T206 verses N224 - scarcity question

[Archive]

Posted By: Chuck R

I have a quick question for the T206 experts out there. I have been collecting the N224 Kinney Military set put out in the late 1880's by Sweet Caporal for a number of years. It is about a hundred cards bigger than the T206 set at 622 cards. Like T206 it has a number of cards that are very tough to find.

To my knowledge, no one has ever completed this set. I currently have 611 of the 622. I was stuck at 610 for a long time but managed to pick up one of my wanted cards on eBay a couple of years ago. Martin Murray of Murray Cards in England has 618 and the Edgar Tiger-Wharton collection in the British Museum has 621. Both of those collections are missing the card I managed to pick up, the Hussar of France.

For the other 11 cards I need, my lack of success in obtaining them has not been due to being outbid. I have never seen them for sale in the time I've been searching or even in looking back at old auction catalogs. Since the British Museum has them, they must exist. My question for the T206 experts is this: How often do the toughest cards in that set come up for sale? Once a year? Three times a decade? Ten times a year? I'm just trying to get a perspective on how quixotic my task is on this N224 set.