I am not an expert at how this website works. I thought I had an organized system. Somehow I missed several free cards for kids requests. They are months old and I am just seeing them. Human error. I just discovered this tonight. Literally about ten minutes ago.

If you are from Highland Park, IL, or Millngton, Tennessee, or East Troy, Wisconsin, I’m terribly sorry for the oversight and delay! I will be assembling an extra special package of old cards for each of you and they will go out this week!

UPDATE:
The missed requests went out within a day upon discovering! 

I just found these letters from 1976 in a pile of old junk papers. I can’t say I actually have any recollection of the deal discussed… Which is kind of unsettling in a strange way! Almost like these are someone else’s correspondence. But they are definitely mine, with advanced card collector Jay Barry. Even though I don’t remember the deal or the confusion described by the letters, on the flip side, not only are these letters from 50 years ago (which is a good enough excuse right there!) but I don’t think whatever confusion was occurring was particularly bothersome at the time in any way. Even my own letter (Jay wrote one letter back on the reverse of a letter I obviously sent him with cards which is how I have my letter) makes clear that whatever he thought about evening up was fine with me. THAT SAID….the confusion, the errors described on both sides, the cards involved, the values, the CHAOS! Reading it today, I can’t help but think it is all very funny. 
 
So I share them here…Letters to and from adult pillar of the card collecting community Jay Barry, in his prime, working on rare sets, writing me as a kid.  I should add that the Rodeo Meats cards involved in the deal, as scarce as they are today, were near-impossible to get in the 1970s and very prestigious in this era. No one had them. They were a huge deal. Regionals were king and Rodeos were unfathomably rare and highly regarded, far more so than today. In fact, in circulated condition (as most are) I don’t think they have gone up in value much since the 1970s! This in my opinion is a function of 1) shifting collector interests away from regionals, 2) much greater focus on big stars - none of which are included in the Rodeo Meat sets, which feature only players from the mid-1950s Kansas City Royals; and 3) a much greater focus today on condition in the marketplace. Being issued and packaged with meat, they rarely survived unscathed. Creases, general wear and stains were the norm. They tend not to grade highly in the modern "professional grading world" we live in today. 

To make it easier to read, I will transcribe each of the letters below, as I can easily read Jay’s chicken scrawl, and of course can also easily read my own. 

Letter 1:

Jay –
I’m sending the Frojoys (and the Wilsons), and figure out who owes who what.
Hope these are OK.
Sincerely,
Robert Lifson

As seen below, Jay responds to my letter on the very same piece of paper (which is how I have my original letter). Letter 2:

Robert: Here’s how we come out
Our regional deal was 8 Fro Joys for 1 R303A, 1 Johnston Cookies, 1 R306 + $237.
We later agreed I would send your check back + 2 Wilsons in exchange for 9 Rodeos at $30 each.
You sent 7 to come to $210 so to settle up you owe me 2 cards x 30.00 or $60.00 total,
I imagine you sent all the Rodeos you had from my list which I sent to you so I’ll accept the $60 in cash. Does this sound OK to you?

All the cards you have coming went out insured today so I imagine they will arrive about the same time as this letter.

Best wishes, Jay Barry 15261 Northfield Oak Park Mich

The envelope in which I found this double letter is postmarked December 26, 1976.


 

Letter 3 (an additional letter from Jay, obviously sent later) reads:

Dear Robert:
I got your letter and check today. You mention in it that we agreed on 3 Wilsons and I sent only 2. I believe thinking back that you are probably correct. I also believe that we agreed I was to get 9 Rodeos but you sent only 7. This was OK since I needed 4 of the 7 and wasn’t about to make an issue of it. But one of the 7 you sent was in Fair condition which was not what we agreed upon. Also it was not one I needed when I supplied you with a list of ones I would accept in trade. I am returning it and I believe we should call it even at this point in as much as you charged me $30 for the Rodeos and I only got $11 per Wilson card. At this point I’d rather keep the Wilsons and return the Rodeo.
Hope you will agree,
Jay Barry

 I saw my cancelled $60 check somewhere in the big box of old bank papers here so it must have been OK with me too!  

Rarely were there any errors in any dealings, but this must have been a very casual deal which evolved over some extended period of time, inviting chaos, perhaps even started at a show where Jay was running around like a madman, distracted by multiple people all at the same time every few minutes. Jay was a busy guy. I’m just glad he remembered anything at all about our deal! And not that there was any doubt, but of course it had a very successful conclusion.

These old letters are a very amusing "bonus to the deal" to me. It was fascinating to discover them among my old junk papers that escaped throwing out, and fun to read them as if it was the first time reading. I hope others also enjoy seeing them as a slice of life from early hobby days. 
 
Robert Lifson
 
PS Jay Barry, its been over 40 years but I’m sure you are out there somewhere...Thanks for treating me with such respect like an adult in our dealings even though I was so young! My head is still spinning from the deal above and I'm really not sure about this but... you might owe me a Wilson card. (Just kidding) 

Over the years I’ve been involved with the purchase and sale of approximately 50 T206 Eddie Planks. Some of these may be double counted as the same card was bought and sold more than once.  But for whatever reason, I have always been a “magnet” for Planks.  This cancelled 1974 check to Pat Quinn for $230 (pictured above) which I recently found was the VERY FIRST! And such a “prize find” that I thought I’d give it its own post rather than throw it in a longer post with many others. 
 
I remember the thrill of buying this card like it was yesterday. The seller was legendary Chicago dealer Pat Quinn. He was from a different generation than me. I was, after all, literally a kid in 1974 (I was in the 7th grade!) Pat Quinn was an adult. In my very earliest organized hobby days I’m not sure he took me totally seriously as a dealer (because when I first encountered Pat, at my age, how could he?) I was sort of a curiosity. I remember the first time I met Pat and Frank Nagy, around 1973 at a District Center 65 show in New York, talking with both of them near the entrance of the show about what vintage cards I was looking to buy. They were both humoring me is the best way I can put it, looking at each other as if to say “what the heck is going on here?” because they were really bewildered. But still being very respectful and giving me feedback to my questions, explaining to me that they had mail auctions, and sometimes joking with each other slightly above my head. I appreciated the interaction. I learned from everything they said (that I could understand!) And just a few years later, while I was still a kid, I was a slightly older kid, and I think fair to say a peer as a dealer.
 
I soon came to see that Pat was one of just several prominent hobbyists that “owned” Chicago, and one of the most well-known and established dealers in the country. I got the impression that he actually did this for a living even at this early date (which in retrospect was no small feat), but he probably had some regular job at some time, at least in earlier years. I remember that his close associate and future partner Don Steinbach, a very affable man with an infectious laugh who was impossible not to like, worked at a bank before going full time into sports cards. As the hobby exploded in the 1970s, the transition from “real jobs” to full time hobbyist was made by a handful of collector/dealers who just fell into it. They loved collecting, loved cards, enjoyed the “action,” and found themselves making more money playing with their cards and memorabilia than at their “boring bank jobs” (or whatever jobs they had). And, at the same time, building a great collection. Because these early 1970s dealers, almost to a person, were first and foremost true collectors. They wanted to make a living but wouldn’t have even been involved were it not for their sincere interest in collecting.

Chicago was a hotbed of hobby/collecting activity. Pat Quinn was one of the Kings. As I continue rambling here, literally typing “freestyle” as I am thinking, with no outline or structure, I should add that Pat and Don (along with Mike Keasler, who as I recall was a high school basketball coach, and Roger Marth, who may have joined a year or two later and I’m not sure but I think he was a teacher), opened The Sports Collectors Store in Chicago in 1976. This was a huge store that eventually had MILLIONS of cards in inventory! It was a big deal to have a retail establishment like this. They were kind of like “professionals” who sold only sports cards and memorabilia, and this was very new at this early date.

Don and Pat were like sitcom TV characters to me: Don was always laughing and fun; he could transition to being serious at any time, especially when negotiating a big deal, and then he’d go back to joking and laughing and just having fun. His low voice would even get lower when he was being serious. And after the deal or serious discussion, he would just as quickly transition to joking and merriment. His laugh was infectious. Which brings me to Pat…Pat was the perfect foil for Don. Handsome and kind of swashbuckling, Pat was the muscle of the duo, ready to scare away problem customers and appear to be ready to snap when someone was being unreasonable or cheat them.    
 
 
In my mind, as a tag-team, Don played the “good guy” and Pat played the “bad guy.” Roles that naturally suited them. After all, at all of 5 feet 4 inches tall on a good day, balding, overweight, and laughing like a loveable hyena, Don was not very intimidating. Pat had to take up the slack and he was always very prepared. I should make clear that Pat was (and still is) a great guy. Nothing but good things to say about him! But he could be aggressive, intimidating, and just give the impression he had a short fuse (even if he didn’t), like a hockey player ready to throw down on a moment’s notice. Pat cursed like crazy and could be confrontational, even if it was an act, and he had a heavy Chicago accent that made him seem like he was a gown-up Chicago version of one of the Dead End Kids or the Bowery Boys from the 1940s movies about wayward kids who were tough and got in trouble. Which he sort of was. At least I think he was. No one’s that good an actor! But make no mistake: he was brilliant, and with good reason loved by those who dealt with him and knew him. With his sometimes rougher and more easily annoyed exterior in comparison to Don’s jovial demeanor, he was also amusing to his many friends, who knew Pat’s occasional expletive-infused explosions of discontent were just his way of communicating. And when Pat would yell at something or someone, Don’s shoulders were usually going up and down a little as he laughed. He could not contain his amusement. Are my early impressions of them accurate? I really don’t know. A young kid sees things through his or her young eyes. Right or wrong, these are just some fun impressions of how I remember these two giants of the hobby in the early days. There’s obviously much more to them!
 
Don unfortunately passed away very young in the 1990s. Pat is still out there somewhere (Hi Pat!) and while he’s got to be getting up there in years, I trust he is still cursing up a storm (Warning: Don’t cross this man!)  Their impact on the hobby has been enormous and incredibly positive.
 
 
Back to Plank (I have a rambling style sometimes, by design, as where else could I possibly write this stuff). Pat advertised this Plank in The Trader Speaks, the premier hobby publication of the day. The Trader Speaks was a monthly publication. When I found the check I went digging around for the issue of the “Trader,” armed with the date of the check to help me as I went through a pile of old issues. And there it was! 

I won the auction. This was March 1974. I’m sure Pat was probably thinking “What the hell is this kid doing? How old is this kid anyway?” Followed by a declaration of amazement disguised as a string of expletives. 
 
 $230 was a lot of money for a Plank in 1974. It was a lot of money for any card. Frankly, the ONLY card in the entire field worth more than a T206 Plank or 1933 Goudey Lajoie was a T206 Wagner. And this card was in rough shape. Not just a little rough, but REALLY rough! In my mind I called it “the card with 1000 creases.” It didn’t really have 1000 creases but did seem to have so many I could not begin to count them. I thought it might be the most beat up T206 in the world and just happened to be Plank. But I loved this card! Though condition was nowhere near as important to collectors back then as now, this card was so beat up that its condition no doubt made it more affordable. Condition may not have mattered much back then but collectors weren’t blind. There were limits. This card was in poor condition. 
 
