Never Give Up!

It's been almost three months since I added to my T36 collection.  A few items have come available at auction, but for some reason the prices are going up.  I don't know the reason, but I'm not looking to pay almost $20 for singles from the set (other than a couple of guys).

After missing out on a few and wondering if I needed to raise my price expectations, I wont a lot of three cards at a very good price.  My persistence and stubbornness paid off.  I paid for three cards what some singles were going off for in the last few months.  I don't understand it but I already knew that I'm getting the best prices buying in lot form.

Something I found interesting that all three cards had the same brand/factory combination.  In time I want to analyze the purchases I've made and where they came from to see if there's regionality to it.  The cards are more than 100 years old so they could have been bought and sold to different parts of the country, but I don't think enough that it's improbable to find a trend.  These aren't T206 cards that have been sold dozens of times.

The first card in the lot is Arthur Duray with a Hassan Factory 649 back.  My 30th T36 is also the second duplicate that I have.  Oddly enough, the other is a Duray Mecca 30 back.  There are 100 cards in the master set (25 different drivers) and my first two duplicates are both Duray.  I find that interesting.  This copy is certainly NOT an upgrade but I will never be sad having multiples.  Perhaps I will find a trading partner someday.

The Felice Nazarro Hassan 649 copy isn't a new front for me, but I'm thrilled to "upgrade" my base 25 driver set.  If you look at my cards on Collector Focus, you'll see that my other Nazarro copy is only about 85% of a card.  It's such a rough copy that it doesn't even count for my master set because the brand and factory can't be read.  Despite the three creases it has good eye appeal and this is certainly my favorite of the three additions.

My fiance and I have been watching Cheers lately on Netflix.  Looking at the first two cards, the four men pictured look like they'd fit into one of the paintings on the Cheers open when the theme plays.  Yeah, that was random.

Last but not least is the black sheep of the T36 set.  I believe that Demoget to be the only non-horizontal card of the set.  There's only one image that I haven't accounted for to date.  This is another new card to the master set.  While it's likely happenstance, both copies of this card that I own have the smaller right border.  I'm interested to see if this plays out in time.  Could it be due to the portrait orientation?  Doubtful, but I'm an analyst.  It's even in my job title.  I love this type of thing. 

With these three additions, my base set is still at 22 of the 25 cards (88%).  I need copies of the Herbert Lytle, Ferenc Szisz and Barney Oldfield cards.  I have two new cards toward the master set and now am at 31/100 (31%).  I really need to have cash ready so that the next time a set or large lot show up at an auction house, I can pounce and do some SERIOUS damage on the need list.  Until then, I will keep plugging away. 

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year.  FREE CARDS!

If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  You can also find me on Trading Card Database.  I love trading cards, when it makes sense.  Happy collecting!

It Arrived - (1911) T36 Walter Christie

I've come to accept that when T36 cards come available, I'm going to pay 50% or more per card for singles, compared to when they are sold in lots.  I don't like it so I just make the best of it.  When this card came available last week, the price was just a little more than I was willing to pay with the damage on the card.  I made an offer and it was about an hour before the offer was accepted. 

1911 American Tobacco Company Walter Christie - Hassan/30

It's the first Christie I've added to my collection, and now that it's in-hand, I have 22 of the 25 cards (88%) toward the completed base set.  My master set is now at 29/100.  I've been working on it for less than two years and considering how few of these come available, I'm delighted with my progress.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back from purchases there.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $150 in a year (including $15 back on one Black Friday purchase last week).  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

One Is Better Than None

It's been months since I've added a card to my T36 set.  Three of my last four pickups have been lots, but unfortunately this mail day was just one.  There haven't been any lots come up, or auctions ending at what I felt was a reasonable price.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #24 Joseph Tracy

This card is one I already had for the "front" set, but I needed it for my master set.  The base set still stands at 21/25 cards (84%).  My master set, with all back variations, is at 28/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Newness Goodness

A couple of months ago, I made a seven-card purchase of T36 cards that was my biggest purchase at that time.   After the purchase I told the seller, mikexx22, that I'm working on this set and that if he came into any more, to please let me know.  Much to my surprise, he did find more and sent me an email.  

For me, this is where it gets good and reminds me that there ARE good people in the hobby.  He told me there were five more cards and that he would send them to me and once I got them, I could pay what I felt they were worth.  Really?  That was a shocker!

There was some concern that the cards got lost, but it turned out that they must have set at the front desk of my building for many days.  I'd sent him an email to let him know that they hadn't made it, which we were both obviously bummed about.  A few days later, they were delivered to my desk and I sent him payment for the cards.  They showed up on a Friday, making it a GREAT start to the weekend!

