1910 Piedmont T206 - Billy Campbell

This is a card only a collector could love. The average person would shriek in horror at what was done to this card. It looks like the owner crumpled it up with the cigarette pack. Look at that paper loss and the creasing. The corners are so round that you can probably start to roll the card on its side. This shouldn't be worth anything, but it is.

If I presented someone with a 2007 Topps Update card of Darin Erstad in this same condition, they would look at me like I was crazy for trying to sell it. Unfortunately, people didn't care for their cards like most do today. Therefore, this condition is fairly common for a card almost 100 years old. It's a shame.

I wonder if this was the same Billy Campbell who won the Paul McCartney look-alike contest in 1966. Somehow, I doubt it. Although, if Beatle fans can think that the real Paul McCartney died in an automobile crash in 1966, then this guy could be his replacement. He looks more like John, in my opinion.

The sad fact is, I would probably cherish this card if it was in my collection. Not because of it's condition, but because of it's age. Plus, I bet it would tell wonderful stories of where it has been, if it could talk. Maybe an uncle gave it to his baseball loving nephew in 1910. He might have taken it everywhere with him. It may have gone with him to war or stayed glued to a scrapbook or taped to a wall. We may never know if it's been handed from person to person like a doobie at a college party.

We can only judge this card by it's present condition. It has lived a full life, but what that life was is anyone's guess.