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#1
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Eddie Plank
What's the fascination with Plank? I am sure you can ask the same question about 20 other guys. Icons in the hobby. Hardly household names or even known to serious baseball fans. Is it something to do with one card and how it looked and people decided it was just cool looking? And it it then bled over to other cards? I realize he is a HOFer, but that hardly explains why he is the second most valuable card of all time.
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#2
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It's all about T206! |
#3
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I'm sort of surprised to see this question here. Other sites it would be less of a surprise.
Basically, it's from one of the most popular sets ever. Part of that popularity is availability, someones first prewar card is often a T206. Another part of that popularity is the Honus Wagner card. A bit of the rest is that the Plank T206 is far from common. Using the population reports however flawed gives at least a rough idea. Wagners - 46 from PSA/SGC combined. Plank - 101 combined. Magie - 177 combined. The three things that make for a valuable card or any other collectible for that matter are - A great subject, just enough rarity to matter, and a good story. Plank is certainly rare enough, and for years the story was that the card was rare because the printing plate broke. (It might actually be that the story about the Wagner card is actually about Plank. ) He's hardly an unheard of player, he may not get the attention of a Cobb or Wagner, but he was a great player. Only a small handful of players will continue to have an overall public popularity at a high level for a century or more. Now a better question is whether the rarity, popularity and value of the T206 has made the rest of Planks cards more valuable. I'd say that's probably true for some of those cards. Steve B |
#4
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Thanks Steve for the condescension. I don't collect Tobacco cards, but knew full well where his card fell in the Burdick classification system. Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).
And when you got done denigrating my question, it was kind of you to rephrase the question I actually asked, and then congratulate yourself for doing so. Last edited by Snapolit1; 11-02-2016 at 10:17 AM. |
#5
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I think it's all about the pose. The E95 sells pretty well too because it's the same image. I also think the image on the Cracker Jack helps it's value too, although it's not the same image. When I look at his Cracker Jack I can't help but think: there's a ballplayer. I've always wanted that card. It also helps that he was a part of the famous Mack teams.
Last edited by packs; 11-02-2016 at 10:20 AM. |
#6
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It's probably not the 2nd most valuable any more. I would put it 5th.
1- T206 Wagner 2- Baltimore News Ruth 3- T206 Doyle Nat'l 4- T206 Cobb/ Cobb back 5- T206 Plank In each of these cases the cards are both rare (ie-total number of cards) and scarce (number of cards relative to demand for the card). Plank is a rare card from the most popular set ever. You are correct that there are many cards that are more rare than Plank, but there isn't the same demand for these cards. |
#7
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If there are ~3,000 copies of other regular cards in the T206 set but only 100 - 150 Planks, that makes it 20x - 30x scarcer. Considering he is in the HOF and in such demand, the price tag is not surprising. Last edited by scooter729; 11-02-2016 at 11:13 AM. |
#8
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I suppose - without knowing how long you've collected so I could be way off -it's a bit of the difference between generations. More older collectors are generalists, while people who began more recently tend to specialize. Nothing wrong with either approach, it just means there will be moments where those differences become awkward. Yes, there are a lot of Tobacco cards that are more rare. There are probably at least a couple sets where there are fewer cards total than Planks. But rarity isn't everything. There are lots of things that add up to value. I think we're in the same boat as far as having stuff that's more rare than the big ticket items, but won't sell for anywhere near as much. That's unfortunately true for me in all my hobbies. I mean really, that silly upside down airplane stamp! There's almost 100 of them left and yet the stamps I have that were also sold in quantities of say 100 or less won't even bring 1000, let alone a few hundred thousand. Of course, the expensive one is from a very widely collected field, and mine are a lot more obscure, and the errors are a lot less showy. Steve B |
#9
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Apparently for years on this board people have argued and debated the very question I asked. And some of them believed theories that others believe they debunked. Others didn't find the question quite as simplistic or uninformed as you did.
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#10
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__________________
Successful transactions with: Drumback, Mart8081, Obcmac, Tonyo, markf31, gnaz01, rainier2004, EASE, Bobsbats, Craig M, TistaT202, Seiklis, Kenny Cole, T's please, Vic, marcdelpercio, poorlydrawncat, brianp-beme, mybuddyinc, Glchen, chernieto , old-baseball , Donscards, Centauri, AddieJoss, T2069bk,206fix, joe v, smokelessjoe, eggoman, botn, canjond Looking for T205's or anything Babe Ruth...email or PM me if you have any to sell. |
#11
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I wonder if perhaps one of the reasons for Plank's enduring popularity is the fact that he played for one of the era's premier teams, Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's. He was backed up by the million dollar infield and so on. If collectors back then were tucking away Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker cards then the paucity of Plank cards might have led it to become a chase card and increase its value even then. Who knows
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#12
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Easy answer
It is the third rarest card in what is arguably the most popular, certainly the most popular prewar, set of all-time. You can only really compare plank to Wagner , Doyle, magie, and the polar bear demmitt and Ohara. With the Wagner and Doyle being scarcer. The fact that there are rarer prewar cards is irrelevant, look at all the Wagner's far rarer than the t206. It is a function of both supply and demand. The fact that Plank is a HOf lends some value but the bulk is due to its scarcity in such a hugely popular set. I don't find most other Plank issues to have a premium over comparable hall of famers.
Last edited by glynparson; 11-03-2016 at 11:20 AM. |
#13
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I agree , but would argue that plank does have a premium over comparable HOFers....which just means we disagree on what tier of players he is comparable to. Like Wagner , the star power makes this card more alluring. That probably has a not insignificant impact on price (though I of course agree that most of price is due to scarcity / set popularity ). Guess all I'm saying is I think there's a lot of people that might be more interested in owning something rare/special if it also has added benefit of HOF status....so demand goes up a bit from that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
#14
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The E95 Plank is or always has been an expensive card with nice copies selling for over a grand. Perhaps it is the poor man's T306 Plank---- same pose but a beautiful green background instead of blue. It will always probably be the 3rd most expensive card in the set after Cobb and Wagner.
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#15
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As a novice and not a T206 collector per say, I think Plank's go for a premium because you don't see a ton of them, and I don't mean the T206. There don't seem to be that many issues that you see all over. I consider Plank like a Burkett, Rusie, Galvin etc. Great HOF'ers, in between Mayo cut plugs, and T206. Tough finding issues that are affordable, thus creating real solid demand. Again, just my .02 |
#16
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Leon Luckey |
#17
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With Plank you have all of those elements plus it's a great looking portrait of an upper-tier Hall of Famer. The fact that he doesn't have a ton of other cards also contributes to the demand I think. |
#18
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Not to hijack this thread and make it about baseball, but I don't know about calling Plank an "upper tier" hall of famer. His ERA looks really good because he was playing in the deadball era, but once you adjust for that it's a little bit better than Tom Glavine's and a little bit worse than John Smoltz's. He's got a healthy lead over Smoltz in innings pitched, but on that measure he's about exactly equal to Glavine. So I don't know quite where you want to draw the upper/lower tier line, but Plank comes out as having somewhat more value in his career than Tom Glavine. Which is good and all, but it's not Pete Alexander territory.
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#20
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My previous poor man's Plank.....
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Leon Luckey |
#21
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Hi Leon
Hi Leon Many of the E104's have reverse images from the original Horner photos used in the printing of the T206 cards. Your Plank is an example of this. Another example is my E104-1 Bris Lord (whose image is actually that of Sherry Magee in reverse). TED Z . |
#22
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^^^ Cool info (as always) on the reverse image usage. Never knew that.
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