Four of the five cards were new drivers to my collection.  The fifth one was a new back combination. 

On to the cards...

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #1 David Bruce-Brown

If you're into auto racing history, you may know David Bruce-Brown as one of the early prodigies of racing.  From Wikipedia:

"Having bluffed his way into auto racing at the age of 18, he turned out to be a natural talent behind the wheel and won the 1908 Daytona Speed Trials. He then went on to win the American Grand Prize in both 1910 and 1911 as well as numerous other races. He also participated in the 1911 and 1912 editions of the Indianapolis 500.

He clocked in a 0.33 3-5 world's one-mile amateur straightaway record, beating the previous holder, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.'s record."

If you're into pre-war cards, you may know Bruce-Brown as one of the toughest cards to come by in the T227 set.  Very few copies are known to exist and through some discussion on Net54, perhaps because of his untimely death in 1912.  

This is the first copy of a Bruce-Brown card in my set.  

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #11 Victor Hemery

This is my second copy of a Victor Hemery card.  The first was a Mecca 649 back, so this Mecca 30 back is a new addition for the master set.  

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #13 Vincenzo Lancia

Since Vincenzo Lancia did not compete in the Indianapolis 500, this card is one of the less appealing in the set to me.  As noted on the card back, he did participate in three Vanderbilt Cup races.  

When I searched Lancia, I liked that one of the images that came up was the one likely used for this card. 

LINK:  The story of Vincenzo Lancia in the US

LINK:  Vanderbilt Cup Races - Driver Bio - Vincenzo Lancia

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #21 Joe Seymour

Joe Seymour is another driver from the set that never drove in the Indianapolis 500.  He did participate in the 1908 and 1909 Vanderbilt Cup races, finishing 8th and 10th respectively. 

LINK:  Vanderbilt Cup Races - Drivers - Joe Seymour

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #24 Joseph Tracy

The final card in the envelope was the Joseph (Joe) Tracy card.  Tracy is another of the drivers in this set that didn't participate in the Indianapolis 500, but did run the Vanderbilt Cup.  From Wikipedia:

"Joe Tracy (March 22, 1873 – March 20, 1959) was a racing driver born in Waterford, Ireland who emigrated to the United States at age 19 and became an American citizen. He drove a Locomobile in the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup but was eliminated by a stripped gear after two laps and later competed in that year's Vanderbilt Cup race, finishing 3rd, the best result for an American car in an international race at the time. He was retroactively awarded the 1906 National Championship in 1951. He retired from racing shortly after the 1906 racing season where he had good finishes in both the Vanderbilt and Bennett Cups."

LINK:  Vanderbilt Cup Races - Driver Bio - Joe Tracy

LINK:  Vanderbilt Cup Races - Drivers - Joe Tracy

My base set now stands at 21/25 cards (84%).  My master set, with all back variations, is at 28/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Rolling 7s.

I haven't put myself on a complete buying freeze, but I can certainly say that I'm in a refrigeration.  I haven't picked up a T206 card in probably a couple of months.  I'm not buying packs anymore.  However, I can't pass on opportunities to pick up more T36 cards.

If I want an Auston Matthews or Connor McDavid Young Guns card, I can find one to buy online in seconds.  It's a totally different game.

I was fortunate to win an eBay auction of seven more cards for my set.  It's the second seven-card purchase I've made for the set.  I placed an early bid for the minimum, hoping to dissuade the seller from potentially pulling the auction.  Speaking of the auction, it was a TEN DAY auction.  Why does anyone do that?  After my initial bid, there wasn't another for seven days.  C'mon man...

The auction ended while I was at work, allowing me place a snipe bid with six seconds to go.  I knew what I was willing to pay and wasn't going higher, so I didn't need the buffer to place more bids.  I won.  I literally outbid the previous high bid by 12 cents.  WHEW!

The seller only showed a scan of the fronts and it was a photo that was probably from a phone.  I'm not a fan of sellers that don't make a better effort when selling vintage, but it is what it is.  I didn't message the seller, so I didn't know how many of the seven I might actually need.  It ended up that I needed five for my master set.  I can't complain.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #8 Arthur Duray

This is my third (front) copy of this card and the first true duplicate I have.  My first copy of this card doesn't have paper loss, but I like the front of this one better.  It's tough to say which one becomes part of my master set.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #7 Bert Dingley

This one is in rough shape, but it's my first copy of this card.  Bert Dingley raced one time in the Indianapolis 500.  He started 10th and finished 12th in the second running, in 1912.  Dingley was born in California but died in Indianapolis in 1966 at the age of 84.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #2 Bob Burman

This Bob Burman is the second card I have of him and it's a new back.  

