1976 Jay Barry deal goes…off the rails!

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)