I’d love to show a picture of the card but looking online I just can’t find a Plank that I am certain is the card. I think I know exactly what it looked like. It may be that a picture of the card is just not online anywhere to reference. So, rather than potentially identify the wrong Plank as the 1974 Pat Quinn auction Plank, I’m picturing an example in somewhat similar condition that I know is NOT the card. This is Lionel Carter’s T206 Plank:

Actually, Lionel’s card is probably in better shape than the 1974 Pat Quinn auction Plank. But at least it gives some idea of what the card looked like. Yes, it was wrecked. But it was still beautiful! 

I hope you have enjoyed reading these scattershot memories of the hobby in the early 1970s. I’ve enjoyed writing them!
 
Robert Lifson
 
 
PS What happened to the Plank? I wish I could say I still have it but within a couple of years I had sold it. I can’t even remember who I sold (or traded) it to. Which is kind of incredible to me as it was such a thrill to get. But I've handled so many Planks. And it has been over 50 years. It's out there somewhere.  

I am kind of amazed at how active I was so young. It’s easy to forget because so many years have gone by, but these old bank records and canceled checks are great reminders. In no particular order:

Mike Aronstein

What I’m doing wrong Mike Aronstein a check for in 1974…I have no idea! What can one get for $7 anyway? Well, in 1974, a lot by today’s standards! This could have been for a purchase of cards…a convention table…a lot in the Yankee Stadium auction (I’m not sure exactly when this was but several collectors including Mike had an auction of Yankee Stadium memorabilia, including all kinds of fascinating paper items, when the stadium was being refurbished around this time). Who knows. 
 
Mike Aronstein was one of the giants of the collecting world at this time (and for decades after). I was a 12 year old kid that had infinite enthusiasm for learning and collecting, infinite persistence, and, due to my young age, was still in the early stages of learning what was OK in the adult world and when I was just being a pain in the butt. (Yes, I know, I’m still learning! But back then I was really clueless!) 
 
When Mike’s son Andrew Aronstein joined the HIGHLY respected (and very much worthy of this respect) Love Of The Game Auctions full time, I sent him this business card his father gave me (see below) and this letter which I provide here as it really captures my longstanding admiration for his father. Mike…thanks for putting up with me even though I KNOW I really was a pain in the butt! 

What can I say? Bruce Yeko’s mail order catalog was the greatest source of cards in the UNIVERSE that one could always count on. Especially for a young kid who with few exceptions could only deal with people by mail (12 year olds don’t drive). It seemed like Bruce Yeko's Wholesale Card Company had everything from the early 1950s up, plus some earlier cards including from the 1910s and 1930s (even though that was not the focus of the catalog and I did not get the impression that quantities of earlier cards were available), and perhaps most amazing, a smattering of extremely unusual sets and issues that it seemed like ONLY Bruce Yeko had.

Apparently, when certain issues came out, Bruce was the only one to get quantities. I remember asking him about a couple of issues. He said he contacted the card issuing companies and bought their entire leftover card stock. This made sense for everyone. These were the most exciting offerings to me. Sets of 1958 Hires Root Beer cards ($19.95 a set), seemingly endless quantities of 1954 Red Heart Dog Food cards (Mantles were a quarter as I recall, but were eventually raised to a $1. All were MINT. He had HUNDREDS), Bazooka sets in flattened unassembled box form, 1967 Topps "Roger Maris with the Yankees" unissued proof cards (these were $1 each and he would only let me buy one per order as he had so few; eventually I would call before sending orders to make sure he had one available and it was OK for me to include a Maris proof card with my order), 1960 Topps “Baseball Bucks” (I never saw anyone else with this unusual Topps issue and was fascinated with it! Apparently I was the only one at this time that was so enamored. Eventually he let me buy them all. I forget if they were 5 cents or 10 cents each. But they were something like that.), dozens of 1963 Topps insert sticker sets…And many other unusual 1950s to 1970s issues including and especially rare Topps test and insert issues.
 
Interesting note that anyone still around who ordered from Bruce Yeko will appreciate: when he didn’t have whatever you ordered, you did not actually get a refund. You got a little slip of paper that he filled out that could be sent in for a credit toward a future order. I would get these with every order: sometimes filled out for as little as 25 cents, sometimes $1. It was peanuts. I personally just never sent them in. But was always amused by his credit slip system. 

Ted Hake:

I don’t know what I bought from Ted for $28 in 1977 (it was probably a baseball auction lot) but this was far from our first deal. This is a random check. I have others earlier. The Hake catalog addressed to me above is from 1973.

After 50 years…I’m STILL buying items from Ted Hake regularly! For those who do not know Ted, because his primary areas of dealing for so many years were areas other than baseball (such as political memorabilia, character collectibles, radio premiums, pinback buttons, etc), Ted is well known as the "King of Pinback Buttons" and is one one the true Hall of Famers of Political Memorabilia collecting. He has also been involved in a big way in collectibles of many other types Basically…EVERYTHING! Everything Americana anyway. He has published many important collecting reference books and been an active dealer and auctioneer…longer than anyone. Really. Ted is on my Mount Rushmore of Americana Collectibles scholars and dealers. I have to say that my great interest in many areas of Americana has been greatly influenced by my exposure to Ted’s auctions dating back to the early 1970s. I was looking to bid on baseball items, of course, but Ted didn’t have a lot of baseball items in the early days (he has much more today). In the process, I was exposed to pinback collecting, political collecting, early comic characters, and, frankly, just about every area of Americana collecting that exists. It had a huge impact. Both on my future collecting and dealing interests, and my knowledge of (and interest in) American culture in general. Ted Hake’s catalogs were like a correspondence course in Popular Culture! A subscription was just a few dollars but I learned more about the world reading all his early catalogs than I did at school (I really mean that!)
 
There were several other auctions that were similarly eclectic and educational with which I was very active as a bidder. Most notably, off the top of my head, George Rinsland’s Historicana auctions and Bob Coup’s Americana auctions.

George Rinsland ran one of the earliest auctions of its type (starting in 1965 continuously through 1983) and influenced all similarly eclectic auctions that  followed. The 1969 catalog pictured above (addressed to a pioneer collector Ted Colzaretti) is before my time, but only by a few years, When I first saw George’s auction catalog, it was like looking through a window into a world I never knew existed. Overwhelming. Fascinating. So much to learn. Both by reading the text and looking at the pictures. Nothing was out of reach to buy or sell. Baseball cards were my specialty, but just being aware of other areas, what manufacturing processes were available when, and American history that gave context to cards and when they were issued had great value. George Rinsland’s auction catalogs were probably the first of this type I ever saw. 

Bob Coup was also a true LEGEND in the political, pinback. and all Americana collectibles fields. I don't have a check illustration handy but no discussion of important Americana auctions would be complete without Bob Coup. I always called Bob “my top rare button finder.” Bob Coup’s Americana auctions in the 1970s and 1980s were a gift to collectors and scholars. Bob was one of the pillars of the collecting world. He passed way in 2024 and his wife Jeannine still edits and publishes the Political Bandwagon for the APIC, the premier political memorabilia collectors organization. Bob’s memory looms large over the collectibles world he helped build. 

Collectors and dealers represented by the 1970s bank records I found are a “Who’s Who” of active hobbyists of the era.  Here are just a few checks that jumped out as I looked through batches of old checks. There's no rhyme or reason for their order or why I picked these. There are many more and I will add more in future posts.

Don Lepore
Don Lepore (“Looking For That Superstar, Try L & R”), one of the most influential and beloved dealers from the 1970s on, Don practically invented the superstar card market in the 1970s with his partner Herb Ross, went on to run the Card Collectors Company in its heyday as the hobby exploded in popularity, ran his own mail order catalog, ran shows and autograph signings, worked extensively on the famous Halper auction at Sothebys, worked at Mastro Auctions for a couple of years, and too much else to possibly list. He basically influenced everything that the hobby is today in some way or another. In fact, he’s still out there! A little older but as great and knowledgeable as ever, selling on eBay. With this particular check, I appear to be buying ten W560 strip cards of Ruth and Gehrig. 

George Lyons
George Lyons was crazy. I say that only in a kidding way. He had an incredibly fascinating and entertaining personality and was very outspoken. I was so young I didn’t really know how adults were expected to conduct themselves in all situations but even I realized right away that George was unusual. Not in a bad way. Just very different. Aggressive. Loud. Frequently joking but not everyone always knew he was joking. Writing articles in hobby papers. Feuding with people. Often criticizing some collectors and dealers. Being outrageous in a way that took people by surprise. Even joking about people’s weight problems, or really anything that one would think is off limits, when these just weren’t things that adults were supposed to do. I should add that he had great comedic timing and much of the time he was just trying to be funny. Which he was. He made some people laugh. He made some people mad. He was like an out-of-control baseball-card-dealing Groucho Marx with too much coffee that somehow had an office and a phone. He had strong opinions about everything and was not shy about sharing. Sometimes he was right. Sometimes he was wrong. But he was always stirring the pot.

As a dealer, he bought and sold everything that was not nailed down. In the 1970s through the 1980s he was a big fish in a small pond, specializing in everything rare and unusual. Everyone knew George Lyons. He was actually a stockbroker but I really don’t know how he had time to do anything with stocks. He was on the phone talking baseball collecting, buying and selling all the time. Seriously, his stock brokerage office at a prestigious firm was really a baseball card and memorabilia dealership. It was like he snuck in there and no one knew what he was doing. My guess is his clients did a lot of buying and holding. Which was not a bad strategy. And as far as the hobby went, George did seem to have a lot of fun. Interesting phone note: as I recall, his workplace had a “Watts line,” which was some type of phone service some businesses in the "old days" had whereby he could make unlimited long distance calls at work and not be charged. Eventually he somehow switched to dealing in rings and jerseys, areas having nothing to do with cards and ephemera, but for quite a few years George was one of the most prominent and influential high profile baseball dealers in the country.

Above: George and his family appeared on the cover of this prestigious magazine in 1978 (Mrs. Lyons was a saint by the way, and the kids were all extremely sharp and gifted. I'm sure all grew up to be great and very successful adults).  

Crazy phone footnote: George knew my basic school schedule and knew approximately when the bus let me off near home (because naturally there had to be some school bus schedule). At some point George started calling my home precisely when I entered the house, so as I stepped inside the phone would be ringing and I’d pick up (the phone was a just two steps from the back door where I entered), and there would be George, welcoming me home from school and wanting to know what I had to sell or sometimes offering me something. Of course, I thought this was nuts. And so did my family. But that was George (and really, who was I to tell anyone their calling at any time was crazy. I was the KING of calling people at crazy times, just not timing their arrival home. (Except maybe calling Charlie Burkhardt on Sundays; sometimes I just couldn’t wait for him to get home from the Renninger’s Antique Market and this required multiple phone calls until he arrived home, often with great new finds to sell).