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #5 Demoget

I like to do some research on these drivers, but I'm not spending hours on it.  There's no wikipedia page for Demoget and some quick Google searches turned up nothing.  It's obvious to me that he never drove in the Indianapolis 500, or there'd be SOMETHING out there on him.

Based on the card back text, I checked out the Vanderbilt Cup Races site and it does not have his name.  This will probably be an ongoing search for information.  

This is my first copy of a Demoget card.  

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #18 Felice Nazarro

This Felice Nazzaro is my first copy and it's an unknown back.  Not only is the factory number missing, but the cigarette brand is as well.  It seems that also unknown is much about Nazzaro.  I did find a Wikipedia page for him, but there's minimal information.  

Nazzaro won the French Grand Prix in 1907 and 1922.  He finished third in the 1908 American Grand Prize, ahead of many of the men that are a part of this set.  He never ran the Indianapolis 500. 

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #9 Henri Fournier

I was able to find this on Herni Fournier:

"Henri Fournier was born on April 14th, 1871 in Le Mans, France. Fournier was a French racing driver. Fournier began his career on motorcycles and tricycles. In 1901 he came to the Mors racing team and was the most successful driver of this year, as he won both the Paris–Bordeaux and Paris–Berlin races. In addition to his racing career, he did well in speed tests and in the United States set a new record for the mile with his car. At the 1902 Paris-Vienna race he also dominated the first leg with an average speed of 114 km/h, but later had to give up with transmission failure. In the autumn of that year he set the then land speed record at 123 km/h. 

In 1904 Fournier received some unwanted notoriety when he was involved in the first recorded train-car crash in the United States when crossing the tracks in Long Island the car he was driving was struck by a train.

"I had just reached the crossing," said Mr. Fournier, "and the front wheels of my machine were just touching the first rail, when the locomotive loomed up, and I realized that an accident was inevitable. Not having time to reverse the power, I gave the handle a quick turn, which moved the front wheels to the right, and then the crash came. The locomotive struck the machine two or three inches behind the left front wheel, throwing it around so that the rear of the motor was brought against the locomotive. The first thing that I remember is somebody calling and asking me if I were dead. I think I was unconscious for about a minute. My foot pains me very much, and my head aches, The machine was completely demolished. It was not one of my racing machines, but was what is known as a touring locomobile. It was only ten-horsepower, very heavy and was built to hold six persons. I refused $9,000 three days ago for it."

It appears from the account that Fournier counter-intuitively turned the front wheels towards the locomotive causing the car to swing around rather than turning over. In any case the other riders were convinced that Fournier's last minute turn of the wheel had saved their lives. Fournier seemed to have come out of the accident none the worst for wear when two weeks later he set a new speed record on Coney Island, New York.

He then retired for the time being from motorsport and opened a car distributorship. Banking on his name it became quite successful and sold the firs motor car from the famous French armaments company, Hotchkiss et Cie Hotchkiss. Later he also distributed cars from the Italian marque Itala. His business firmly established he returned in 1907 to racing where in four races the best result achieved was eighth place in the 1908 American Grand Prize. 

While in the United States for the race Fournier announced to the American audience that he would be retiring from motor racing to pursue "aeroplaning" the following February. A casino in Monte Carlo was offering a prize of $20,000 for the aeroplanist who could navigate across the bay to Cape Martin and back again, a trip of 8 miles. Fournier remarked that "For the automobile racing has done what it did for the bicycle. It has taught us the faults of our cars, and how to eradicate them, but apparently it can teach us no more, and will die out, slowly perhaps, but surely. As a sport it will retain its popularity, undoubtedly, but once manufacturers lose interest, as they are bound to do, in what affords them no return for the money invested,the days of automobile racing are numbered." For all his confidence Fournier would still have to learn to fly. He learned to fly at Châlons-sur-Marne in July 1909. At 105 kg (230 lb.) he was always handicapped as a pilot. He participated in the 1909 Reims meeting and the 1909 Grande Quinzaine of Port-Aviation but crashed both times.

In 1909, together with his brother Achille, Fournier founded the company Établissements Fournier in Levallois-Perret, France for manufacturing automobiles. His other brother, Maurice was killed at the French Grand Prix in 1911. Fournier's health began to deteriorate after 1913 and when attempting to volunteer at the outbreak of WWI he was refused on physical grounds. Fournier died in Paris on the 18th of December, 1919 after a long illness."

