Posted By:
BobI still believe gold is the toughest color IN ANY CONDITION but my opinion, based on buying and looking at tons of these cards is that the hardest color to find IN HIGH GRADE is easily the olive green.
I agree with Josh 100% that the rash of violets posted on the boards skews the image of violets being not that tough. They are, I just think the golds are the hadest to find.
Brian, I agree that certain player/color combos are incredibly tough for some reason. I have no clue why. I have to disagree with you though on there not being any players that are tougher to find. Bates is a killer, I know 2 different collectors who have complete sets minus Bates. I know there have been a couple of Loberts surface in auction house lots but Lobert, Magee, Kleinow and Byrne are tougher than, for instance, Leach, Doolan, Grant, Lake and Davis.
Finally, the grey Doolan you own, while a terrific card and one I would love to own, can't be considered one of the E94 colors but rather a one of a kind color variation which resulted from the absence of a color in the printing process. Dont get me wrong, I love that card but it is similar to the T206s which are yellow and black because colors didn't get added in. Another has never been seen in that color. The oranges, on the other hand, have been discovered for almost all (if not all) the players in the set. It might be argued that these were red E94s that got an "oops" at the printer who mixed the colors thinking they were E98 oranges, but SGC, PSA and GAI have all graded the oranges and slabbed them. Also, they appeared from different locations in the U.S. and different time frames, 2 from lionel carters collection and most of the rest from brain daniels' e94 stash on the west coast. The thing is that every one of the orange e94s is exactly the same color orange! Not pumpkin orange on one, light tangerine orange on the next, etc. They are all exactly the same shade.