Doug Palmeiri
One of many super knowledgeable advanced collectors of the era, Doug is also still out there somewhere collecting today! It was the sincere interest of hobbyists like Doug that created a community of advanced collectors interested in early baseball - everything from cabinet card photos to sheet musics to programs and advertising items - everything that was great but not necessarily cards. The entire area of baseball ephemera came into its own in the 1970s as collectors together learned what existed, what was interesting to collect, and what had historical merit, much of which was not really on the radar of collectors previously. Every early baseball item that surfaced was a learning experience in these early days, unlike today where most everything that exists has been documented. Those interested in turn-of-the century baseball or earlier, communicated among themselves not through auctions at this time, but by networking and at shows. No one knew what memorabilia was worth in these early days. Everyone was “driving blind!” Everything good that was available for sale tended to gravitate to Barry Halper (no one had deeper pockets and loved to buy everything more than Barry), but many true collectors like Doug and Franklin Steele (of Perez-Steele fame) and Jerry Smolin (THE connoisseur of early baseball programs, especially pre-1900) and Dr. Mark Cooper (the undisputed "King of Baseball Board Games") sold only extra material or enough to pay for new purchases. These were exciting times for collectors. With enthusiasm and with dedication one could “beat the bushes” and make new discoveries on a regular basis, buying, selling, and, for many, at the same time building a collection.

I have often mentioned how my phone bills calling collectors and looking for material were astronomical. The phone was my tool. It was my connection to the outside world and no one that could be reached by phone was out of reach to me. And remember, I couldn’t drive. I HAD to use the phone. Which in retrospect was a great advantage. Instead of only the surrounding driving area being accessible, the entire county (and Canada!) was “my neighborhood.” Back then, calling "Information" allowed you to find the telephone numbers of most people. When you called, you were put on the phone with a telephone company information operator who did their best to help me find the numbers of various old time collectors (or whoever I wanted to track down to speak to) armed with the information I had. It was expensive, but very successful. Callers were supposed to get three searches per call, but many times the operator really worked with me and provided the equivalent of many more. If I was looking for someone with an uncommon name, and there were 3, or 4, or 5 possible matches, they would give me all the numbers and count that inquiry as one search. (I would then call them all if need be and almost always be successful reaching the right number).  
 
 
Above is a check for a phone bill payment I found (reimbursing my Dad for that month’s typical astronomical phone bill): $277 for October 1975. That sounds like a lot for a phone bill even today (and this is just for long distance phone calls, not also paying for a phone), but imagine how much that was 50 years ago. It was crazy. To put this bill in proper perspective, a $277 bill in 1975 was the equivalent to $1684 in 2025 dollars, just adjusting for inflation. (The calculation is based on average annual inflation of 3.68% over this period). I don’t think anyone in the baseball collecting world racked up phone bills close to what I did (and did every month, year in, year out). The biggest bill I remember was $787 in the 8th grade. Even I was shocked. But that was the cost of doing business and it my only big monthly expense. Still…At times my parents were a little concerned. The phone was under their name and they weren’t going to pay my phone bills! But that was never an issue. The more calls I made, the better I did.    

More checks:

Jay Barry
This $28 check to Jay Barry was for five WG1 1888 playing cards. In 1979, that’s all they were worth! 19th century cards were of very little interest to most collectors in this era, and those that were interested were not big spenders. This was great for me as I was happy to pay pretty much whatever anyone wanted for nineteenth century cards and items! So when people had things to sell, they often sought me out, not so much to help me out (though many were happy to do exactly that), but because I was always willing to pay a fair or even too high price.

Jay Barry had a permanent 5:00 shadow and, as George Lyons liked to say, the appearance of a sad clown. Not saying that’s really accurate but after an exhausting weekend of running a show he did sort of look like a little like the Brooklyn Dodgers clown Emmet Kelly. (In addition to being a HUGE collector, Jay was involved in promoting the greatest show of the Midwest in Detroit.It was sort of like the unofficial National Convention before there was a formal National Convention.) In the span of just a few years, Jay assembled one of the hobby’s most advanced card collections. It was a shock when out of the blue I learned he sold his entire collection in one transaction. Things like that just didn’t happen in the hobby. Jay Barry was a true and extremely dedicated collector with a ravenous appetite for cards. My understanding, what I overheard in hushed tones, was that he sold his collection for $25,000 to buy a house. 
 

Bert Sugar, the famous “Boxing Guy” 

Bert Sugar was really a great guy who could tell a story like no one else (and some of his stories were actually true!) I was lucky to know him well for over 35 years and count Bert as one of (maybe the) most colorful characters I have ever known. 
 
In the 1970s I served as one of the Senior Editors of the Sports Collectors Bible (which was just one of Bert’s countless book projects). This was very exciting to me to help with such an important project (after all, what was more important than baseball cards). Today with the Internet, we take so much for granted as far as checklists and values, but back then (in the mid-to-late 1970s) it was really hard to get a handle on what even existed, let alone what it was worth. Bert Sugar saw this void and created The Sports Collectors Bible, which really helped collectors, providing a much richer foundation of knowledge than had existed before, and promoted the entire field. 
  
Bert was a visionary. He was one of the most important figures of his day not only in the baseball collectibles field, but in many other fields as well. He was really one of the pioneers and great promoters of the entire nostalgia craze in America. 
 
Bert was was an advanced collector of pinback buttons, political campaign memorabilia, and autographs. This, of course, is in addition to... boxing memorabilia, Babe Ruth items, Yankee Stadium items (he famously bought all the "junk" from Yankee Stadium in the early 1970s), press pins, baseball cards, and really just about every kind of item that collectors have come to appreciate over the years as Americana. I had the privilege of having countless dealings with him over the years. I think more than anyone else. I was his “go-to guy” whenever he wanted to downsize his massive collection. Because I was always up for buying whatever he had. I had learned that everything he collected was special in some way, even if I didn’t know anything about the items when he offered them to me. He never steered me wrong and buying from him always came with an added bonus: an education. 
 
Bert had a great sense of humor about himself, and when I’d point out how he knew everything, he would always respond that he made up what he didn’t know. But the scope of his knowledge and experience was truly remarkable, and hearing him speak was mesmerizing. He had a way with words. He could write a book faster than I could read one. Just being around him one could not help but learn about the world of collectibles and American culture. He was a genius. And endlessly entertaining. Everyone that ever dealt with Bert got more than a deal. They got stories. They got jokes. They learned ideas. They even learned words!
  
In addition to all our baseball dealings, which were many and always fun (everything was fun with Bert), he personally got me started with collecting pinbacks and political campaign items as he decided to downsize in those areas. I am active in both of these areas to this day. As I told Bert often, I have him to thank for expanding my interests. He had the same enormous impact on thousands of others. 
 
 

Goodie Goldfadden
 
If you look up the word “Curmudgeon” in the dictionary, you will find a picture of legendary early dealer Goodwin “Goodie” Goldfadden pictured. This guy was a piece of work. Hated kids! Ok…he didn’t really hate kids….but he pretty much made everyone feel like they were bothering the heck out of him. W.C. Fields had nothing on Goodie Goldfadden!

I almost felt sorry for the local collectors who actually went to his store in person and got shooed away…or worse, stayed and felt like they were overstaying their welcome before both feet were even in the store. This was all part of his glorious charm…but did make dealing with him extra challenging. He did, at one time or another, apparently have just about everything. I was dealing with him just on the phone and while that gave me some disadvantages of course (the shop was 3000 miles away in California), I was able to get his undivided attention on the phone and managed to have a number of successful dealings. I considered every deal practically a miracle. He definitely preferred to deal with adults. But if he wasn't busy he was willing to let me spend what I could on whatever it was he described on the phone. Remember, there’s no Internet back in the 1970s. I had to buy items basically sight unseen! Sure, I could have returned something if I didn’t like it, I guess, but that’s not how things really worked and that would have probably been my last deal with him. He wasn’t exactly thrilled to even pack up items to send to a kid in the first place! 

One interesting group of items he offered me that I did NOT buy has never been mentioned in print anywhere and deserves documenting somewhere. This seems like as good a place as any. On the phone Goodie Goldfadden offered me the complete file of 1910 era contracts signed by boxers giving their permission to appear on boxing cards issued by The American Tobacco Company. I think there were sixty or seventy contracts (I cant remember the exact number) and they were for the T218 and related sets. Incredibly, I had absolutely no interest in them because I didn't deal in boxing and boxing just wasn't worth anything at this time. Well, almost nothing. I remember being excited about the prospect of getting tobacco card contracts for baseball players (where there's one file of contracts from the tobacco company, I naturally thought, maybe there are more). But Goodie made clear that NO, this was all he had. I never forgot about him offering me these contracts, all of which he said were signed. As years rolled by I thought "wow, they weren't baseball, but they sure did sound neat." And as more years went by, they got better and better. I always thought they would turn up somewhere and I would say "There they are! Those are the boxing tobacco card contracts Goodie Goldfadden offered me!" But they never did show up. I am certain that he had them. If he offered me anything that he said he was holding in his hands, of course he had it. They are out there somewhere. 

Frank Stallone (sticking with the boxing theme here a little...)

Here’s a check with a story that spans from 1977 to 2025! I met Frank Stallone at a convention in New Jersey in 1977 and sold him a stack of boxing cards (Frank loves boxing) and he gave me a check. The check bounced - and I should add that it was probably my fault in that I didn’t deposit the check right away. Looking at the date stamps on the check, for whatever reason (probably I misplaced it), I didn’t get around to depositing it for months. It was only $8 and just no big deal, but when I recently found the returned check in the pile of old bank records I am using here, of course I remembered it. So just for fun, I looked up how to email Frank and sent him a letter good-naturedly complaining and a copy of his old check. He wrote back within hours and was extremely amused (as intended). He literally said that this made his day! A week later a replacement check and beautifully inscribed photo arrived in the mail. I don’t know if there’s any Guinness world record to submit here, but I thought this was a fun story to share. So here is the replacement check and photo that arrived, which combined with his original 1977 check tell a great story. Thank you Frank Stallone! You are (as my Dad would say) a gentleman and a scholar! 

