Very commmon 1940s and 1950s pinbacks: were any of these made later?
 

Hi, I'm new at pinbacks, and I see quite a few pinbacks from the 1940s and 1950s that are very easy to find in nice shape. I don't believe any are easier to find than the one that shows Ted Williams following through with his swing. I recall being told these were NOT vintage at shows back in the 1970s.

A group of pinbacks that seem to good to be true are the very affordable ones with Negro League teams names on them. Again, they are almost always in good shape, and there's quite a few available on eBay at any time. Another set that seems extremely common but look vintage to me are the B&W player pins of the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees from about 1941.

Are there any other common pinbacks I should be worried about? Also, has anybody bought from seaweed2270 on eBay? The seller has the best selection on eBay, and everything he has looks good to me.

To learn more about pinbacks, it's been recommended I look at a book and website for the Muchinsky Collection, but I found both to be disorganized and lacking of details, although I had a blast looking at all the photos. Can anybody recommend another source? Thanks! Chris

Hi Chris -

A few thoughts:

To me, Muchinsky’s book is “the Bible.” It’s a great resource although his “values” are almost always inflated.

Certain PM-10s are inexplicably common. The Giants were represented by Carl Hubbell, Dick Bartell and Cliff Melton from the 1937 WS. Only Hubbell was a star yet these pins are everywhere and only worth maybe $10 each.

seaweed is a fine seller, although his inventory rarely changes. I’m sure he wishes it changed more. He (Eric) is a member of Net54.

I don’t collect the Negro Leagues but those and some minor league teams (e.g. Jersey City Giants) seem plentiful. I assume they’re legit and maybe they go cheap because they’re so generic (?). With the NY Giants, I think the same pins were sold at both football and baseball games.

Pins are like anything else....the plentiful PM-10s of Willie Mays don’t get a lot of money but certain PM-10s (even of Mays) are scarce as hens teeth and fetch big money. I have a handful of SF Giants I am looking for and some I’ve seen once or twice in 25+ years of searching.

I highly recommend Paul Muchinsky's book, "Baseball Pinback Buttons," as a way to learn more about the wide array of these items. Not sure how available it is now, however, and it was a pretty expensive book when it was in print. One caution -- the prices in the guide at the end of the book are mostly way above what I've found market prices to be, at least for anything that's not particularly rare.

I believe you can get Paul’s book through the website (The Muchinsky Collection) his son created.

I am very suspect of the Negro League pins like the one you posted. They are too plentiful and seem to always have a new ribbon attached. Probably reproductions. The Carl Hubbell has to be the most common PM10 of all time. It is even easy to find with the original Giants mini 1937 pennant attached. I could be mistaken, but I believe there was a warehouse find of the Ted Williams pins you asked about which flooded the market and brought the value way down. Maybe someone else will remember if this is true or not.

I tend to agree on the Negro Leagues, but since I don’t collect them, I never gave it a lot of thought.

You’re so right Rob. The Yankee pins below were all issued in 1937 but are available in very different quantities. As noted, the Hubbell is easily found. The Dickey is very difficult. There is also a Lefty Gomez in this style which is impossible to find. The Cubs pins were issued in 1952 and/or 3. The Sauer and Cavarretta show up from time to time, although neither are common. The Ramson is extremely hard to find, and a Roy Smalley is impossible. Why? Were fewer made, fewer bought and kept? I would love to know the answer, but doubt I ever will.

I appreciate all the feedback I've received so far — pinbacks are certainly a fascinating world to explore.

I recently picked up pins of Whit Wyatt and Dolph Camilli that look just like those posted above on then left, and were seemingly produced by the same company. I've also seen examples of Pete Reiser and Dixie Walker in the same design. Because of Reiser's inclusion, I'm guessing these came out in 1941. Perhaps the Yankees and Giants buttons were produced over a series of years that continued through at least 1941.

Has anybody seen any other c. 1940 Dodgers in the same style? I've also seen several "1941" Dodgers pins (P. Waner and Camilli), which I'm guessing were done in the 1970s or 1980s because they use the same images from TCMA cards of that era.

The generic ones like the Philadelphia stars one were around in the early 80's at least, but I never kept track of what teams were available. They were around for Football teams too, and finding lists of teams wasn't as easy as it is now.

The following is just a guess...…….

I wonder if some of them were produced in a minimum quantity that was required and just never sold well enough. Then were a warehouse find, or got remaindered as dead inventory sometime earlier.

I picked up a non-sports batch of stuff (Connecticut town centennial? Bicentenial?) and it included a couple hundred of the same pinback.
Making them cheap enough for souvenir stands I'm thinking the wouldn't even start the presses for under 5000 pieces.

Pins
 

Also, has anybody bought from seaweed2270 on eBay? The seller has the best selection on eBay, and everything he has looks good to me.


seaweed2270 is an excellent seller!
Excellent pin selection - all genuine items.
I have done business with him - quality guy.
Jerry Sage

Chris,
If you havnt already you might want to take a look at the thread about half way down the page Does anyone collect pins... A great trove of information and some great collections... Enjoy!