While he certainly made some history, Fournier never ran in the Indianapolis 500.  This is my first copy of this card.  

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #6 Ralph DePalma

The final card in the lot is this Ralph DePalma.  It's my third copy of the card overall and my second copy with the Mecca 30 back.  My first copy is graded by SGC, so this actually hits better into my set.  All of my other cards are from the set are raw.  

After this pickup, my base set stands at 17/25 cards (68%).  My master set, with all back variations, is at 23/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  Between referrals and cash back, I've gotten over $100 in about seven months.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Where are all these cards coming from?

Seven days ago, I had seven cards from the 1911 Auto Drivers set.  In the last week, I've received nine more.  I love when I'm at work in the mornings and that ebay notification lights up my phone telling me that my item was delivered.  I know that somewhere between two and three that afternoon, it will be delivered to my desk.  Louis Wagner was the delivery yesterday.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #25 Louis Wagner

Louis Wagner competed just one in the Indianapolis 500, finishing 26th in the 1919 race.  He won the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup, as mentioned on the back of the card.  Wagner was also the winner of the inaugural United States and British Grand Prix races.

After this pickup, my base set stands at 13/25 cards.  My master set, with all back variations, is at 16/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

The First T36 from Open Binders

A few weeks ago, I missed out on an eBay BIN for a T227 Ralph Mulford.  This takes a small amount of the sting off that.

Shortly after I purchased seven T36 cards from eBay, another one I needed popped up from my old friends at Open Binders.  They have had some of these in the past, but not since I've been collecting the cards.  I have picked up some of my 1960 Hawes Wax Indy cards from them and all transactions have been flawless.  Once I saw the eBay listing, I went to their site and bought the card there to save them the eBay fees.  I paced my order Thursday and it was delivered Monday.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #17 Ralph Mulford

Ralph Mulford competed ten times in the Indianapolis 500.  His best finish was second in the inaugural race in 1911.  There has been controversy over time that may have actually won the race, but Indianapolis Motor Speedway track historian Donald Davidson maintains there is no evidence to back that claim.  Mulford ran much faster throughout the race than winner Ray Harroun but blew out tires twice during the race, allowing Harroun to pass him.  Harroun knew that by running a slower race he could get better tire wear and that strategy helped him win the race.  Mulford won the 1911 Vanderbilt Cup race.

After this pickup, my base set stands at 12/25 cards.  My master set, with all back variations, is at 15/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Doubling Up!!!

The eBay saved search emails are great.  I wish they'd come shortly after something is listed since I've lost a few items before I even saw them.  I will take what I can get though.  Last Friday one came through and I was afraid it was already gone.  It wasn't and I was concerned even in the time to go through and use ebates it could get bought out from under me.  Thankfully it wasn't.

Through one eBay purchase, I was able to double my number of cards from the 1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers (aka T36) set.  Only one was a duplicate front, but it was a different back.  Also, I was able to pick this up at a price I am still thrilled about.  I didn't pay much more than the graded Ralph DePalma that I have.

My T36 posts on Bean's Ballcard Blog
My T36 posts on I Feel Like A Collector Again

What I found interesting is that all of these are Mecca backs.  The seller has one Hassan back that he listed separately (and I did not buy it).  He did tell me these all came from one collection that he purchased.  Very curious.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #3 Louis Chevrolet

Does that last name sound familiar?  The answer to your question is yes.  Louis Chevrolet co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Company just months after this card was produced.  He later ran in the Indianapolis 500 four times with a best finish of seventh in the 1919 race.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #8 Arthur Duray

Arthur Duray raced in the Indianapolis 500 once, finishing second in 1914.  He's probably best known for breaking the land speed record on three different occasions.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #10 Harry E. Grant

Looking through Wikipedia (always there, sometimes accurate), I believe this is Harry Fletcher Grant, despite the "E." initial on the card.  This Wikipedia entry does list him as winning the sixth Vanderbilt Cup race and that matches an article from vanderbiltcupraces.com.  Grant competed four times in the Indianapolis 500 with a best finish of seventh in 1914.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #11 Victor Hemery

Victor Hemery never competed in the Indianapolis 500.  He did win the second Vanderbilt Cup race in 1905.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #12 Camille Jenatzy

Camille Janatzy also never competed in the Indianapolis 500.  He was killed in a hunting accident just a couple of years after this card was produced. Janatzy broke the land speed record three times during his life.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #15 Fred Marriott 

The Fred Marriott Wikipedia page doesn't have much more info than can be found on the card back.  No Indianapolis 500.  BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #16 Harry Mitchener

The interwebz has informed me that this card is of Harry MITCHENER, not Mitchner.  He has no Wikipedia page.  What I was able to find is that he won a 24-hour race at Point Breeze, PA with co-driver Ralph Mulford.

