1934 Diamond Star - “no insignia?”
 

I have a few dozen R327 Diamond Star commons and minor stars that I am starting to value for sale and came across a variation of “no insignia” on VCP and wanted to ask experienced collectors here what the background is to this variation.

Which is more rare and does the rare variation drive more value, typically.

It’s such a beautiful set of cards!

Are you just referring to a team change reflected between one year and the next, as with Manush, Babich, etc.?

If so, I’d say price is largely dictated by whether the card came from the 1934, 1935, or 1936 series, since the production levels differed a fair amount each year.

Here is a guide to all team updates. https://jasoncards.wordpress.com/201...ond-stars-set/


Jason
Twitter: @heavyj28

Perfect, this is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, Jason!

I have collected the set for many years. One "no insignia cards" is Roy Mahaffey. His 1934 card has an A on the uniform for the Philadelphia A's. He was traded to the STL Browns. In 1935 they used the same card and removed the A from the uniform

Yes, I saw that also… is one any more rare than the other? Does one carry any kind of premium value?

As these variations were produced different years, their relative scarcity has nothing to do with the team insignia itself and everything to do with the year and series the card came from. As the PSA population report does breakdown diamond stars by year, you can pretty much presume that the lower population version will be the more expensive one. That said, there is not a lot of collector awareness around this set, and the fact that each years release was distinct.


Jason
Twitter: @heavyj28

I've got the Diamond Stars master set, and when I was putting it together, I don't remember noticing any premium for one year of a player's card compared to another year. Some were definitely a little harder to find, but in general, they were usually priced around the same. If there was a premium, it didn't seem that significant at the time.

Now I understand… thx Jason.

Add me to the list of fans of this issues - the artwork alone makes this such a great set. And relatively affordable too for quality.

Interesting. I love team change cards and differences. I am not sure i have many now, but have before.
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Everyone should check out Jason's great (and very thorough) Diamond Stars article that he linked in his post, but in case your link-clicking finger has atrophied, here are scans of Mahaffey's 1935 Diamond Stars card with the 'A' emblazoned upon his chest, and his 1936 Diamond Stars card that lacks 'A' emblazonment, and also identifies him as now being with the St. Louis Browns on the back, which was printed with blue ink instead of green. Missing is his 1934 card, which looks just like his 1935 card on front, and has the same green back as his 1935 card, except that it has Mahaffey's stats for the 1933 season on the bottom.

Brian

In my opinion, the true rarities of this set are high-grade low-numbered cards (1-24) from 1934. If you can find a PSA 5 or better of one of these, you've really got something!

When I was putting this set together, the blue-backed cards from 1936 were said to be rarer according to everything I read, but they were by far the easiest to find in high-grade.

Love this set! It has a cool art deco, comic book feel to it....

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