Cards some collectors think are rare, but are not.

[Hankphenom]

I think everybody should picture or name a card they think is truly rare and let us take shots at it one way or another. Here's one: WaJo Washington Times. I'd like to see somebody argue with that.

[bandrus1]

any M101 holmes to homes issue?

[JackR]

There’s only a handful of graded 1910 PC796 Postcards of Wagner, maybe one tenth of the number of graded t206 Wagners, but you probably can buy one for much less than 1% of a t206. It’s a wonderful hobby!

[Rhotchkiss]

i think the T206 Wagner is the perfect combo of rarity and scarcity. With 60-70 known, there are not many. But it is not "rare", at least not compared to other cards (even Wagner cards) where less than 5 are known to exist. Yet, the demand for the T206 Wagner exceeds its supply, making it scarce and thus ever-increasing in value.

If there were 1,000 T206 Wagners, I doubt they would be as valuable as they are, because the supply may be sufficient to support the demand in a way that puts less upward pressure on the card's value. At the same time, if there were only 5 T206 Wagners, it similarly may be worth less because the pure rarity may limit its overall desire. That said, the T206 Doyle NY Nat'l has only 9 graded and its low pop (combined with relative-nobody subject) does not seem to have hurt its value, so maybe the t206 Wagner if there was only 5, would be worth 10x more!

[brianp-beme]

Eat this, rare cardmongers...only one known of Martin, and one of less than a handful known of any card from the large size R308 Tattoo Orbit set. And not for sale...hands off my Pepper!

Brian (in my scan it is neither the colorful Tattoo Orbit card nor the smaller size R308 Tattoo Orbit that I am speaking oh so eloquently about. Those are shown for size and design comparison. And it would probably sell for 200X less than the Washington Times Walter Johnson that Hank showed)

[Eggoman]

Only 8 cards TOTAL graded in the PSA POP Report... These are BOTH 1 of 1s...

[Leon]

1933 Goudey Lajoie isn't that rare. I have seen this card labeled as rare too...

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I think everybody should picture or name a card they think is truly rare and let us take shots at it one way or another. Here's one: WaJo Washington Times. I'd like to see somebody argue with that.

I like this idea above. No one will argue with that Washington Times WAJO....

or this one (I know it's one of your fave poses...) The proof is nicer looking but this is a widely collected format, a postcard. I am sure there have to be others but so far it's the only baseball player I have seen from the set, in a postcard. I guess something happended and they never got marketed much.

[Fred]

I think this is post 3K for me.

Here's the PSA pop report results for the 1952 Topps Mantle

Grade Pop
10 -- 3
9 -- 6
8 -- 35
7 -- 77
6 -- 123
5 -- 178
4 -- 208
3 -- 196
2 -- 219
1.5 -- 84
1 -- 344
A -- 191

Total 1664

I'm going to guess that most would agree that's not rare. It would be interesting to see if someone did a deep dive on the 1952 Topps population report as a whole. My guess is that the Mantle will have a pretty high population in relationship to other 1952 Topps because more people will have the Mantle slabbed than Joe Schmuck.

The PSA pop of Mantles doesn't account for other TPGs pop numbers or raw cards. I'm going to go out on limb and guess that PSA has graded a majority of the 52T cards that have slabbed.

For another card listed as scarce is the T201 with Dougherty/Lord. That seems to be a mistake because there are plenty of them available. Another that is listed as scarce (but doesn't seem to exist) is the N162 Dunlop with a Pittsburgh team designation.

[bigfanNY]

Rare dose not equal valuable. And that is fine by me, I cannot afford to collect valuable Baseball cards so I am happy to collect some rare ones.

[robw1959]

Two that instantly come to mind are the Ted Williams 1954 Bowman and card #58 (Ted Signs) in the '59 Fleer set. They have been considered rare for decades, but really aren't. Heck, even the T206 green portrait Ty Cobb card isn't much scarcer than its "Bat-On" variation counterpart, but there sure is a ton of demand for that one compared to the red portrait.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Leon

1933 Goudey Lajoie isn't that rare. I have seen this card labeled as rare too...I like this idea above. No one will argue with that Washington Times WAJO....or this one (I know it's one of your fave poses...) The proof is nicer looking but this is a widely collected format, a postcard. I am sure there have to be others but so far it's the only baseball player I have seen from the set, in a postcard. I guess something happended and they never got marketed much.

Two questions, Leon: What's with the 1.5 on your Cobb, and is that Barr-Farnham WaJo the only P/C version you've seen? I know you have the booklet of proof photos--have or seen any other P/Cs from that set?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Two questions, Leon: What's with the 1.5 on your Cobb, and is that Barr-Farnham WaJo the only P/C version you've seen? I know you have the booklet of proof photos--have or seen any other P/Cs from that set?

Hi Hank
I have had that 1.5 for a while and shown it many times. You probably just don't remember ... My memory is getting so poor it's not funny ...(another story for another day) It has spider wrinkling on the front, next to both sides of his face. That's it. Funny quick story, told before also. I made a deal with an ebayer for that card as a BIN, from an already being sold card. He put the BIN up and someone else bought it in less than a freaking minute (it seemed). He said he had to sell to them but they sounded flaky. The next morning he told me the buyer reneged and I got it for my $2150 offer.

That is the only Farr-Barnham baseball postcard I have seen. It was listed in an auction without that acknolwedgment. Then it was pulled and run again with the additional info. I reckon that cost me about $1000 dollars extra, but still well worth it to me.

There are other Farr Barnham postcards...but not baseball. My guess is more baseball ones will be found though (or I just haven't seen them and they are out here already).

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I think everybody should picture or name a card they think is truly rare and let us take shots at it one way or another. Here's one: WaJo Washington Times. I'd like to see somebody argue with that.

I'd say this one is truly rare.