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The Last of the 2014 Mail Packages! (Original 1889 Allen & Ginter Cards!)

It's hard to believe but I actually have one more package from 2014 that I haven't yet shown off on my blog - but that ends today!

Actually, the reason I haven't shown off the package is more laziness than anything else...after all, this is an envelope packed to the gills (pun intended) of fish cards.  Not just any fish cards though, these are all original 1889 Allen & Ginter's Fish from American Waters cards - you know, that set that I've been working on completing for quite some time now!

Anyhow, the reason that I've been delaying writing this post is that I haven't had the ambition to do front and back scans of all the fish I received.  Unfortunately, I don't actually need all the fish cards - some are now duplicates (hard to imagine having duplicates of cards from the 1800s but hey, that's what has now happened to me)!  The various cards all arrived in assorted lots so I had to pick and choose lots that helped to edge me closer to my goal of completing the full set.

In total, I acquired 15 different fish cards.  From that batch, I actually needed quite a few including the catfish:

The vast majority of the cards from this particular eBay seller were in pretty good shape except for some glue marks on the back of the card.  For me, I'm not worrying about condition at all - though I will "upgrade" some of my fish cards if/when I acquire a better version.

The next card (alphabetically) that I needed for my collection was the goldfish.

As you can see here, the Goldfish is missing a pretty sizable chunk of paper on the front of the card AND it has glue marks on the back.  That's fine by me though - it's one less card that I need to track down...and seriously, how can you complain about condition of a piece of cardboard when that cardboard is over 100 years old?!

I hope you like to scans of old fish cards (and if you don't, why are still reading)?!  I like 'em so I keep scanning 'em.  Next up, the pride of the south (or at least West Virginia)...the Mullet.

Ok, the Mullet fish isn't "business in front, party in the back" but it's still a rockin' little fish card.

As I said before, not every fish card was new.  Alphabetically speaking though the m's, I ended up with an extra Butterfish and an extra Herring - neither of which were in better condition than the copies that I already owned.  Moving on the the p's (lots of fish in this set beginning with the letter p), I landed a duplicate copy of the Pickerel, but this time the new card replaces the old!

Here's my old Pickerel...

...and now the new replacement!

I'd say that was a pretty good upgrade!

Next, the Porpoise.

For the longest time, there was someone selling a single Porpoise card on eBay for about $50.  I had the stupid card on my watch list forever but I'll never be able to justify dropping that much cash on a fish card (even if it is from 1889).  Luckily for me, my patience / cheapness paid off as I was able to land my very own copy of the Porpoise in a big eBay lot (and for a lot less money).

Next, another upgrade for my set.  Out with the old Red Snapper...

...and in with the new one!

Once again, getting to upgrade a card will always be a good thing in my book - but ultimately I'm less concerned about condition with this set than I am for any of my other sets that I collect!

I ended up landing an extra Sheepshead and an extra Searobin but neither could replace the card that I already owned so not every card from this lot was an actual upgrade.  I did manage to upgrade my Spanish Mackeral though - from this:

to a much nicer:

Yeah, that's another nice upgrade!

Getting back to totally new fish, how about the rather funky looking Tomcod?

I think my biggest reason for collecting the fish set is that the printing is absolutely beautiful, even all these years later.  The cards seem to have an almost metallic sheen to them - very much like a fish's scales if you ask me!

The final three fish (again, alphabetically speaking) are all new to my collection.  Taking a quick look we begin with the Triggerfish.

He's a goofy looking bastard, isn't he?

Next, the Weakfish.

I'm glad my name isn't "weakfish."  That's a weak name dude.

And finally, the Whitefish.

That's probably not a PC name...and I doubt such a thing would ever fly in 2015.  However, these cards are from 1889 so things like political correctness were basically non-existent at the time!  Then again, there is also a bluefish and a blackfish in this set, so maybe the original Allen & Ginter designers were more inclusive than we might give them credit for.  Or, perhaps fish just have very color-centric names because that is what color they are.

Phew, that was quite a lot of scanning, copying, and cropping!  All told though, it was worthwhile as my 1889 Fish from American Waters set now contains 42 of the 50 cards!!

This latest haul consisted of 15 cards.  Of the 15 cards, I landed 8 new fish plus 3 upgrades.  Thus, 11 of the 15 cards ended up being added to my collection...and only 4 out of the lot were non-upgradable duplicates!  Of course, now I have a pretty decent sized stack of extra cards from 1889...I should probably flip them on eBay and use those funds to try and track down the few missing fish from my collection.  Too bad selling on eBay is such as hassle!

Also, this probably goes without saying but if you happen to have one of the remaining fish cards that I need, boy would I love to trade with you!

Comments

  1. Shoot me an e-mail. I might consider buying your dupes. Though it might have to wait for a couple weeks for Ginter month to fly over.

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  2. You bought that lot on "porpoise", didn't you.

    Don't worry - I see the door over there.

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  3. congrats on the pickups!

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  4. Love these. I've recently been hunting the 1920s and 30s Useful Birds of America sets...getting back into the 1800s is something I've only dreamt about.

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  5. Awesome pickups, love these old ginter cards, grats !

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