The Tampa Find
by Dave Hester
May 3, 2014 -- Many dream of discovering a "find" of something they collect. This may happen once in a life time for a collector. I am fortunate that it has recently happened to me. Below is a summary of this exciting new find from Tampa, FL in 2014. These baseball cards were introduced to collectors through Brockelman & Luckey Auctions spring of 2014 and offered in 55 lots. It also included 562 non-sport cards and pins from the same time period. These lots were identified with an * before the title. It includes some of the highest graded T206 cards and others to date! Also a newly found back combination and some original tobacco card packs.
We had a couple we go to church with over to our house for dinner. I was showing them my vintage sports card wrappers from the '50's. They told me about another older couple at church that inherited some baseball cards a long time ago. The next time at church I asked the couple assuming the cards were long since gone. To my surprise they said a relative should still have them in their attic in Tampa! I expressed my interest and they said they would check. They could tell me they were small cards that had come in cigarette packs. You can imagine my excitement!
The next time at church they confirmed they still had them! They said they had made a inventory list of the cards because they was left to 7 sisters. They knew there was some Cobb's! I assumed these were T206's. They found the list and emailed it to me. It was like opening the tobacco packs myself as I scanned the list. They were in alphabetical order. I recognized Mathewson and multiple copies of Cobb, Evers, Lajoie. In summary included a total of 226 tobacco cards. T206 was the majority with 207. The backs had also been identified with a large percentage of the cards being Cycle and American Beauty with a total of 10 different backs not including different series.
What makes this find so fascinating is that they came from the original owner, Earl. His story and pictures are shared in a new book described below.
We decided to create a book about this find to not only share with the hobby, but also for any of the collectors that was fortunate enough to acquire any of these cards to be able to have the story behind their card. We will be offering this book through Shutterfly. To view the book FREE of charge or to purchase a copy CLICK HERE. This book documents this amazing find. It features over 300 full color pictures and includes every card in the find. It is 8" x 11" of 34 quality pages. It also includes some additional information about these cards and this time period. We have included a picture of the front of the book.