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Carregando... The Card: Collectors, Con Men, and the True Story of History's Most Desired Baseball Cardde Michael O'keeffe
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Interesting, but not very well written. Might keep it for reference. ( ) Calling this book "controversial" is putting it mildly. When this book came out, a leading hobby publication, Sports Collector's Digest, gave no mention of its publication (despite its status as a hugely important book examining the legitimacy of high-end sports collectibles). Why would they ignore such a hot-button topic? A main character in "The Card" is Bill Mastro, an auctioneer and hobby pioneer, the man behind the T206 Honus Wagner find, and one of the most influential men in the sports memorabilia business. Mastro also takes out a large number of advertising pages in Sports Collector's Digest each year ... so why bite the hand that feeds you? But it isn't just Mastro who finds himself under the microscope. The whole of the graded-card industry is examined, drawing monumental conclusions that would impact an entire industry—if it could ever get that industry to pay attention to the truth. Being a baseball fan isn't a requirement to enjoy this book, which presents a zippy, engaging look at the world of baseball card collecting. The authors take readers behind the scenes into the roiling, cut-throat business (and it has become a business) of buying and selling historic baseball cards. And at the same time the authors throw in a bit of Honus Wagner biography, corporate history, and insights into the psychology of collectors. An easy read and a pleasant distraction (in the good sense of that word.) sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
Since its limited release just after the turn of the twentieth century, this American Tobacco cigarette card has beguiled and bedeviled collectors. First identified as valuable in the 1930s, when the whole notion of card collecting was still young, the T206 Wagner has remained the big score for collectors who have scoured card shows, flea markets, estate sales, and auctions for the portrait of baseball's greatest shortstop. Only a few dozen T206 Wagners are known to still exist. Most, with their creases, stains, and dog-eared corners, look worn and tattered, like they've been around for almost a century. But one--The Card--appears to have defied the travails of time. Thanks to its sharp corners and its crisp portrait of Honus Wagner, The Card has become the most famous and desired baseball card in the world. Over the decades, as The Card has changed hands, its value has skyrocketed. It was initially sold for $25,000 by a small card shop in a nondescript strip mall. Years later, hockey great Wayne Gretzky bought it at the venerable Sotheby's auction house for $451,000. Then, more recently, it sold for $1.27 million on eBay. Today worth over $2 million, it has transformed a sleepy hobby into a billion-dollar industry that is at times as lawless as the Wild West. The Card has made men wealthy, certainly, but it has also poisoned lifelong friendships and is fraught with controversy--from its uncertain origins and the persistent questions about its provenance to the possibility that it is not exactly as it seems. Now for the first time, award-winning investigative reporters Michael O'Keeffe and Teri Thompson follow the trail of The Card from a Florida flea market to the hands of the world's most prominent collectors. They delve into a world of counterfeiters and con men and look at the people who profit from what used to be a kids' pastime, as they bring to light ongoing investigations into sports collectibles. O'Keeffe and Thompson also examine the life of the great Honus Wagner, a ballplayer whose accomplishments have been eclipsed by his trading card, and the strange and fascinating subculture of sports memorabilia and its astonishing decline. Intriguing and eye-opening, The Card is a ground-breaking look at a uniquely American hobby. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)796.357075The arts Recreational and performing arts Athletic and outdoor sports and games Ball sports Ball and stick sports Baseball Education And Research CollectiblesClassificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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