Wondering why...T206 Shag Shaughnessy

[Orioles1954]

I know someone who has 23 Shag's, do you think that would effect the price that much?

[NashvilleBaseball]

A lot of good points on Shag... I really think the Net 54 Board has increased it's value at least 2 fold. It is talked about often, and has become a Net 54 Icon in a way. I remember not too many years ago, when it was hardly ever mentioned... It is a cool card, and has a mystique about it. I swear he looks like Old Hickory with Black hair.

[tedzan]

A mature Frank






And, here's my "shag" (Photo of my daughter Zoe's 10th Birthday Mar 17, 1976)





So, show us your "shag" ?

TED Z

[green rhino123]

I have now seen more of this card in the last month than all of last year...I guess it peaked.

[danmckee]

T206 Shaughnessy has been considered very tough and very popular for 30+ years as Ted states. See Ted, this is why you can have this board. You offer some educated points and you get argued with. Amazing.

[tedzan]

You're absolutely correct....but, do I look worried ?

I still have that same smile as my above picture from 34 years ago.


Best regards ole buddy,

TED Z

[JP]

I'm in the "don't believe the hype" camp. I've seen everything from Sid Smith and Juan Viola(t) selling at ten times book, to the next month selling at book, almost unprecented for rare SLer. Some of the recent asking prices of Shags have been ridiculous. A choice few will overpay and then the market will settle -- much like the housing market. It may be 10 years before another Shag PSA 5 sells for $800. I'd bank on $400 happening first.

[FrankWakefield]

I thought Shag had been discussed before, here....

My thinking was that Shag was so involved in sports for years after his playing days, that it created a demand for his card that got the card out of the hands of normal collectors and more into the mainstream public. Once that happens, it becomes more likely that the cards disappear. Ted Z does a good job of describing Shag's sports involvement.

It would be like the cards of football player Michael Oher, who's story is portrayed in The Blind Side. Some folks will buy that card and it will be their only football card. Some will give it to a kid they took to the movie. 50 years from now the Oher cards that were in collections will probably still be there, with the other cards. But the Oher cards that went into the hands of the mainstream public, those cards will get lost in a junk drawer, stuffed in a box, or one day thrown into the trash.

So I think that in the 20s, 30s, and 40s some folks wanted a Shag card who weren't interested in any of the other Southern Leagers.... and some of those cards have gone missing.

[JP]

Using that same argument, can't you say that more Shag cards have survived because of his interest post-baseball? And they've been taken care of better by owners? There are a whole bunch in excellent or better condition, so I wouldn't mind biding my time to get one if I was interested...

[FrankWakefield]

Not at all...

A rare book in the hands of a book collector is known and appreciated. Once it falls into the hands of someone who cares not about books, then it could end up in a box in an attic, a yard sale, a garage... it ends up water damaged, then discarded.

Something is more likely to survive if it stays in the hands of someone who appreciates it.

Now as for 'us' being able to obtain it... we buy most of our cards from other collectors or dealers. We buy cards from someone who has more than just one card for sale. Those single Shag cards of the 20s and 30s and 40s were less likely to make it to the hands of today's collectors than a Shag card that was in a collection.

I took my wife and kids to see The Blind Side. I thought about getting a Michael Oher card for each of my daughters, to put in their Christmas stocking. But I didn't. They'd have looked at it, figured it was the guy from the movie, thought 'cool', then it would go upstairs into their rooms, and lost. It may well have been used as a coaster up there... Cards that go into the hands of a collector are collected, held, appreciated, and more likely to survive, than the cards that go into the hands of a non-collector.