1979 vintage card price list
 

I got my first T206 in 1979, when I was almost 13 years old, for $1.25 from a mail-order dealer named Paul Marchant in Charleston, Illinois. It was Pfeister seated, with a Polar Bear back partially covered by glue and scrapbook residue (which I later soaked off more than a decade later). In the same order I also got my first 1933 Goudey (Hugh Critz) and my first Batter Up (Johnny Vergez), all of which I still have. For the three cards, I paid a total of $3.25 plus $1 postage, which was a lot on my 50 cents-a-week allowance.

Packrat that I am, I kept the 24-page price list from which I ordered those cards, and tonight I went downstairs and dug it out from among my collecting stuff. Below are the first page, which includes ordering instructions and Marchant's grading standards, and pages 10 and 11, which includes the prewar stuff and is where I ordered my cards from. Most of the prewar cards he had for sale were in pretty rough shape, to judge by his descriptions; I ordered a random T206 in F-G condition for $1.25, a random 1933 Goudey in Poor condition for $1, and a random Diamond Star in Poor condition for $1. (The Diamond Stars Vergez that I got was/is a real beater, but the Goudey Critz is not as bad.) Note that he had a T206 Bresnahan for $5, and a T206 Cy Young in P-F for $4, plus other HOFers for under $5. Also a T200 in G for $20, and a couple in F for $15; T205 HOFers for $10 and under, and commons in EX for $3; a couple of T209s in F-G for $6 each; a T213 Tinker in F for $10; many E90-1, E93, and E95 HOFers for under $10 (albeit in rough shape); an E90-1 Marquard in EX-MT for $15 and Matty in VG for the same price; and an E95 Cobb in F-G for $30. Note that the price gap between low-grade and top-grade cards was much, much narrower than it is today.

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First time I've seen "VG-Mt" condition. We're other people using that designation back then?

I don't know about that specific designation, but people didn't care nearly as much about condition, and grading was very subjective and slipshod by today's standards. There wasn't that much difference in value between a VG card and a Mint card (though "Mint" by 1979 standards would encompass anything from a PSA 6 to 10), so it wasn't that big a deal. When card prices rose rapidly in the 80s and some people started paying more of a premium for high-grade cards, the lax grading standards became a problem, and the TPGs came onto the scene in the 90s to address that problem.

$30 for the e95 Cobb must have seemed like a fortune back then. Also, it would have kind of sucked if you paid $4 for HOFer Delehanty in the t206 set, and then received Jim. And wished you'd spent $3.50 on Mordecai Brown instead :D

I remember those prices......ugh.

$30 was a lot of money for me in 1979, requiring months of saving. I had started babysitting my younger brothers and sisters for $1 an hour by then, which gave me some extra scratch, but some of that money went to buying packs of current Topps cards, since I collected the set every year. Once a year for my birthday we would go to Pat Quinn and Don Steinbach's Sports Collectors Store in Chicago, and I went to my first card show in 1980. I seem to recall bringing no more than $30 or $40 on such outings, maybe less sometimes. I would never have spent $30 on a single card, but in 1981 I did spend $10 for my first Old Judge at a card show.

Inflation...........
 

Thanks for posting............interesting.

I got my first Pre-War card, a 1933 Goudey Jack Quinn, as a random Goudey card from the Larry Frisch catalog about the same time.

Looking at the list again, I realize that I also bought a random Zeenut in P-F condition at the same time, for $2, so that I actually spent $5.25 plus $1 shipping. That card was a 1923 Zeenut of Chadbourne, which I also still have.

Funny, I went to school at Eastern IL Univ. in Charleston starting in 1985. Wish I would have run into this guy!

Marchant owned the Exhibit Supply Co. Bought it from the original owner/founder.

I remember Marchant well. I purchased many cards from him. I remember specifically getting my first Goudey from him (1933 Terry), my first Caramel card (E90-1 Keeler), and my first Ted Williams (1958 Topps). I think my time frame was about the same as the original poster's - 1979.

Nice price list David. Its cool seeing the prices of T209's in 1979 which happens to be my birth year. Got any more with some T210 prices and cards available from the era?

I was a 12-year old little league 1st baseman in 1979 hitting home-runs at an astounding pace! Then I would head down to the local convenience store (Marushia's) in the massive city of Davy WV (POP 400) and buy me some 1979 Topps cards! I was always hoping for a Bucco and specifically a Stargell card but really, just please no more doubles! Guess I should have been ordering baseball cards mail-order! Live and learn. #StupidKid

This is the only price list from Marchant that I have. But I do have the 1976 Sport Americana Baseball Card Checklist, the ancestor of the annual Beckett guides, which has a "Sports Card Catalog" at the back with prices for many prewar sets, presumably written by Dennis Eckes, who partnered with Beckett on those early guides. I posted the prewar pages from that catalog here:

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=203206

You can see that he had T210s priced at $3.00 apiece. He didn't include T209s, but I wrote them in by hand based on the Marchant price list. The 1975 catalog, which I also have, is laid out slightly differently but has the same content, including T210s valued at $3.00 apiece.

Very interesting thank you. It has the set listed as 625 total. Wonder if the extra 5 from 620 are errors in cataloging or cards lost to time.

I assume it's a mistake. Notice that his attention to detail is rather lax; for example, the set he labels as T209 is obviously really T211 (green borders, black and white photos, Red Sun), except that he says it also includes 16 color cards (as T209 does), and he says it has 130 cards, which is not close to either T211 (75) or T209 (16 + 222).

I did notice the T211 error but not the number. I would agree both seem like a numerical error. Wishful thinking on my part. Thank you for sharing the past thread can't believe I missed that.

I think the interesting part (times have changed) is that it was "typed"............and likely "Mimeographed"..............words on the verge of extinction. Cool to look at!

David, I realize this is the pre war forum, but would you mind posting the 50s and 60s Topps prices if it's not too much trouble? Love looking at this stuff. Thanks.

Here are pages 2 through 8, which have the rest of the Bowmans and Topps through 1978.

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