NonSports Forum

Net54baseball.com
Welcome to Net54baseball.com. These forums are devoted to both Pre- and Post- war baseball cards and vintage memorabilia, as well as other sports. There is a separate section for Buying, Selling and Trading - the B/S/T area!! If you write anything concerning a person or company your full name needs to be in your post or obtainable from it. . Contact the moderator at leon@net54baseball.com should you have any questions or concerns. When you click on links to eBay on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network. Enjoy!
Net54baseball.com
Net54baseball.com
ebay GSB
T206s on eBay
Babe Ruth Cards on eBay
t206 Ty Cobb on eBay
Ty Cobb Cards on eBay
Lou Gehrig Cards on eBay
Baseball T201-T217 on eBay
Baseball E90-E107 on eBay
T205 Cards on eBay
Baseball Postcards on eBay
Goudey Cards on eBay
Baseball Memorabilia on eBay
Baseball Exhibit Cards on eBay
Baseball Strip Cards on eBay
Baseball Baking Cards on eBay
Sporting News Cards on eBay
Play Ball Cards on eBay
Joe DiMaggio Cards on eBay
Mickey Mantle Cards on eBay
Bowman 1951-1955 on eBay
Football Cards on eBay

Go Back   Net54baseball.com Forums > Net54baseball Main Forum - WWII & Older Baseball Cards > Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 01-12-2018, 10:11 PM
trdcrdkid's Avatar
trdcrdkid trdcrdkid is offline
David Kathman
member
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,554
Default Hobby history: Most valuable and most underrated cards, 1981

In the November 1981 issue of Baseball Hobby News, Lew Lipset, who had been writing about card prices in The Trader Speaks for the past few years, wrote an article listing the 10 most valuable baseball cards and the 10 most underrated baseball cards (as he saw them). I've posted the two-page article below, showing each page in full and with just the text, to make it easier to read.

He had the T206 Wagner at #1, and he correctly predicted that it was not likely to be dislodged from that perch. Note the estimated value of $14,000, which probably has a lot of us wishing for a time machine. Next are the 1933/34 Goudey Lajoie and T206 Plank, which are certainly still among the most valuable and sought-after cards, whether or not they would rank as high in a similar list today. Lipset's #4 most valuable are the 1951 Topps Current All-Stars of Stanky, Roberts, and Konstanty, which would never make such a list today. They're certainly recognized as rare (only one of each has been graded by PSA), but there are many cards a lot more valuable than these now. SMR lists the Konstanty at $45,000 for a PSA 2, Roberts at $62,500 for a PSA 2, and Stanky at $38,500 for a PSA 1.

Lipset's #8 most valuable ($750) was the 1953 Glendale Meats Art Houtteman, which had been a famous and valuable rarity throughout the 1970s, when regionals were hot. Of course, this card wouldn't be anywhere near the 10 most valuable cards today. (A PSA 6 went for $9400 in the spring 2009 REA auction, and an SGC 20 went for $1528 a year later.) Right after Houtteman on Lipset's list is T3 Ty Cobb, the only card on the list that made it primarily because of star power rather than rarity. I don't think this card would be among the 10 most valuable cards today (because it's not a rookie card), but it has done all right pricewise; SMR shows a value of $220,000 for a PSA 8. Note that Lipset mentions the 1952 Topps Mantle, which had had a big runup in price, but he doesn't include it in his top 10, which he considers to have "the least likelihood of ever falling back from their values". All of these cards are worth more today than they were in 1981, but some have risen in price much more than others.

Lipset's list of "most underrated" cards is interesting, especially for the Net54 crowd. These are mostly scarce sets that were quite underrated in 1981, and which have risen steeply in value. The individual cards that Lipset lists as underrated -- E97 Sullivan, M116 McConnell and McQuillan team variations, E90-1 Mitchell, E102 Miller fielding -- are all still valuable and have risen quite a bit in value, but not nearly as much as superstar cards such as 1952 Topps Mantle, M101-4 Ruth, or any Joe Jackson card. Lipset, like most people at the time, greatly underestimated how much demand for superstar cards would skyrocket in the coming decades.




Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 01-13-2018, 12:03 AM
drcy's Avatar
drcy drcy is offline
David Ru.dd Cycl.eback
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,466
Default

"Lipset, like most people at the time, greatly underestimated how much demand for superstar cards would skyrocket in the coming decades."

Was he predicting future demand, or was he just commenting about the point in time that he wrote? I assume the latter.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 01-13-2018, 03:32 AM
ullmandds's Avatar
ullmandds ullmandds is offline
pete ullman
Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: saint paul, mn
Posts: 11,237
Default

T208 are described as virtually identical to d349...which should say d359. I presume t215 pirate had not been discovered yet?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 01-13-2018, 10:39 AM
trdcrdkid's Avatar
trdcrdkid trdcrdkid is offline
David Kathman
member
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 1,554
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by ullmandds View Post
T208 are described as virtually identical to d349...which should say d359. I presume t215 pirate had not been discovered yet?
Yeah, I’m pretty sure T215 Pirate had not been discovered yet. I was at about the height of my youthful collecting in December 1981, reading about all the different types of vintage cards in the American Premium Guide to Baseball Cards, and I never heard of T215 Pirate until many years later.
Reply With Quote
Reply



Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Hobby history: 1946 Trading Post article on baseball cards trdcrdkid Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 5 11-11-2017 05:28 PM
Hobby history: The hobby 50 years ago, July 1967 trdcrdkid Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 8 07-23-2017 03:41 PM
Hobby history: Card dealers of the 1960s: James T. Elder (+ hobby drama, 1968-69) trdcrdkid Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 12 03-08-2017 05:23 PM
Hobby history: The second National, Detroit 1981 trdcrdkid Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 5 02-21-2017 06:52 PM
Most Valuable Cards in the hobby Yankeefan51 Net54baseball Vintage (WWII & Older) Baseball Cards & New Member Introductions 58 01-06-2013 04:55 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:39 AM.


ebay GSB