How rare are 1928 Harrington Ice Cream cards

[tcdyess]

PSA has only graded 142 and SGC 188 for a 60 card set. Are they not collectible or are there just not that many of them? Seems like a lot of the other sets from the period have much higher pop reports. Also does anyone have any links to articles/stories on the set?

Thanks,

Tim

[Leon]

It's probably a mixture of all of the above as to why we don't see and hear more about F50 Harringtons cards. They are scarce relative to the more commonly collected sets, they aren't very good looking as far as pre-war baseball cards go and these attributes lend to the limited demand and discussions. I am sure a few board members, mainly lurkers, have a set here and there....or very close to it. We have had a few discussions on them before. I like them but then again I like all pre war cards...

[paul]

Is there any rhyme or reason to why some cards have the player name in a gray box and others have the player name against a white background? Do any players come both ways?

[danmckee]

I have Harrington's and Yuengling's scattered throughout my complete set. None will ever see a slab as long as I am breathing so you can't always go by how many are graded.

I also have owned 3 of the green redemption Smith card. I kept just 1 for myself.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by danmckee

I also have owned 3 of the green redemption Smith card. I kept just 1 for myself.

Other than Heritage puffery, what reason do you have to believe that the Smith was a redemption card? It seems to be no more rare than any other Harrington.

[FrankWakefield]

I think that there aren't all that many Harrington's out there. Most folks have none. Several collectors have one, or maybe two, as type cards. A few collectors are actually chasing them, and some of those have completion. I have only one, it's the Uhle card that's depicted in the Standard Catalog. A few years ago the SC lacked an image, I mailed my card to Mr. Lemke so that the catalog would have an image. (It's a strange sensation mailing a card or two of some value to someone not met, with an expectation that the fellow will send cards back. Bob did, of course. He's a great fellow.)

And what Dan has there is true... Some of the old, thinly collected sets have low pops in those reports because most of those few collectors don't fool with third party grading, and never will. Additionally, I would suspect that a few of the Harrington's have been submitted more than once. Those reports can provide an inkling, an idea... but they fall short of reality. Truthfully, they fall in between how many cards have been graded and how many times they've graded a card. eg, if the pop report says 200; and if 10 cards had been resubmitted, 4 in slabs and 6 broken out. Of the 200, 10 of them were graded twice. The graders knew of 4 resubmissions, and were clueless of the other 6. And, that's assuming that they bother to account for the 4 known resubmissions (which in my estimation it is a bit doubtful to think they would account for all 4). So of that 200 number, 190 cards were graded once, 6 of those 190 cards unknowingly graded twice, and 4 knowingly twice. A total of 194 cards, but the reports would indicate 200.

Maybe a poll would be intersting... Harringtons: None, One or Two, A few and not actively collecting them, Actively collecting them and closing in on a set, and Complete Set... 5 options would be interesting, I think. Of course some of the "None" Net54'ers wouldn't bother to click a Harrington's thread, nor participate.

[Jason Carota]

Not to hijack your post, Tim, but I was going to ask a related question.

What about the Sweetman, Tharp's, and Yuengling backs? How do they, along with Harrington's, rank in terms of rarity among each other?

[edhans]

Yeungling's are the easiest, followed by Harrington's, with Tharp's and then Sweetman's rather far behind.

[tcdyess]

No worries , that is why I posted. I love learning about these sets from people in the know. there is a great player selection in these sets and they definitely seem to be pretty scarce. I owns nice Cobb and wondering if I should go for the yankees in the set.

[Bridwell]

These cards seem tougher to me than I thought at first. I bought one as a type card on ebay and sent it to PSA. They said it was undersized or trimmed so they didn't grade it. Seems like they are often oddly cut, so they would be frustrating to collect as an SGC or PSA graded set. Another thing I've noticed is that they aren't sold very often. I'd say that advanced collectors have batches of raw cards stashed away in private collections.

[Jason Carota]

Thanks, Ed!

[71buc]

Would a complete set of sixty f50s include a mixture of harringtons, sweetmans, yeunglings, and tharps?

[danmckee]

Originally Posted by Matt

Other than Heritage puffery, what reason do you have to believe that the Smith was a redemption card? It seems to be no more rare than any other Harrington.

There are only 4 known specimans that I am aware of Matt, that card is very rare. As far as it being the redemption card, I like the idea but have no proof.

[danmckee]

Originally Posted by Bridwell

These cards seem tougher to me than I thought at first. I bought one as a type card on ebay and sent it to PSA. They said it was undersized or trimmed so they didn't grade it. Seems like they are often oddly cut, so they would be frustrating to collect as an SGC or PSA graded set. Another thing I've noticed is that they aren't sold very often. I'd say that advanced collectors have batches of raw cards stashed away in private collections.

Many of mine are cut funny, the grading companies are clueless about the issue par usual.

[danmckee]

Originally Posted by Matt

Other than Heritage puffery, what reason do you have to believe that the Smith was a redemption card? It seems to be no more rare than any other Harrington.

For a common card Matt, I sold one for $8500 and the other for $12K. Not too bad for a common Harrington. Dan.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by danmckee

For a common card Matt, I sold one for $8500 and the other for $12K. Not too bad for a common Harrington. Dan.

I think it sold at those prices based on hype. I haven't heard of any reason to think it is any tougher than any other card in the set, nor any reason to believe it is a redemption card.

[ethicsprof]

as frank wakefield astutely posited, one Harrington(falk) is what this type collector has. It was not too tough simply because brian macqueen always come through with a tough one at just the right time.
I also have one yuengling--Hargrave,

best,
barry