwood was one of the most interesting Miss Americas. She was only 5 ft. 4 1/2 inches, weighing 118 lbs. She was part Native American, yet had fair skin and blue eyes. She had a keen financial sense, earning a small fortune from her title, and was known for her dispute and holdout with pageant officials over an appearance fee for the next year's contest. She married not one, but two oil men, and was later called "Mistress America", earning the nickname for a messy divorce.
Another item of interest about the 1926 pageant was that Miss Dallas Rosebud Blondell later became known as movie star Joan Blondell.
Although too large to scan, I will try to get a picture of the panoramic view to include here. I have collected many other items over the years relating to the 1926 Miss America Pageant, and I will add scans as I recover items from storage. |
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