T2-good-to-be-true-06
I just finished reading a book written by Michael O’Keeffe and Teri Thompson titled The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History’s Most Desired Baseball Card. I believe it was Steve who blogs at White Sox Cards that first alerted me to the book when he wrote a post on it about a month or so ago. A very interesting read, and sad, and sort of depressing.
The Card that was last sold for over $2 million to an unidentified man in California is not what it’s all cracked up to be. After reading the book, I decided to do a little websurfing and found that the “proof” that had not yet been offered was finally out there. On June 25, 2007, O’Keeffe wrote a post on the New York Daily News blog that the incriminating photograph had been found. You can read the original post here. The blog omits the photo, but T206 Museum.com included it in their reprint of the story.
After reading the book, I’m still left with questions. The Card, or more appropriately the sheet from which The Card was cut, can still only be traced back to 1985, when Bill Mastro purchased it from Alan Ray. Where did Ray get it? Where was it before that? How did the sheet that it was cut from remain in such good condition?
In case you’re not familiar with the history, here’s a brief run-down:
1985: $25,000 - Mastro purchased The Card from Ray
1987: $110,000 - Jim Copeland purchased The Card from Mastro
1991: $451,000 - Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall purchased The Card from Copeland; PSA grades the card and it scores an 8
1995: $500,000 - Wal-Mart and Treat Entertainment purchased The Card from Gretzky/McNall
1996: FREE - Patricia Gibbs wins The Card from a sweepstakes, but is unable to pay the taxes on it, forcing her to sell it
1996: $640,000 - Michael Gidwitz purchased The Card from Gibbs
2000: $1,270,000 - Brian Seigel purchased The Card (on eBay) from Gidwitz
2007: $2,350,000 - An unidentified California collector purchased The Card from Seigel
That’s right. Someone paid $2.35 million for The Card that had been hand-cut from a sheet, presumably before Mastro bought it (but he knew it), and then trimmed, allegedly by Mastro himself.
Then there is the whole PSA controversy. The company does not grade trimmed cards, plain and simple. Nor does it grade cards that are hand-cut from a sheet. But the Gretzky T206 Wagner got a PSA 8 (on a scale of 10). Even one of the graders, Bill Hughes, admits that he knew The Card was not factory-cut: “I am aware it was part of a strip. We were aware of that when the care came to PSA and I graded the card. This particular card was obviously cut, but if it had been a disgusting card that was cut, of course we would have graded it ‘trimmed.’ This card was fresh in every way, brand-new looking in every way….Because of the freshness, the great color, the white borders, you know, basically the card looked new” (The Card, 195).
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