 In addition to phone calls and the mails and any time I could rope my mom or dad (or even my grandmother - I had no shame!) into driving me somewhere, I placed ads in newspapers and magazines all over the country seeking to buy old baseball cards. What better way to have people contact me with cards to sell? Some ads did great, some got no response. I tried to use reason to decide where to advertise as the options were endless and it was just such a pain to jump through all the hoops to place ads. Also, I was impatient. Once I placed  an ad, if it was a magazine, it could be  two or three months between when I sent the ad in, and when readers saw it. I placed ads in Canada to get 1952 Topps high numbers because I realized they were sold in quantities there. I advertised in local papers of cities where certain regional sets were issued. If I found a reasonably priced national publication, I’d try that. There were quite a few. I looked at circulations and cost and geography and make the best decisions I could. This was enormously successful. People actually read ads in newspapers and magazines back then, cards were worth enough that I could pay real money that made selling very interesting to many, and I was the only one advertising to buy old cards in these publications. Though any specific ad was hit or miss. I even advertised in the famous “Yellow Pages” telephone book. The delay for the Yellow Pages was incredibly long because they only published once a year. They were very expensive but I thought it would be worth it as Yellow Pages books were in every household and had a very long lifespan. In our house, we kept the same old Yellow Pages books for countless years. Most numbers didn’t change and most businesses remained in business. Unfortunately, the Yellow Pages turned out to be a terrible mistake. For whatever reason, every single call from this ad was worthless. And there were a lot of them. I didn’t advertise there again and couldn’t wait for the ad to become obsolete and stop generating junk calls. But…this took years! The calls eventually petered off but the Yellow Pages really did have a long lifespan. I would get calls for years. None of them with interesting cards to sell. Not even close. Ever. But, like with Thomas Edison and his lightbulb filament research, I still considered it a success. I learned what did not work! And concentrated my advertising efforts on what did work. 

This last story for this post does have a check to represent it. But this check above made me think of it. 
 
By the late 1970s, The Sports Collectors Digest was THE publication for buying and selling. This publication was the lifeblood of the hobby. It allowed collectors to network, gave dealers a timely publication in which to advertise, and was teeming with offers to buy and sell vintage material. It came out every two weeks, and there were so many ads that eventually it had to go to a weekly schedule. The hobby was on fire! And SCD was huge part of this explosive growth. The day SCD arrived in the mail was a big deal for anyone interested in vintage cards. Both dealers and collectors. Competition was fierce as most subscribers received their issue on the same day, or within a day or so, depending on the quirks of the mail system and how far they lived from Iola, Wisconsin where SCD was located. Every time there was a special deal to be had - which was often - collectors and dealers knew there was 50/50 they were going to be too late. 
 
I had been advertising in newspapers all over the place to unearth cards so it was a natural extension that I came up with the idea of advertising in Iola to find someone who, in exchange for compensation, would pick up a copy of SCD for me on the very day it was published (copies were available if you were right there, and all the more easily if you worked at SCD) and overnight the just-published issue to me so that I would have it days before anyone else. Someone from the area called in response to the ad and said they could absolutely do this but I would have to send them payment - in cash - in advance. And they wouldn’t even give me their name. Apparently (I'm just guessing) they worked at SCD, or at the printer in Iola, and while they always had the issue right away, they didn’t want anyone to know they were doing this out of concern it could somehow cause them problems. I don’t remember what I paid for each issue, but i think it was probably something like $20 or $25 over the postage cost for overnight delivery.

I sent the money as requested for numerous issues in advance - to a PO Box, and before I knew it, I was getting SCD like lightning, receiving it literally the very day after it was printed, waaaay before anyone else. I immediately “devoured” all the pages and called on every great deal or super important item that was advertised, easily beating all competitors to any ad where time was a factor. This went on week after week for months. Every advanced collector and dealer who received their SCD and made a call to buy a great deal or a pursue a sensational item was too late. Over and over again they heard the words “I’m sorry that’s gone. I sold (or traded) it to Rob Lifson two days ago.”  No one knew what the heck was going on or how I was doing it. Eventually SCD started getting complaints. It was bad enough that people closer to Iola often got their issues a day or so earlier than subscribers on the coasts. That all alone sometimes caused general complaints. But this was next level.  I can only imagine the discussions they had trying to address the delivery issues. They finally figured it out of course . It’s not like there were a million explanations. I have no idea if they knew who was my overnight mailing contact. I know I didn’t! To this day I have no idea who this person was. Because issues were readily available in town, there was no way to close this overnight delivery loophole. It was all perfectly legal, just a little crazy. The solution they finally came up with was to formally introduce the option of overnight delivery for all subscribers if they wanted to pay for it. The purpose was to level the playing field which it absolutely did (overnight!) and it ended the ridiculous advantage I had for a few months over everybody else in the county. That was fine by me. All in a day’s “work.” I had a good run! 
 
So that’s how SCD came to offer overnight delivery, which became a VERY popular option among extremely active collectors and dealers. I remember speaking with one of the most high ranking SCD employees about this after the change was instituted. I was fascinated by the developments. He indicated it was a real problem for a while because SCD  always wanted to be over-and-above fair to all and make everyone happy, and the complaints about unfairness had merit. But that they appreciated my industriousness. 
 
That’s it for this post. More in the future. I hope you have enjoyed these admittedly pretty random early hobby stories as much as I have enjoyed writing them! 
 
Robert Lifson
 
 

Starting in the early to mid 1970s, I was buying from and trading with (and learning a lot in the process from!) one of the great old-time dealers of the early days of organized collecting: Tom Collier. (Interesting footnote: Tom was Mike Aronstein’s partner in the very earliest days of TCMA, which originally stood for “Tom Collier Mike Aronstein”. When Tom bowed out, Mike continued on and while the company was still known as TCMA, the letters now stood for “The Card Memorabilia Associates”.  (There must have been some serious brainstorming to come up with a new name matching the TCMA letters!)
 
I loved dealing with Tom. Many rare items and sets I was shown for the very first time by him. W600s, Duke cabinets, T200 premiums…dealing with him was an education. He lived in Maryland. My Dad - and I can’t even believe he did this but he did - actually drove me all the way from the suburbs of Philadelphia to some remote place in Maryland to meet and deal with Tom Collier in person. Dad stayed in the car and waited. One time I remember my Dad AND my Grandmother sitting in the car outside.  For HOURS - while I made deals with Tom. 
 
Eventually I could drive to there myself. In between being driven and driving,  I remember taking a bus once, but can’t remember exactly how I got to his house (I must have taken a cab the last few miles). 
 
On one of these many excursions, Tom showed me a few original artworks from the Callahan Hall of Fame set. These were created by an artist named Mario DeMarco. I thought these artworks were fantastic, with such great detail. The art was somehow made dot-by-dot, which I later learned was a very unusual and time-consuming process. I made a deal for whatever Callahan artworks Tom had. There were only a few. Tom told me he got them directly from the artist and that there were more if I wanted but he didn’t have the artist’s contact information. 

When I got home I noticed that there was an ink stamp on the back of one of the artworks with Mario DeMarco’s name and address. Of course, this stamp was from 1950, more than 25 years earlier, so the address probably wasn’t good anymore. But….who knew without checking? I called information and within minutes I was speaking to…,Mario DeMarco himself! 
 
Here is the letter he sent me after my call in which I told him how I found him and expressed interest in buying more Callahan card artworks if they were available. The answer was YES. In fact he was extremely pleased I was interested in his artwork and he was enthusiastic about selling them. He had to check to see what he had, price them, and get back to me. When he did, I bought them ALL. Interestingly, included were artworks of some players that were not issued. These unissued card artworks featured players that had not yet been inducted into the Hall of Fame when the card project was ongoing and so did not warrant inclusion in the Callahan set (which was issued between 1950 and 1956, updated with the new inductees every year). 

When all these artworks had been purchased, I was kind of disappointed there were no more. Inspired by the unissued card artworks, I came up with the idea of offering to pay for artworks of players that had yet to be created. Mario found this very amusing and he was THRILLED to do this. Artworks of any player could be created. We picked great stars and Hall of Famers whose careers were active during or after the years the Callahan set was issued. That’s how there came to be artworks (all of which are out there somewhere) for more modern stars such as Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron as well as many others. They were still time-consuming so there was a big delay for each new batch. Mario was always a true gentleman and I very much enjoyed our dealings. 
 
Interesting story Mario DeMarco told me: where signatures appeared pasted in the backgrounds of most of the original card artworks, these were REAL signatures. They sure didn’t look like real signatures, but that’s because he drew OVER them with some special dark ink, totally covering them, so the signatures would show up well on the cards In fact, this is why some cards in the Callahan set (the early stars) did not have signatures as part of the artwork at all. It wasn’t random. Mario didn’t have cut signatures of those players!  Easy to say “why couldn’t he just find a signature to copy” but this was his process. 

When I was going through a recently found pile of old bank papers, I found the letter as well as countless checks and money orders to Mario. I must have sent him thousands of dollars. Here are just a couple of the checks; there are many more. I must have kept him very busy in his spare time for quite a while. 
 
As noted in his letter, all this money went to a great cause: helping to put his son and daughter through business school. Today school costs a fortune, but back then a few thousand dollars (my guess of what I sent him in total) was a lot of money and made a meaningful dent in the tuition bills. 
 
Mario DeMarco was a highly respected and extremely accomplished professional illustrator. His work appeared in everything from Life magazine to comic books in a career that spanned an incredible 70 years. He always had a special soft spot for baseball history and the collecting world has always had a special appreciation for his art. 
 
We don’t see these Mario DeMarco Callahan card artworks often these days but every once in a while one or two appear at auction. They are all out there somewhere. When you see one, know that Mario personally sold it, and all of them - I think everyone last one - passed through my hands enroute to finding homes in various collections over the years! 
 
I have more checks that represent stories I hope will be worth writing about and reading. I hope you have enjoyed this otherwise long-lost story from the early days of the hobby!

Robert Lifson

These checks above are made out to Charlie Burkhardt of Topton, Pennsylvania. Charlie was one of the great hobbyists of the early to mid 1970s on. He was one of the most important pillars of the collecting world to me as a kid. Charlie worked at a high school (I think he was a guidance counselor among other responsibilities) but in the early 1970s he became fascinated with baseball memorabilia collecting as a hobby. 
 
At this time there was no internet. There were hardly any conventions. Phone calls were a fortune. But Charlie lived near one of the world’s largest and most exciting flea markets: the famous Renningers Antique Market in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. Renningers was a magnet for quality dealers, and quality antiques and collectibles in these early days. There was no eBay back then so it provided an extremely valuable and exciting venue for thousands of collectibles enthusiasts. 
 
Dealers would start setting up at the crack of dawn, sometimes literally at 5:00 AM.  Few baseball collectors could possibly get to Renningers at all due to geography, let alone get there that early. But Charlie had no problem getting there the moment it opened  every Sunday (the only day Renningers was open). His great knowledge and social skills combined with his dedication paid incredible dividends. He practically OWNED Renningers as far as baseball cards and memorabilia were concerned. He was there to get first shot at everything, week in, week out. Dealers could count on him. Charlie was always very fair and a pleasure to deal with, and many dealers would steer others to him, or even save items of potential interest to be sure to show Charlie first (not that he wasn’t there first anyway, but Renningers was a big place). 
 
