Posted By:
Al CrisafulliI have no problem with the Toleteros Gibson and the prices it fetches.
More and more people are choosing to collect cards of Hall of Famers only. There are some members of the Hall that simply do not have many cards - in-period or otherwise. A recent thread on this board about Ban Johnson comes to mind. How many different Ban Johnson cards are there? Two? And don't they go for ridiculous prices when they're on Ebay?
In my mind, Ban Johnson is not a Hall of Famer that should command a premium price, but he does because of the relative scarcity of his cards. HOF collectors need one, and unless you'll accept a shiny card, there aren't too many options.
The Gibson is very similar, IMO, in that if you want to own a Josh Gibson card, you don't have many choices.
Gibson is one of those players where a variety of different types of collectors converge - HOF collectors, Negro League collectors, Cuban card collectors, slugger collectors - and with the scarcity of the Toleteros card, the price gets driven up pretty high.
To me, the debate about whether it's a "rookie" card, or a "tribute" card, or even a "real" card simply doesn't enter into the equation. It sells for what it sells for because there are people who are willing to pay for it, and as long as there are more willing buyers than there are available cards, it will continue to fetch insane prices.
-Al