Jimmie Collins - best card choice as Red Sox?
 

Looks like the only HOFer that is depicted as Red Sox that I need for my PC is Jimmie Collins

I am woefully uninformed about Collins, other than that I have just recently read about him being an amazing defensive third baseman.

Wondering if experienced collectors here might have recommendations for somewhat affordable playing day cards for Collins where he is depicted for the Boston team (either the Red Sox or the Boston Americans, I’m honestly not sure if he played for both)

Would love any suggestions!

Jeff Gross

Given your criteria I would say your best bet is Fan Craze.

Otis is correct, but there is another very tough and probably extremely expensive option, which would be his card from the 1903-04 E107 Breisch-Williams set. I believe that would be his only other card that depicts him as a Boston player.

Brian

If you want to go a bit off the beaten path the Red Belt postcard "Safe" depicts Collins in a Boston uniform. Not as difficult as some Red Belts and certainly cheaper than a Breisch-Williams.

https://www.vintageball.com/RedBelt.html

That definitely is a nice postcard choice. That of course makes the Fan Craze and E107 "precards".

Brian (just playing around with the American language. Not the English language, because then we would be discussing cricket cards).

Wow, love this postcard! How often do you find these for sale?

The Red Belt set comprises twelve different cards if you count the Huggins - Second Baseman Par Excellence twice. Only one of the twelve, Opening Day, is considered a mega-toughie and rarely seen. The others vary in difficulty but do show up occasionally. These observations reflect my experience when I collected them about ten years ago. Since then I see them once in a while on eBay and in various auctions. I am unable to say how easy or hard Safe, the one with Collins, is but I expect there are a few around, some residing in collections that will never be complete because of the Opening Day postcard. Sorry my answer is sorta vague. Others here may know better. Good luck.

1897 Whitehead and Hoag pin

If you really want to get cheap you can get the Gold Embossed Postcard for about $15-$20.

Any idea (roughly) how much I'd pay for this postcard? And do you know if it's graded, does it acknowledge that this is a Collins postcard or is it simply noted as the "Safe" card from the set?

Can't be of much definitive help with your questions. When I put together my set the cards were typically under a hundred dollars apiece. I saw that an entire set sold for $600 in a Hunts auction but that was 2002. Worthpoint indicated an eBay sale record for the "Safe" card but I do not have access to that site to obtain either the date or price. Perhaps someone here has an account and can get the info. Link is https://www.worthpoint.com/worthoped...safe-458996441

None of my cards are graded and VCP didn't show a single transaction for PC778 which suggests that they are generally raw. Whether a grading company would mention Collins on the flip or just call it "Safe" would depend on how flexible they were willing to be. The fact that the player is Collins is ironclad so a case could be made to name him.