Old Judge recommendation needed
 

In my pursuit of graded Brooklyn Dodgers/Superbas/Bridegrooms I want to add a nice Old Judge to my collection. Grade 2 or 3 is fine. I'm wanting something with an interesting pose that is not washed out. Does anybody have a recommendation to help me figure out which one to lust after? I could just go to eBay, BIN, and call it a day but would rather have more to the story than that.

Cheers!

Do you have the wonderful Old Judge nook by Miller, Masson and Gonsowski? If not, grab that first and figure out the players/ poses that do it for you and then begin your search with a WTB ad on this message board.

One thing to be aware of about Old Judges is that the technical grade a card gets from one of the grading services often bears very little relation to its eye appeal, especially if you don't care about the (blank) back. It's pretty easy to find very nice-looking Old Judges that are graded 1 or Authentic, and conversely you can find cards with a grade of 6 or 7 but a very faded photo that makes them much less appealing (at least to me, and to a lot of other people). To some extent, market prices of Old Judges go by eye appeal, since a nice-looking 1 with a sharp photo will generally sell for quite a bit more than a beat-up 1 with a faded photo, but it's an inefficient market, and it's possible to find good bargains if you're not too hung up on technical grades. See this post of mine from last year: http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=203387

If you're looking specifically for a Brooklyn Old Judge, most of those players were photographed outdoors near some bleachers, and there are some very interesting poses.

Thank you so much for this direction. I don't have that book but will be getting it now. I did notice the eye appeal thing personally but I am/was hung up on the grade. Now I don't care. As long as it is in a holder and I like it then at least my chances of alterations or trimming are a lot lower. Now the hunt begins...