1907 Point Breeze 24 Hour Race

After this pickup, my base set stands at 11/25 cards.  My master set, with all back variations, is at 14/100.  You can see all of my cards from the set on my Collector Focus page.

If you shop online and haven't signed up and used ebates yet, you're missing out.  I also use it on eBay to get money back.  FREE CARDS!  If you're on Twitter, please give me a follow.  Happy collecting!

Blog Bat Around: The Toughest Set I've Built.

Context clues tell me that when Nachos Grande asked bloggers to write about the toughest set they've built, he was thinking baseball.  He's a baseball guy.  It has "bat" in the title.  He mentions baseball season.

I don't collect baseball and when I did, there was no project I took on that was much of a challenge.  About a year ago, I was perusing the Beckett website and found their listings of sets.  A few caught my eye and I will work on them in time.  However, the one that I decided immediately to take on was the 1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers (also known as T36) set.

Per Beckett.com:

"This 25-card set was produced for The American Tobacco Company. Each card includes a small ad for either Hassan or Mecca Cigarettes on the cardback. All 25 cards were produced with both ad back variations. The cards measure 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 and came with square corners. The cards are unnumbered and feature top race car drivers of the day from both North America and Europe representing all types of auto racing events. They were packaged one card per 10 cigarette pack and two per 20 cigarette pack. The cards were inserted in cigarette packs starting on March 27th, 1911 and ending on March 31st, 1911. Special thanks to Jon Hardgrove for providing much of this information."

I apologize if some of this seems familiar.  I wrote on my old blog in October a post that was pretty in-line with this Bat Around subject matter.  You may have seen it, but I'm not going to copy and paste that post into this one.

The set is considered "complete" having one front of each cards.  This is a 25-card set.  I mentioned in the prior post that I wasn't sure if there were four back variations of each, but suspected there are.  A few weeks ago I found a thread response from Jon Hardgrove (mentioned in the blurb from Beckett) that it is a 100-card set and that it took him 30 years to complete it.  I believe that means this will be a very long-term project.

All sets have variables that can make it difficult to assemble the complete set.  The famous T206 set is referred to as "the monster." The difficulty with this set is the cost.  Most everything can be found, you just need the money to buy it.

The difficulty with the T36 set is simple.  There's just not much out there.  The set was only printed for a matter of days.  In the year since I found out about the set, I've only picked up seven cards.  If memory serves me correctly, I've missed out on less than five that were auctioned on eBay.  Currently I can find eight listed on eBay and two more in the sales history (I won one of those two).

I have searched via Google in attempt to find more of these for sale.  Those efforts have been fruitless.  I've found a handful of old auction house listings that have had some of these in them.  Most of those have been just a handful of cards inside a lot of hundreds of others.

It appears my long-term option is to get money together and have for when a nice lot comes available via an auction house.  Other than that, I'm just going to keep trying to pick them off one-at-a-time.  If you have any suggestions or leads, I'd love to hear from you!

Happy collecting!

A Strang Mailday

It's been awhile since I've added to my T36 set.  I had to take a look back through my eBay purchases to see that the last one probably arrived in October.  That'll happen when you're not willing to pay for overpriced buy it now eBay items.

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #22 Lewis P. Strang

1911 American Tobacco Auto Drivers #22 Lewis P. Strang

I've already picked up cards from this set of other Indianapolis 500 drivers, including a winner.  Now I have THE card of the pole sitter for the Inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911.  This is the only card of Lewis P. Strang listed on either Sports Card Forum or Trading Card Database.

Strang was relieved during the race and the car finished 29th, completing just 109 of the 200 laps.  He was passed on the first lap and did not lead any laps during the race.  It would be his only appearance in the 500.  In an ironic twist of fate, he was killed less than two months later "while driving along a country road at no more than four miles an hour."

LINK:  Vanderbilt Cup Races - Lewis Strang
LINK:  Hemmings Daily - How Strang met his death
LINK:  The First Super Speedway - Mr. & Mrs. Lewis Strang

This card is my fifth unique front from the set of 25.  I have seven total (out of what I think are 100 cards) now.  If you haven't read my posts from Bean's Ballcard Blog, I suspect that there are four back variations for each card, but I haven't been able to confirm that so far.

I just wish more of these would come up at auction so that I could get them at a realistic price and add to my collection at a much faster pace.  Patience may be a virtue, but it's annoying!