Renningers was a HUGE market at this time, with hundreds of dealers set up both in a giant outside area and in a giant indoor facility. Competition for quality baseball material was fierce among the few who figured out that Renningers was a practically magical potential source of noteworthy vintage items. But, armed with an incredible work ethic, being a pleasure to do business with, a genuine enthusiasm for collecting and an ability to be there at 5:00 AM, Charlie had a great advantage. He rarely missed out on anything. 

I couldn’t drive so I could never go to Renningers (not that I would have ever found anything good before Charlie anyway!) but I had the wisdom to call Charlie to find out what he found (most of which was available for sale) religiously every Sunday. I didn’t get to go to Renningers but I felt like I went every week. It was very exciting and I bought countless items from Charlie on a regular basis. I never knew what he was going to come up with and of course neither did he. It was a treasure hunt every Sunday. I can’t imagine I wasn’t his biggest customer in these early days. I’d buy just about anything quality, and Charlie only bought quality items. He knew what was good. I couldn’t wait for Charlie to get back from Renningers every Sunday. Sometimes I’d call too early (probably more than once some Sundays; I didn’t know any better) and have to call back. Sometimes I’d catch him literally as he was walking in the door (hopefully with arms full of “stuff” to describe and offer on the phone).
 
The checks above are just two from countless deals with Charlie. I look at the dates and almost can’t believe I even had a checking account at this early date. 1974? I was literally only 13 years old and in like 7th grade! And  the amounts of these checks ($100 and $180)…this was real money in 1974. 
 
Seriously, it’s hard for people to understand today but very few people threw around hundreds of dollars on baseball cards in the early 1970s. I didn’t realize this at the time. I was too busy buying and selling and learning and collecting. And because I was doing this 24/7, I pretty much did ten times more than what anyone else was doing. And because I was using the phone (even though it cost a fortune), doing it more efficiently than anyone had ever done before in the history of baseball card collecting. But I didn’t know this or give it any thought. I was too busy! Though really I didn't have anything to compare to what I did. I think I thought every collector spent all their time working on collecting. (We are all born knowing nothing. I was way ahead of the curve when it came to buying, selling, and learning about baseball cards but what did I know about the world? Not much! That came later and I'm still learning!) 
 
In the memo field of these two checks is the notation “Tattoo Orbits”.  These checks were just a couple of many more payments for one of Charlie’s great card finds at Renningers. Before 1974 1933 Tattoo Orbits baseball cards (catalogued R305 in the American Card Catalog) were almost non-existent in the organized card collecting world. I remember looking at the catalog entry in the ACC and thinking “Would I ever be able to find and buy or trade for even ONE R305 Tattoo Orbit? Would I ever even be able to see one?”

I knew they were out there - they existed - but they were like a unicorn. Mythical due to extreme rarity. 

One day Charlie came back from Renningers and had a group of Tattoo Orbits, which was astoundingly incredible enough. But he was even more excited about the additional Tattoo Orbit cards he did not get, because the dealer did not bring them all. Charlie hoped to get the balance of them shortly. Allegedly hundreds of Tattoo Orbits! There are only 60 cards to the set so there would be multiple sets. It sounded too good to be true. But it was true. These were not being sold for a song, however. Charlie was paying real money, both because he was a gentleman who was always fair in his dealings, and because this approach had the added benefit of practically ensuring that he would not be “scooped” by competition. 
 
I was extremely enthusiastic about buying any and all. I think I eventually bought every single Tattoo Orbit card from the find (if not all, just about all). I knew these cards were special and, frankly, to me CARDS were valuable…money had no value to me. Except to buy cards and to pay the expenses involved in finding and buying cards. (What else would I do with money? At this age, nothing!) 
 
The hundreds of Tattoo Orbit cards only made so many sets (I’m guessing 15 sets but can’t remember exactly). And there were lots of extra singles and partial sets too. All quickly found homes. I think I was paying a few dollars a card at the time which may have risen to a higher level as supply dwindled (whatever Charlie wanted, that’s what I paid. He was always fair.) The cards were all in what was then considered practically perfect condition. Today grading companies look at cards more harshly (even high grade cards) but these were all uncirculated cards in top shape. Almost all (maybe literally all) of the beautiful, crisp, clean high grade 1933 Tattoo Orbit cards in the hobby today originate from this incredible single Charlie Burkhardt Renningers find. 
 
This was just one of countless great finds by Charlie Burkhardt. His name was not well known nationally but in Pennsylvania (which was a hotbed of collecting), he was a legend and one of the all time early organized hobby greats. Thank you, Charlie Burkhardt, for making the early days of the hobby so much more exciting for me and for so many others! 
 
I have quite a few old checks to look through and I’m sure many other noteworthy early hobby names and stories are in there. I like this format and will look to find more to post. 
 
I hope you have enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it!
 
 
Robert Lifson
 

I apologize for the delay in getting out packages of cards during the past two months. All packages are now ON THE WAY! After sending out today’s shipments, I am all caught up with all card requests. Important: If you have requested cards and NOT received them, please let me know. Every request ever received has been sent a package. Every package has included cards from the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s!
 
Every package sent today has also included a GAI-graded T206 Honus Wagner reprint produced by Topps in 2000. These Honus Wagner cards are an official Topps issue that were given out at the 2000 Fanfest convention by Topps at their booth. I have always included an ungraded example in every package of free cards sent but have recently found a couple of boxes of graded examples. (I will continue to send the graded examples out in future until I run out). Why are these graded? I don’t remember the exact details but I vaguely recall there was a problem with a GAI grading order. (GAI is no longer in business now but for a while they were a very prominent competing grading company formed by key former PSA employees Mike Baker and Steve Rocchi). I was given a credit in grading fees to address the problem, and using this credit I decided to send in a bunch of 2000 Fanfest T206 Topps Honus Wagners instead of old cards because I thought that it would be fun to have these graded to someday sell or give away. And over 20 years later…here are they are!

I will be getting back to posting more shortly. I’ve just been a little busy but have found some great old material to share.

Sincerely,
 
Robert Lifson

[email protected]

In 1952 when Richard Nixon was running for VP with Eisenhower, the Adlai Stephenson campaign discovered that Nixon had signed a restrictive discriminatory covenant when he bought his home that prevented the resale to, or use (except as servants) by African-Americans and people of Jewish dissent. (I know…crazy…and note also that this violates constitutional rights per The Supreme Court since 1948 and therefore was unenforceable, but the Nixons signed this anyway).

Copies of the deed were reproduced and distributed by the Stevenson campaign to make the public aware of what a bad guy Nixon was and to make Nixon’s stance on Civil Rights a campaign issue.

When I saw an eBay seller offering one of these original anti-Nixon deed campaign flyers, I thought it was a very interesting campaign item with a story and much to offer in terms of learning about American history. The campaign flyer, by the way, is not just a copy of the deed. It has text added explaining that it is a copy distributed by the Stevenson campaign.  This is easily seen in the photos in the eBay listing. The offered flyer was obviously folded at one time, no doubt related to exactly how they were distributed (the fold lines are consistent with once being in an envelope, which makes sense as they were mailed). It looked good (authentic, that is) and was $75. I decided to buy it.
 
Below is the eBay listing. Pictured in the listing are numerous photos of an original 1952 Anti-Nixon Stevenson campaign flyer (which, again, is essentially a copy of Nixon’s actual signed document, with a credit line added to explain what it is and to make clear it is an anti-Nixon item being distributed by the Stevenson campaign):

A week later, after paying but before receiving, I saw the seller offer a second example. This surprised me a little but it’s not all that unusual for more than one example of a paper item to survive together. However, a red flag was raised by the fact that the seller used the EXACT same pictures in the listing of the second example as used in the listing of the first example that I purchased (and had yet to receive).

I hoped there was not going to be a problem, and that perhaps he was just too lazy to take new pictures of his second example. Or he felt they were in the same condition so why bother. Still, it was worrisome, especially because the first example I bought clearly had an imperfection shown in the photos: an area of surface abrasion that looked like a place where maybe tape had been removed. Unlikely that two would have the same unusual imperfection. Maybe he didn’t notice. I was trying to be optimistic. I would know soon enough. Literally as I was looking at the pictures of the second example on eBay, I received a notice from eBay that the package had arrived and was waiting for me at the post office. 

So off to the post office I went... I picked up the package. I brought it home. I carefully opened it…

And what I received for my $75 was... literally a just-made color copy! Crazy but true.

He was trying to sell me a color xerox for $75 (plus postage)! Was he attempting to sow confusion regarding the word “copy,” or did he really think I wanted to buy a color xerox for $75?  

For reference, here is a picture of the color Xerox received (just for clarification, all the flaws pictured are IN the color Xerox, as this is a copy of a 1952 original with folds and various flaws, and the surrounding white border is the edge of the color Xerox paper):

I immediately requested a refund via the eBay system, provided the requested explanation as to why, and was easily able to show with pictures that the color Xerox I received was NOT what was pictured in the listing, and that only a worthless just-made color Xerox of an original was received. (Note: The eBay listing pictured an original. The color copy of this original received differs in many ways from the original. The seller actually has, or at the very least had access to, an original, as an original was pictured in his eBay listing).
 
 In response to my request through the eBay system to return for a refund, I immediately heard back from the eBay seller:

Of course I could have let it go. I was returning the worthless copy for a full refund (and there was never any worry or doubt about this; eBay is very good at protecting buyers). But something was bothering me about the response. It's one thing for a seller to somehow accidentally handle a non-authentic item, but in this case the seller is picturing an authentic piece and sending out a color xerox, and making clear in his response that it was his INTENTION to sell me a color xerox for $75. It wasn't a mistake. The only "mistake" that the seller claims to have made was to picture an AUTHENTIC item... implying that from the use of the word "copy" that I shoulda known that the "copy" he was going to send wasn't the 1952 campaign-issued "copy" pictured, but instead a completely different color Xerox "copy" of the original. Even though I was returning for a refund no problem, and had an interesting story to boot, I kinda felt like I was being gas-lighted somewhere here. So I just HAD to quickly respond. And also ask about the shipping label he has to authorize to send me to return:

I soon got a notice that my refund was being processed before I even returned the item. Usually a refund is not issued until it is returned using the label sent via the eBay system (which is authorized by and paid for by the seller). Upon receiving the notice of refund processing, I wrote to the seller to thank him, and to inquire again about sending his item back. This last communication - mine to him and the seller's response back, which I have pictured below…to me, this is what makes this a truly great eBay story! And to be extremely clear: there’s no hard feelings by me to the seller. He refunded my money right away, no problem. All is good. But who buys a vintage item and gets sent a color xerox and is OK with this? How to explain what transpired? What was he thinking? I don’t know. Maybe he just thought he could sell copies, and the fact that the item itself (the real item) is sort of a copy helped to create confusion.  Or maybe not. It doesn’t matter. It’s just an incredibly ridiculous eBay story. The final communication is below:

There it is: no return desired. "Just throw it away if you don't want it."

You can't make this stuff up!

I hope you have enjoyed my ridiculous eBay story. I enjoyed writing it!

