Newsletter #13 Welcome to the latest edition of my irregular updates newsletter and thank you for your continued interest and support. More features this time about my latest additions, items I'd like, auctions and other interesting sites. As ever, clicking on the picture or highlighted text in each item below will take you to a more detailed site, either mine or the relevant one. Also, if you know of anyone else who might be interested in receiving this newsletter please ask them to get in touch with me via the site or perhaps YOU could provide me with their email address. Another highlight from my website Perhaps it's an oddity, but I don't care and I'm going to include this here. It's the earliest item that I have of anything resembling HTAFC memorabilia - a sadly incomplete newspaper report of Town's 6-1 West Riding Cup 2nd Round tie against Clayton West on 20th March, 1909 at a time when Town was only a Midland League team. Of interest here is the mention in the third paragraph of 'The Redskins' which MUST be Town because Howard - who kicks clear - is a Town player; so does this prove that Town played in red at this time? All Town fans know that we were at one time known as 'The Scarlet Runners' due to playing in red shirts - later to become pink as the colour ran after all too-frequent washes! - and this would appear to be the evidence that was required. This brilliant piece of history is glued to the back of the telegram that I have announcing Town's acceptance into the Football League soon after in 1910. Not bad for an outlay of about £7.50 on eBay ! Another site that you might like ... In the previous newsletter I mentioned that I had bought three cards from Italy; well, now is the time to reveal the source of those cards. John Allen was a collector of all sorts of football and sports cards in general, but after his death in 2013 his collection passed to Carl Wilkes, the former founder of Football Card Collector Magazine, who now runs the business and supplements the stock on a regular basis, working out of Italy. Clicking on the image here will take you to the RareCards.com 'Home' page with a 'menu' of card images (reading top left to bottom right): - Postage details - Select footballers on rare cards - Teams on rare cards - Articles - Other sports on rare cards - Film stars on rare cards - Other rare cards - Brands of rare cards - What's New - Wrappers and packets Each section is fairly similar in presentation; a black background with an image of the card/packet or whatever on the left with commentary or description to the right together with a price and clickable button for you to buy. There is also usually the option to see an enlarged image of the cards by clicking on them, but this does not always work as it is supposed to. In truth, many of the cards are already sold and by his own admission Carl needs to update the site, a task that he sees himself doing "in the near future". For football card collectors the most interesting sections are the 'Select footballers' and especially 'Teams' on rare cards. Clicking on the 'Teams' option you are then presented with a list of clickable team names covering almost all British teams as well as other 'World' teams which have a separate link at the bottom of this section. The vast majority of the cards that you will find on this site are/were unavailable in the UK and Carl has given details as to country, year and set of each issue which is always helpful when trying to identify cards that you have never seen before. The 'Articles' subsection features a very interesting article regarding the manufacture and issuing of the Crescent football cards of 1923-24 together with biographical content about the family who ran the business. There are also other articles about the V.C.C. cards; JF Sporting Collectibles; football card values; Football Card Collector Magazine; and a brief biography of John Allen himself. I will confess to not having paid any attention to the non-football cards myself, but I would guess that they follow pretty much the same format as the football card sections. Ultimately, it's a sales site and a source of rare cards. The prices that Carl asks/charges reflect the rarity value of such items and this is where the collector needs to decide just how much he/she wants the cards on show. Just occasionally some of these dribble onto eBay at much cheaper prices - I know, because I've had a couple - but you could be waiting forever! I would also suggest that it's definitely worth contacting Carl if you see something that you really like ... Auction Watch If I notice any really interesting auction items related to Town I'll try to bring them to your attention here and, if you're lucky, there will still be time to bid on some of the lots. Beware, though, as there are Buyer's Premiums and bidding-through-internet fees to be applied to all of the lots featured here, not to mention 20% VAT and postage if required! One of the rarer HTAFC photographic fixture list cards is currently available on eBay for £45 (Buy-It- Now with £2.20 p&p). This particular example covers season 1937-38 and it looks very good indeed being exceedingly clean with nice sharp corners, but whether you'll want to pay that price for it is another matter. You have until 17th May to make up your mind. And from the same eBay seller comes this 1939- 1940 season fixtures card, notable in so much as this was the season which was stopped after only three fixtures. Condition on this one does not appear to be as good as the previous one as this seems to have some significant 'foxing'. Nevertheless, you will have to shell out £70 for this Buy-It-Now item (with another £2.20 p&p) and, again, you have until 17th May to bag it. And now a quick round-up of items that I featured recently which have now gone under the hammer ... This original press photo of the iconic moment at the 1930 FAC Final between Town and Arsenal, appeared on eBay in early April 2017. Featuring the German airship Graf Zeppelin as it dipped its nose-cone in respect of the King who was present at the game, this item sold for £99.67, quite a price for a mere press photograph. I wish that I owned this ... I've only ever seen one of these and this is it. I was outbid on eBay many years ago now on this c1960 WEBCOSA 'Football Bingo' wax wrapper. As you can see it's not even perfect - the top of Ray Wilson's head is missing and there is the head of another player at the bottom of the wrapper. I can't remember how the bidding went for this item, but I do know that Football Card Collector Magazine catalogues this series at £25 each except for the 'bigger' teams - I'll leave you to work out which these are - which will set you back £30 each. Latest acquisitions Here we go with the latest items that I've been able to add to my collection. Not always cards, I also pick up a few odds and ends, here and there! As Town prepared to make the move to the new then-named Kirklees Stadium in the summer of 1994, the HTAFC merchandising machine clanked into action, producing a number of items of memorabilia to mark 'The End of an Era'. You could buy turf, special programmes and books, prints, plates and all sorts of ephemera, including this battery operated wristwatch, complete with a real leather strap. I picked this up recently on eBay for £2.30 which is a very good price for something which, I would guess, is fairly rare nowadays. Despite the obvious tears and creases, I am convinced that this Photopress picture of Town's '£30,000 Forward Line' of 1928 was well the £20 that it cost me. It's an iconic photograph and features, left to right, Alex Jackson, Bob Kelly, George Brown, Clem Stephenson and Billy Smith. Just look at those shorts; Kelly obviously dropped unlucky with the longest pair whilst Smith clearly snagged the pair with no elastic! And the clappers just keep on coming. I believe that these are paid for by Longley Park KIA whose name is emblazoned upon them; as official 'partners' of the club I'm guessing that this is part of the deal. Anyway, Nahki Wells featured on the clapper for the Norwich game on 5th April and then Chris Löwe featured on the Preston North End one ten days later. TOMORROWS STADIUM TODAY (c1992) This is the official A4 prospectus for the building of the new Kirklees (McAlpine) Stadium. It contains a fold- out full-colour A3 artist's impression of the stadium and surrounding area together with details as to who will be involved and will represent each of the various factions, HTFC, HRLC and KSDL (Kirklees Council). All of the information is printed on thirteen sheets of lovely quality paper, each concerned with a separate aspect of the build and team. Looking back, it's turned out pretty much as expected although I don't think that the canoe and kayak landing stage - considered a "vital leisure need in the area" back then - has yet been built.