T206 Elberfeld Washington Portait Rare?

[Orions father]

Why is the T206 Elberfeld Washington Portrait considered "rarer" than the New York version? Why such a price difference between the two? According to the PSA pop report, comparing the two with unknown backs (It has the biggest sample size), there is barely a difference. Washington Portait 95 New York portrait 109. Am I missing something?

[packs]

You are forgetting about hype.

[kcohen]

Perhaps people don't bother to get the NY version graded given it's low value relative to the Washington version.

[FrankWakefield]

The Washington portrait is found MUCH less often than the New York portrait. That's 'why'. And what kcohen has is correct, folks are more likely to get the Washington portrait graded. This card would be a good example of when the pop reports of the grading companies aren't an accurate reflection of the number of these cards out there in relation to other graded T206s. A disproportionate number of these get graded. The numbers do accurately reflect the number they've graded less the number of regradings of which they're aware.

[JP]

Absolutely right! Lundgren Chicago, Browne Washington, Dahlen Brooklyn, etc. are all
far rarer than their counterparts but are far more likely to be graded. Another instance where the pop report means VERY little.

[tedzan]

Ken C and Frank W very accurately answered your question. I will add to this, a factor that explains why certain T206's are more
difficult to find than most T206's. T206 rarity is a function of the number of different advertising backs that a given T206 subject
was printed with. The less backs....the rarer that subject is. For example......

Dahlen (Brooklyn) is found with Piedmont 350, Old Mill, Sovereign 350, Sweet Cap 350

Demmitt (St Louis) is found only with Polar Bear

Elberfeld (Wash port.) is found with Piedmont 350, Old Mill, Sweet Cap 350

Lundgren (Cubs) is found with Piedmont 150, Piedmont 350, El Principe de Gales

O'Hara (St Louis) is found only with Polar Bear

While all other T206's (minus Wagner, Plank, Magie & Doyle errors) were printed with anywhere from 7 to 24 different backs.

The Lundgren card is an interesting example, in that it has 3 degrees of scarcity. The Piedmont 150 version of it is as scarce
as the Elberfeld Piedmont 350 card. However, the Lundgren with a Piedmont 350 back is very rare. Furthermore, Lundgren with
an El Principe de Gales back is virtually impossible to find.






To summarize........the Elberfeld (New York portrait) exists with at least 7 different backs and is very available. While the
Elberfeld (Washington portrait) is found with only 3 different backs and is considerably less available.

The basic law of supply vs. demand drives the price of the Washington version 10 times higher than the New York version.



TED Z

[Bridwell]

I agree with what the others have said.

Another observation is that the common version of these cards is probably tougher than most commons.

Elberfeld (NY)
Dahlen (Boston)
Lundgren (KC)
Browne (Chicago)

I've noticed that these are available less frequently than other T206's since they were not printed throughout the entire T206 era.

Ron R

[cfc1909]

Each poster is correct and in another thread JP asked about Lungren KC starting at 200 and it is the reason Ron stated -those few commons typically sell for more-maybe not 200 plus juice but for sure more than your regular common.

When I was actively persueing the commons I remember the Lungren KC version in grade 3 reguarly selling for about 100 and it used to confuse me but after you collect this set for years and years you see why certain cards bring a bit more-they are just less of them out there.

If you watch for large groups of 206s to come up for sale you can pick these toughies up for a fraction of the cost compared to when they are offered individual.

[Orions father]

Thanks for info everyone. It makes more sense now.

[T206Collector]

Originally Posted by cfc1909

If you watch for large groups of 206s to come up for sale you can pick these toughies up for a fraction of the cost compared to when they are offered individual.

That's been my (somewhat successful) strategy.