Robert Lifson

Ok. This headline does not even come close to telling to telling the Pete Rose story that I am referring to…but is an interesting take in retrospect on my small brush with the drama of Pete Rose’s career, legend and life.

The headline really should read “Barry Halper helped Pete Rose make Millions of Dollars!” I played a very small role just doing my job.

From the 1970s through the 1990s Barry Halper was by far the biggest baseball collector and buyer in the world. He had an incredible appetite for spending money on baseball items, and for many years it seemed as if he was single-handedly supporting half the dealers in the hobby, and often buying the entire collections of dedicated collectors. He bought from everyone! The good, the bad, and the ugly (referring to the material he bought, not the dealers, though he really did deal with everyone). Nobody had the bankroll of Barry Halper and nobody was easier to deal with or more generous. He wanted to get called first on everything. Barry was a soft touch, often overpaying to make it worthwhile for dealers to be on the lookout for him. But his “buying everything and making everybody happy” approach was genius: He had the whole world “working” for him. Everyone knew he had the biggest collection from the publicity his collection generated; everyone knew he was an enthusiastic and well-heeled buyer. The combination made dealers - and everyone else! - from all over the country seek him out to see if the great Barry Halper would be interested in their baseball treasures. And he usually was!

In those early hobby days, there was no one that was collecting memorabilia like Barry. He was way ahead of his time. On top of all this, he supercharged his collecting by buying material direct from players. When he became part-owner of the Yankees, even more doors opened to get the inside track on baseball items. Barry had a lot of fun with his hobby. He was a big personality and he loved rubbing shoulders with the baseball greats that he revered, often having players honored to visit his home to see his collection. This, of course, also provided opportunity for him to get items signed, and sometimes even buy important items directly from the players. Barry became so famous that when a letter was addressed to him with no name and no address, reading something like “The Big Baseball Collector, New Jersey,” it got to him. He had an entire album with crazy correspondence like that. He was the greatest baseball collector of his day. And he was the consummate gentleman who left a trail of goodwill and a remarkable legacy of charitable good works. In 2005 Barry Halper passed away. He was only 66.


Though he had sold his collection at Sotheby’s in 2000 (no doubt due to advancing health issues), he kept what was for him a small group of baseball memorabilia. Each piece had some special meaning to him. Many signed items from heroes like Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, for example, were personalized to him. At some point many months after his passing, the Halper family asked me to come over to look at the baseball material that remained and take away anything worthy of auction to sell. Ironically, Barry Halper’s “small collection” of items kept just for personal nostalgia rivalled most lifetime advanced collections in terms of size and value. When you’ve been collecting as long as Barry, in addition to treasured items on display all around his hobby room, there were additional valuable baseball items tucked in every nook and cranny. Many were put there – in a drawer, in an album, in a cabinet -  and forgotten about. (Sort of like how most homes are with rubber bands, paper clips, and batteries. And let’s not forget those little tubes of Super Glue. These things get put away out of sight and then are never seen again!) At some point, after the collection hobby room was finally under control, it was suggested I look in the garage. Just in case there was anything there.  


This was a GIANT garage. No cars. Just shelves and boxes. I don’t remember all that was in there – probably a lot of household items like at any house that “have to be somewhere.” But there was all kinds of baseball material in boxes of all kinds. Some was just stuff that Barry had never gotten around to working on. Some were probably boxes of items that to him were junk and he didn’t even want to buy but did anyway as a courtesy. Some were larger items like bats as well as unwieldly large items such as huge display items requiring a lot of wall space that would not have been at home inside. Literally tens of thousands of dollars worth of items. (Hundreds of thousands actually)... Some impressive, some not so much (and I would have put in my garage too), but all with value.  Trying to get a handle on what was there and where it was in the garage, I noticed a box on the very top of a shelving unit, out of the way and not easily seen. If not looking to be sure to see everything, it would be very possible to miss it. I took the box down and opened it up. Low and behold, inside were Pete Rose signed baseballs. They were hand-numbered like a limited edition and every one was inscribed and signed “I’m Sorry I Bet On Baseball. Pete Rose.”

My jaw dropped. I knew I had just found something extremely interesting and of enormous historical significance. At least in my eyes. I didn’t know if anyone else would see them exactly as I did but to me the idea of Pete Rose signing baseballs in this manner was incredible. Discovering a box of them in Barry Halper’s garage was astounding.  
 
Others felt the same way! The attention in the media the Pete Rose Confession balls got was insanity!
 
Here is the front page of the New York Daily News on September 18, 2006:

Maybe it was a slow news days but…The attention the story got was off the charts!

 As a most efficient way to capture the moment and provide more information, here’s a cut-and-paste of the text of the Sports Collectors Daily article that came out that same day:

“Sept 18, 2006
 
Robert Edward auctions is scheduled to sell a group of 30 of the "confession balls" as part of their April auction. Early reports on Monday indicated the origin of the balls may stem not from a guilty conscience, but rather from Rose’s desire to increase his income. The balls REA is auctioning were part of the Barry Halper estate. Halper’s massive collection was sold some time ago, but he apparently acquired several items afterward, including this group of baseballs.
 
REA President Rob Lifson told SportsCollectorsDaily that he believes 303 exist since Rose numbered each ball with an "of 303" notation. Not nearly that many have surfaced as of yet, however. Rose’s business manager, Warren Greene, indicated he believed the balls were signed informally and number far less than the "303" designation written on them. Typical Rose single-signed baseballs typically sell for $25-50 each. Lifson indicated the "confession" balls would be sent in for authentication but if there is no exclusive arrangement regarding the inscription, it’s likely their value could be affected negatively should Rose and Greene opt to do another signing using the same phrase.
 
Later Monday, Greene told the Associated Press that a collector who got some of the "I’m sorry" baseballs gave 30 of them to Halper, a limited partner in the New York Yankees who died last December. Greene indicated the balls were given to Rose’s friends as a special gift.
Rose spends a lot of time these days at Field of Dreams in Caesar’s Las Vegas, waiting for fans to plunk down cash in exchange for an autograph.”
                                  ------End of Sports Collectors Daily Article-----

At first, there were a few angry (some a little threatening frankly) calls to my office from die-hard Rose fans and perhaps personal friends of Rose. Obviously, the purpose of selling the balls was not to embarrass or cause any problems for Pete Rose. But I think that was how a few people interpreted it.
 
These balls were going to get sold no matter what. There was an estate to settle. And if one didn’t want anyone to see these balls, why would they exist? And why would there be 303 of them? And why would any of these be sold to Barry Halper and who knows who else?
 
Here’s what I think happened: Pete Rose lived large and always had a need for money. He liked gambling too. I mean, he REALLY liked gambling. And gamblers…well…they tend to lose…

Baseball memorabilia and signings provided a lot of income over the years. Most of his income for many years. But the most valuable memorabilia items that he saved such as record-breaking hit balls and game-used jerseys and bats and awards had, for the most part, already been sold. Sometimes Pete Rose needed some extra walking-around-money or he had some "unexpected bills". When you’re Pete Rose and need some quick cash , an extra appearance here, an extra signing event there, can often solve the problem.

Rose had a lot of friends. A few close friends were very involved with the memorabilia collecting world, and with their great understanding of the hobby came up with the idea of having Pete sign and number the confession balls. The limited-edition number 303 was chosen because it was a large enough number to work with and Pete Rose's lifetime batting average was .303. This project put a sizable sum in Rose’s hands in a very easy and quick manner. How much? I would have no way of knowing but if I had to guess, it was at least $30,000. Probably $50,000. Who knows. Maybe it was $100,000. In green cash. And probably at a very opportune time for Rose (in terms of needing cash for some pressing need).

Though it took Rose only a matter of hours to sign and inscribe 303 baseballs, my belief is that he had reservations. Even though he made some mistakes in the past, Rose had a great sense of respect for the history of the game and his place in it. While he couldn’t go back in time to do a few things differently, that didn’t mean he wanted to call attention to his past mistakes. Rose would not sign baseballs in this manner if he thought people would see them. He knew that would call attention to his baseball gambling issue possibly in a way he would not be comfortable. But Pete was dealing with his closest memorabilia friends, and he was assured that the confession baseballs would not see the light of day for many years (the understanding may have even been not during his lifetime). These baseballs were a longtime investment, the existence of which was to be kept in the strictest confidence. Some were sold to recoup his collecting friends’ costs. Groups of confession balls were very quietly placed at a premium with just a few trusted collector confidants. Barry Halper was one of these buyers, and ever-the-gentleman, he honored the request to not display or even let anyone know he had these balls. “Mums the word”. Everyone was happy.

But they did not count on Barry passing away in 2005. And they did not foresee the balls naturally being found among his collectibles.  

I should add that in the months that followed the discovery of the confession balls, much of what I have presented as speculation above has actually been verified. I don’t know some of the exact details (of the financial arrangements for example) but it has been verified to me by people who were involved that the agreement was that the confession baseballs were absolutely never meant to be seen by the public. Ever. At least not for a very long time.
 
So how did all this help Rose make Millions? A cottage industry was born!
 
Here is the September 19, 2006 Sports Collectors Daily follow-up article (just one day after the confession balls became national news):

 Rose Now Selling Confession Balls on Own Website
September 19, 2006 By Rich Mueller

Irony of ironies. The magic words we waited so long for Pete Rose to say are now for sale with proceeds benefitting …..Pete Rose.

You knew it wouldn’t take long. Turns out it look even less time than we thought.

Not much more than 24 hours after the story about the "confession" baseballs broke in the national media, Pete Rose is now marketing them himself.

An advertisement on his website, PeteRose.com, offers the balls, inscribed "I’m Sorry I Bet on Baseball" and signed by Rose, for $299 each. That’s about $250 more than a single-signed, non-inscription ball sells for.
A news release issued Wednesday reads: "Pete Rose announced today that he has given Field of Dreams stores, a division of Dreams, Inc. an exclusive on an autographed baseball with his apology "I’m sorry I bet on baseball" inscribed on the ball."

The balls are available only at Field of Dreams stores nationwide, including the Forum Shops in Las Vegas where Rose appears 52 weeks a year providing autographs and photo opportunities.

"Pete’s fans are fiercely loyal and he is a legend," said Jorge Salvat, President of Field of Dreams. "Field of Dreams has a long-term relationship with Pete, and we are the exclusive distributor of this authentic autographed Pete Rose product."

"These ‘I’m sorry I bet on baseball’ balls are a part of sports history," added Salvat.

Monday morning, word came via the New York Daily News that some 30 baseballs bearing the phrase had been consigned to Robert Edward Auctions. Baseball’s all-time hits leader responded by claiming he had signed a group of those baseballs for some friends who vowed to put them away as an investment. Some had wound up in the collection of Barry Halper, and the deceased man’s family consigned them to REA for release in the company’s April 2007 sale.

