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BOOTH
OF JOHN
AND JUDY BURKE OF COLLECTIBLE CLASSIC AUCTIONS 
Next
we come to the booth of John and Judy Burke of Collectible
Classics Auctions from Irwin PA, John and Judy had a very
impressive "wall" of eighteen vintage leather helmets
all very nicely displayed and easy to view. They were all good
ones, but there was a red knit cap among them I spotted as I was
walking towards the booth that made me ignore and forget
everything else in the booth. I looked it over carefully and it
appeared to have the right look and wear to have been worn
by pre-1890 college football players. Football players started
wearing head gear starting around 1890 beginning with strap harness'.
Prior to then tasseled knit caps were worn starting in the early
1870's. Of the six billion eight hundred million plus population
of the world today, probably only a dozen people would recognize
one of these caps, and probably less than half of those would
have precise knowledge and reference on them. I fell in the
former; enough knowledge to be dangerous, but fortunately enough
contacts to get fast answers.
I
asked John how much he was asking for it and he told me he was
selling the entire collection of helmets as a whole for $10,000.
We discussed the cap and I pressed him a little to expunge the
cap. John graciously told me if he didn't sell the whole
collection that day I could buy the cap by it's self for
$1,000.00 which I estimated was a very fair price. That sounded
great...or almost great...Of course the only concern was losing
it if he sold the whole collection. But I was only half
concerned since I wasn't completely sure I wanted it for
$1,000.00. That is, I wasn't completely sold on it. First of
all, I wanted to be sure it was a football cap, and even then I
need time to sort it out a little as it all came on so quick. I
wasn't looking for one and it caught me off guard. In a nut
shell I guess I wasn't familiar enough with it to drop a G-note
without thinking it thru and getting some advise.
Fortunately
I had "1890 knit football caps'rus" on speed dial,
i.e. John Gennantonio. The person I half joke has been
responsible for raising the prices of pre-1900 football gear
over the last twenty years on account of the prices he'll pay!
After a few excited calls to John and only getting his voice
mail, I figured I'd break thru and call his dental office
direct. Of course I got the standard "who's calling please
and what is this in regards to". Finally I just resigned
myself to waiting for him to return my call and it took almost an
hour. I described the cap and John listened. I described
the wear and told him I thought it might be right. I was edging
toward walking back and counting out ten $100.00 bills to see if
that worked to close the deal that day. John could only go by my
verbal description over the phone. He summed it all up with, if
it was real, he felt it would have a market value in the
$2,500.00 range no problem. Then it just got down to who in the
tight knit community of advanced collectors walking around the
show would spot it.
I
walked back over to look at it again and John assured me it was
mine if no one bought the whole collection. I chickened out on
the counting out the $100.00 bills and left, feeling the need to
think thru it a little more. You have to understand the overload
you experience at a National the first day...you're head is
spinning from everything you're seeing...it's exciting! And
gathering this story on top of all the excitement...sort of a
numbness comes over you. Anyway....so what happened on the
cap?...I went my way covering the show and kind of forgot about
it. I did my thing that day, then went out for dinner that night
with friends.
The
next morning I forgot all about the cap. I wanted to get to the
National and get back to my coverage, but felt it important to
post an initial group of photos on my site of what I'd seen the
day before. So there I sat in my hotel room tediously sorting
out and posting photos while the National was in full swing just
miles away. By the time I got to the convention center it was
almost noon. And by the time I remembered the cap it was after
noon. I went back and John told me he held it for me till noon
and sold it. Someone later told me who got it, which was someone
I know of and have met briefly and I believe has a high profile
with advanced dealers. The buyer had given me his business card
at some point during the show so that was comforting to at least
know where it was. I can't say I'm bowled over from not getting
it. After twenty two years collecting I guess I'm just a little
out of gas trying to cover every base and am not worried about
it. But...try to find another! It was the only one I've ever
seen for sale and they've got to be extremely rare. John G
latter told me that cap had once been sold by John Kanuit.
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