Our Winter auction features a number of difficult Cuban issues, none more so than this 1923-24 Billiken Cigarettes card of Hall of Famer Jose Mendez. The Billiken Cigarettes set of 1923-24 was a Cuban-issued set that featured 2×2 5/8″ cards depicting 60 players from the Cuban Professional League. Each black and white glossy photo contains …
We often receive consignments featuring photos of turn of the century amateur or factory teams, and love trying to identify the teams and their players. Hosting an auction is fun, but researching these old photos of nameless players, and giving them back their names is one of the most rewarding parts of doing this. The …
The card grading industry has, in many ways, changed the face of modern collecting. Long-time collectors often resist the best-known changes brought about by grading: the price explosion among “low pop” commons and set registry competition resulting in exorbitant prices paid for minute increases in set “GPA.” Many more embrace the security of being able …
Every year about this time, PSA/DNA publishes their list of the ten “most dangerous” autographs. By “most dangerous,” of course, they mean the autographs that are most at risk of fraud. It’s no secret in the hobby that the autograph business, along with many other facets of sports memorabilia collecting, is rife with fraud and …
Okay, it’s cold. Really cold; below zero throughout a good chunk of the United States. We’re also smack dab in the middle of the NFL playoffs, hurtling towards the Big Game on February 3. This also means it’s time to get “warmed up” for our Winter, 2014 auction, and it’s going to be a great one. …