Rose quickly decided to capitalize on the publicity and with no exclusive arrangement from the original signing in place, will sign them beginning this week. He appears and signs for a fee for several days each month in an agreement with the Field of Dreams collectibles store in Caesar’s Las Vegas.

                                    -------End of Sports Collectors Daily Article------

THE CRAZINESS DID NOT STOP THERE!

Rose was selling newly signed confession balls for $299 each by the boatload!  It seemed like everyone wanted one…And it seemed like practically everyone actually bought one! Rose’s signing career was supercharged. His income SOARED!

It was exciting to see Rose turn this unexpected event into a positive for himself. We had 30 balls from the original group to auction, and I thought that even though Rose was making and selling more as fast as humanly possible, some collectors would actually make a distinction between the “originally discovered numbered confession baseballs” versus newly signed examples, preferring an “original.” But whatever they went for was fine. We had an estate to settle.
 
THE INSANITY DID NOT STOP THERE!

A day later I received an inquiry from a company involved with some type of gambling business in Canada. The CEO had read about the “Pete Rose Confession Baseballs” and he wanted to know if their company could just buy them all now to use as gifts for their best customers. I told him I was sorry, no, that they were going to auction. But that he could buy baseballs inscribed in the very same way directly from Pete Rose for $299 each and I sent him a link to Pete Rose’s website. I was surprised to hear back from him that he REALLY wanted the Halper Estate examples as opposed to newly signed ones. He ONLY wanted the ones we had. Would we consider selling them for a premium? Would we sell them for $1000 each?  
 
I thought “Whoa! That’s a heck of an offer.”  Yes, these were slated to go to auction, but with an offer like that, under these circumstances (with Rose signing hundreds of new confession balls a day), it would be irresponsible for me to not bring this offer to the attention of the Halper family. After all, if they belonged to me, I would sell them in a second! The Halper family very much appreciated and were in agreement with my thought process and gave me instructions to sell them if that’s what I thought was the most desirable course of action.  So… all 30 baseballs never went to auction. They were they were sold outright for $1,000 each.

We sent out an email to our mailing list informing people that the Rose baseballs were not going to auction, that they had been sold. And we gave the link to Pete Rose’s website for anyone who wanted to buy one directly from Pete Rose.

Here’s a cut-and-paste of the September 22, 2006 Sports Collectors Daily Article (just 4 days after the confession balls became national news):
  
 
Sept 22, 2006
 
Rose Balls Withdrawn from Auction; Sold
September 22, 2006 By Rich Mueller

The 30 original "Pete Rose confession" baseballs consigned to Robert Edward Auctions have been pulled from the April sale and sold outright to a Canadian gaming company. 

The group of balls originally consigned by the family of Barry Halper became the focus of nationwide media attention because of the unique inscription.

However, when Pete Rose began marketing freshly-signed "I'm sorry I bet" balls via his website and daily appearances at a Las Vegas sports memorabilia outlet, the potential market value took a hit.  It put REA President Rob Lifson in a difficult spot, so when an offer came along to buy the group at a significant price, he pulled the balls from the auction.

"An offer to purchase all thirty Pete Rose  baseballs for $30,000 was made to us by ESI Entertainment Systems Inc., a gaming service industry company from British Columbia, Canada," Lifson wrote in an e-mail.   Citadel Commerce Corp, an  e-commerce payment solutions provider and wholly owned subsidiary of ESI, issued a news release Friday morning confirming the sale.

Citadel Commerce indicated it plans to give the baseballs away to customers via an on-line promotion.  
The balls had been consigned to REA by the family of noted sports memorabilia collector Barry Halper, who died in December of 2005. 

"REA has never before withdrawn an item that has been scheduled for auction, but in this unique instance, in light of the fact that Pete Rose is now selling baseballs signed in an identical manner on his website for $299, we advised our consignors that it was our opinion that this offer should be accepted. Our job is to make the best decisions possible for our consignors, and we have therefore executed the sale."

The $30,000 price means the baseballs were purchased for $1000 each.  Lifson said the Canadian company was made fully aware they could purchase balls from Rose At $299 but ESI "specifically wanted the REA auction examples".  It's believed Rose signed 303 of the baseballs about two years ago for acquaintances but it's not likely the balls he's now signing will be numbered, thus maintaining a niche for the original group.

"We apologize for any inconvenience to the hundreds of collectors who have contacted us during the week regarding these Pete Rose baseballs, but in this very unusual circumstance we believe that it was appropriate to recommend an outright sale," Lifson wrote.  "We are confident that collectors will appreciate our thought process, and hope that any inconvenience is more than remedied by the fact that baseballs bearing this identical inscription can now be purchased directly from Pete Rose at www.PeteRose.com."
"We wish Pete Rose all the best and we will be referring all future and previously received inquiries regarding Pete Rose baseballs to www.PeteRose.com."

Michael Meeks, President of Citadel Commerce stated, "These baseballs are a piece of sports history, and as Mr. Rose was not paid to sign them, we think it only appropriate to respect his original intent by giving away the baseballs as incentives to consumers that utilize myCitadel.com for payment of their on-line Internet purchases."

For information about the withdrawn thirty baseballs, which Lifson believes will always have a special historical significance as the original thirty Pete Rose balls discovered in Barry Halper’s basement, contact: ESI Entertainment Systems Inc. (TSX:ESY), 15th Floor, 4710 Kingsway, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5H 4M2.
 
                            -----------   End of Sports Collectors Daily Article  -----------

       

THE INSANITY DID NOT STOP THERE!

Pete Rose was selling autographs like crazy. In addition to selling balls apologizing for betting on baseball, he created a new type of offering. For a premium, he would inscribe baseballs apologizing for things he obviously had nothing to do with (in jest, as a humorous expression of commentary on his unique situation being banned from Baseball and thus the Hall of Fame). Popular examples included “I’m Sorry I Broke Up The Beatles, Pete Rose.” And “I’m sorry I shot JFK, Pete Rose.”

Pete Rose was always a favorite with fans. Ironically, the Confession Baseballs story raised his public profile even more, and as he received more attention, he was embraced anew by even more fans and collectors.
 
Rose was such a hot topic that on October 2, 2006, he appeared on the David Letterman show!

Here’s a youtube link to the appearance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a_JrO_USjo

Though just a small part of the interview, the confession baseballs were prominently mentioned. Pete Rose was an ambassador for the game, with a great reverence for baseball history, incredible knowledge and experience, countless records to his name, and a unique story. He was a true living legend. He was always a great interview about baseball history and current baseball events as well. But it was the confession baseballs story that prompted The Letterman Show to book Pete Rose!
 
Pete Rose is gone now but to me (and countless fans) he will always be remembered as the timeless Baseball Immortal that appears on 1960s Topps baseball cards I treasured as a kid:

This whole post isn’t really a “story.” It’s more like a rambling hopefully fun account of what I always thought was a very interesting event in the auction world as I experienced it. I enjoyed writing it. I hope you enjoyed reading!
 
Robert Lifson

“Constantine” is the name I will use to refer to this forger (who was one of many forgers in the collectibles world). But I’m just using that name because no one will know exactly who I am talking about. At least I don’t think they will! I don’t want to identify him here but I have to refer to him by some name to share this story. The purpose of this post is not to cause problems for “Constantine.” His career as a forger is (to the best of my knowledge) totally over. The purpose is to share what I think is a very interesting hobby forgery story that is legendary among only a very small circle, and virtually unknown by the public, because charges were never filed.
 
Constantine was a hobby fixture for many years. He was at countless shows. He was very knowledgeable. He was easy to get along with. A nice guy with a winning personality who was always buying or selling something. He had a close relationship with some respected retail sellers and auctioneers which gave him all the more credibility. At conventions, he could even be found behind the table of an auction house at a big show, resting, or even manning the booth! He was trusted.

And he had a particular area of expertise in dealing: autographs. With all his running around and legitimate activity, almost no one suspected that he was a forger. Because of his deep knowledge of the hobby, he was able to operate for a very long time, and in a very intelligent manner. He used others to market his sophisticated wares in high-end retail establishments and auctions, which further obscured his activities, making detection, even suspicion, all the more difficult.

Naturally, Constantine had an endless supply. He could make as many forgeries as he wanted. But he was very smart about it. He didn’t go for quantity. He went for “quality,” creating forgeries that could be sold for a significant value per item, but with the least likelihood of exposure. These were all extremely high demand relatively recent signatures. No Babe Ruths. No Lou Gehrigs. No Christy Mathewsons. But “yes” to more modern stars such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris. And he was smart about what the items on which his forgeries were presented. He knew that an unusual, or otherwise especially interesting, item signed by a ballplayer like Mickey Mantle could sell for MANY times what his signature would sell for on a common or unexciting item. He knew what would get collectors excited. This expert approach made his forgeries more desirable, more profitable, and just as important, allowed him to be very profitable with fewer items, and thus less chance of being caught. The materials he used upon which signatures would be added were old and added more credibility. All the more so because they came from him, and it was “known” he had great sources for autographs. Not just from his own collection but also from other longtime collectors he dealt with for years (due to his interests, activity, and being in the New York area). This provenance all alone was good enough for his outlets. Did the stores and auctions that sold his material have a clue? I have no idea.
 
BUT WHAT I DO KNOW… is that a memorabilia dealer consigned a big group of material to my auction (Robert Edward Auctions) and included were a selection of signed items. The signed items were not the core of the consignment. The core of the consignment was an eclectic array of interesting and valuable non-signed items. But the signed items were a welcome addition to the consignment because all were very marketable and would sell extremely well.

 Autograph authentication is an art not a science. I personally can’t tell what is good and what is bad. I’m not an autograph authenticator. So, like most auction houses, we always used reputable authenticators to vet the autographs in every auction. In fact, I think I was the very first sports auction to implement the mandatory policy that all autographed items had to go through a third party authentication process at all, and be approved by our outside authentication experts. Experienced authenticators can be very good. They are also human. It is always possible a mistake could be made. And they have made mistakes. They would be the first to agree if you asked them. They are humans not Gods! But they have great knowledge and can usually tell if an autograph is real or not. When we show authenticators autographs, they don’t know who consigned them or what was consigned with what (unless it is obvious using common sense; multiple items with inscriptions to the same person, for example.).  Each auction had lots of autographs. Sometimes thousands!
 
A FASCINATING thing happened when the autographs from this particular auction were reviewed: Every single signed item from this big consignment was rejected as a forgery. Almost all signed items NOT from this consignment were fine. The authenticators had no idea who consigned them or even what was consigned together. Items are presented to them for review with material organized by type of item (photos, bats, cards, balls , programs, jerseys etc). But every ball, photo, and unusual item from this consignment was rejected as a forgery. Statistically, this was “impossible.”  If everything was on the level. By that I mean, the authentication process provided statistical certainty in my eyes that there was a forgery problem with this consignor’s autographs.
 
First I called the consignor and gave him the bad news that all his signed items were rejected. He expressed surprise. I assumed he was a victim, not the perpetrator by the way. Then I asked him where he got them from… He volunteered that they all came from a single great source: Constantine. Upon learning this and sharing the information with the authenticators, they all seemed to know Constantine and suspected him to be a master forger. Actually, they expressed that they more than suspected. This was news to me and very interesting, something to file away in the back of my mind in case Constantine ever tried to consign autographs to us.
 
OK, well, that’s part one of the story. Part two is a little shorter: The problem autographed items are returned. But a year or so later, chatting with a New York-based FBI agent about another unrelated forgery investigation, he asked me out of the blue if I happened to know anything about this “Constantine.” Apparently, he did!  I didn’t have much but had the story above. The agent indicated that he was not surprised at all, but noted that actually catching these guys is a lot tougher than people realize. It’s not enough to “know.” You’ve got to be able to PROVE that someone is a forger. Which is a very tall order. And just because authenticators identified his items as forgeries actually “proves” nothing. And anyone can get stuck with a forged autographed item. Or claim to. Proof – real proof - was a whole different level and inherently a great source of frustration when dealing with a clever and knowledgeable forger.
 
But from the inquiry I learned that “Constantine” was on the FBI’s radar. And that there probably was something to it all. All information just naturally filed away.
 
Interestingly, over the years I had few but always pleasant communications with Constantine. I even accepted some direct auction consignments from Constantine. No autographs. Just cards. He actually consigned a complete set of T3 Turkey Red Tobacco premium cards to the auction once. These are great cards that were worth tens of thousands even long ago. Constantine also bought items in the auction. Which is not surprising because he was a collector and a dealer. Nothing big. He was always a gentleman in my very limited communications and dealings.

But by now, (as far as I’m concerned, right or wrong) I’ve got to assume Constantine is a master forger. This didn’t cause me to do anything differently. I only saw him at shows (and I didn’t even go to many shows anymore), and he never consigned any autographs to me. So it was kind of a non-issue. But it was always in the back of my mind that if I was ever offered items to auction that, for any reason, I thought might have come from him, to be on the lookout and avoid them. The dealership that consigned the “Constantine Mantles”…I just didn’t let them submit for potential auction autographed items that might have come from Constantine. This would save us the trouble of returning them to the consignor, save us from the potential for any being accidentally approved for our auction by the human authenticators, and save us lots of time because due to catalog production and auction scheduling. A lot of work such as photography, most of the descriptions (pending authentication), and often even catalog layout is done before the authenticators review items. That's a lot of work. Those autographed items that are knocked out due to being rejected by authenticators are then just removed from the system and the auction and returned. Of course it’s very desirable to not have to invest time and effort into processing items for auction that are not going to be in the auction. But if one has a lot of autographed items consigned, there are always going to be some that are rejected and pulled. That comes with the territory.    
 
Fast forward to an REA auction-in-progress. One of the lots is group of 12 Official American League baseballs from the 1960s (American League “Cronin” baseballs, the style in use from 1960 to 1973 to be exact; see screenshot illustration above).  These baseballs are still in their original boxes and have never been touched or even exposed to light since packaged. They are very collectible and valuable in this form. Not a fortune valuable. They aren’t thousands of dollars each. But at the time they were worth $50 to $100 each. Common sense tells us that theoretically baseballs like these could be “great raw material” for a forger. But then again, so could just about anything old. It just so happens, though, that baseballs (especially Official Major League baseballs) with a single signature on them are considered the ideal form of autograph by many collectors. Despite being the easiest to forge. (One single well-executed forged signature on a baseball is much easier to create and potentially get by authenticators than many fake signatures together on a baseball). And single-signed baseballs sell for a substantial premium to most other items signed by the same player, sometimes 100 times. There are a lot of single-signed baseball collectors out there.

Whenever I see unopened vintage baseballs offered at auction, I’ve always wondered if they ever fall into the hands of forgers. So, with this very substantial group unsigned never-touched original vintage Major League baseballs offered in my own auction, I took note: who should be bidding on these baseballs?

Low and behold...

Constantine. 
 
My wheels were naturally spinning…I knew it was very difficult to catch a professional forger red-handed but this seemed like a special opportunity was possibly presented. I wasn’t sure exactly what this opportunity was - that is, how one might proceed - but I was sure it was there. Possibly, anyway. 
 
All at once, in a millisecond, I had a plan.  I contacted the FBI agent who had asked about Constantine, explained the situation, and pitched him this idea:

I told him that I thought Constantine would win the unopened baseball lot no matter how high it went. If he won the lot, as soon as the auction was over but before his bill was paid, I would send the baseballs in to be marked in an invisible manner that would not in any way hurt the baseballs, but allow them to be identified. I had no doubt the boxes could easily be opened and then resealed. PSA/DNA has a way of marking the balls that is invisible. The markings can only be detected by PSA using a special infrared laser light. This technology would be perfect for marking the balls, especially since (if used as the canvass for forgeries) it was most likely PSA would eventually see these very baseballs in the future. But instead of being blank, they would be graced with forged signatures if indeed that was the buyer’s intention. (PSA is a leader in autograph authentication services, and uses this invisible PSA/DNA technology to mark autographed items they authenticate.) 
 
The FBI agent got back to me the next day and said if I could do this, they were in! They would like to execute this exactly as suggested. This was very exciting to me. Sort of like being in a sting operation in a movie. I didn’t know 100% if Constantine was going to win the lot, of course. And if he did, and the balls were marked inside “unopened” boxes (that were actually opened and expertly resealed), there was no guarantee that anything would come of it. But it was exciting and certainly had potential.

As I recall, I was able to FedEx the balls directly to the FBI. But interestingly (to me, anyway) when they were returned to me after being marked (to send to the winner), they had to be hand-delivered by the agent personally to protect and document the chain of custody of the balls as a legal precaution, which was apparently very desirable should anything develop from this plan, and the baseballs were used as evidence in a future legal proceeding. Which the FBI clearly thought might happen or why would they even bother to do this. (There was a lot of time and effort invested by the agent in charge to make this happen. And no doubt lots of paperwork involved too).

Once in the their possession, the boxes were opened, and the baseballs inside were delivered by the FBI to Joe Orlando (then President of  PSA), who arranged to have them all marked (as I recall they were marked with characters clearly identifying them as “FBI” baseballs, possibly also the date or some other code, and also individually numbered to differentiate each ball from one another).  Everything had to be kept very much under wraps at PSA. Information about this entire process was available only on a need-to-know basis at PSA in order to keep the plan from somehow leaking and undermining the potential success of the exercise. My small office was instructed to not say a word to a soul.

Before Constantine’s check arrived, I had the balls back in hand, looking like baseballs in perfectly sealed, never-opened boxes. When I sent them out to the buyer upon receiving payment, I sent them in a way that required a signature so that Constantine’s receipt was well documented. He personally signed for the package. 
 
And then the waiting began. Soon we pretty much had  forgotten all about it. Months  passed. 
 
Until one day…I got a call from the National Convention. …”We got him!” 
 
I wasn’t at the show, but I was told that Constantine had personally submitted some autographed baseballs to PSA DNA right there at the convention. I’m not sure how many, but was told that one “auction lot” marked baseball was submitted for authentication, that now had the (expertly forged) signature of Ken Boyer, who passed away decades earlier in 1982 (A single-signed Ken Boyer baseball is rare, in large part because of his early passing at only 51 years old. Examples have sold for thousands of dollars at auction).  From the perspective of Constantine…he probably chose the National to submit to PSA in person because the turnaround time is quickest, they authenticate items right there at the show, and from a forger’s perspective, he probably thought authentication at a show (as opposed to by mail) also gave him the best shot of having his forgeries slip by the authenticators. Maybe because the authenticators would be so overwhelmed and rushed. (I’m not even saying this is the case, just that I can see a submitter thinking this is the case.) Submitters are right there at the show too. So a forger might even think (almost certainly incorrectly but authenticators are human too) that perhaps he would have an opportunity to “lobby” for a positive result in person with lies about provenance. Also, my guess is he hoped that as his forgeries were authenticated one at a time (along with other actually real items for "camouflage"), upon picking it up after authentication he could then immediately submit another forgery for authentication (so the authenticators would not have numerous forgeries from Constantine at the same time).  
 
The FBI was very pleased and I was told they raided Constantine’s home with a warrant, searching for and seizing forgeries and evidence. It sounded exciting! But I was only given snippets of information as a courtesy. Being a civilian I was not privy to comprehensive details. I assumed this was the beginning of a very successful forgery case. They literally caught him red-handed! They had lots of evidence! Bank records! Everything! I remember an agent expressing great amazement to me that Constantine had so much money in the bank. Apparently he had A LOT of money, though I was never told how much. The implication of course was that some (or all) of this money was the result of illegal activity. At least that is how I interpreted it from context. 
 
But days turned into weeks turned into months and nothing happened. Eventually I called to ask “what the heck is going on with Constantine? When am I going to be reading about the indictment?” 
 
I have no idea why - I’m sure there was a good reason - but it was never shared with me and there never was an indictment. I could not be told the details but was told that while there was not going to be an indictment, “We’re never going to hear from Constantine again. His forging days are over.” 
 
And indeed…Constantine was never heard from again. Once a hobby fixture, I’ve never even heard his name mentioned since. Except by the few people involved. 
 
So where is Constantine now? He still lives at the same home. I can see that by checking online. I think he’s doing well and I know he has other interests (that are legal and positive!) 
 
I know that Constantine will eventually see this post. 
 
Here’s my message to Constantine for when that happens:
 
Hey Constantine,..from this blog post you have learned the details of exactly how it came to be that you were “busted.” From my perspective anyway. Obviously, participating in this sting was nothing personal. Our communications were few and positive and respectful. I've helped stop the careers of many criminals in the collecting world over the years. In this case, it happened to be you.

As I’m sure you know from your active days in the collecting world, I have always invested a great deal of energy and effort to educate and protect collectors from being cheated, to make the hobby a safer and better place for everyone. I am going to great pains to not identify you because that would serve no purpose. I like to keep this blog positive and amusing! And I also think everyone deserves a second chance. But I do want to  share (and have documented somewhere) what to me is a fascinating story.
 
I have no idea how you got involved in this forgery “business.” I’m sure there’s a story there too. I appreciate that (to the best of my knowledge) you have completely left these forgery activities to the past. I’d like to think that I may have saved you from a far worse fate than otherwise. Imagine if you had NOT been caught by the sting. Who knows what would have eventually happened, if and when you were caught. My guess is you would have gone to prison. And you might be there to this day. Instead, you stopped and moved on. That sounds like a win not just for the collecting world, but for you personally. Good luck to you in your future positive and legal endeavors.
 
So that’s the story (well, all that I know from my perspective) of stopping “Constantine The Forger” Cold In His Tracks. It’s a pretty unusual, maybe even unique story relating to forged autographs in the baseball collecting world.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this story.
I have enjoyed writing it!

Sincerely,

Robert Lifson

[email protected]