Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Matthew</b><p>Can someone help me out. I have been using the search function for a while & cannot find this. It seems like I remember a post (it has been a while back) that had a chart with a list of most pre WWI sets and the approx population of each that may still be remaining. Am I dreaming this up or does anyone else remember seeing that? Thanks.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>leon</b><p>I don't remember seeing a post where anyone estimated populations of total pre-war baseball cards or cards by sets. I think we could all give it a SWAG guess but that's all it would be. If I had to guess I would say 2,354,932 in total. I am probably off by a little <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14>.... best regards

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Judge Dred (Fred)</b><p>Close Leon, but 2,345,678 may be a little closer... Now give me that 4BH Kelly for answering the question.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Paul Kaufman</b><p>Sounds like we have the makings of a new contest here!

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Andy</b><p>Sounds great Paul. Now, everyone send me your pre-WWI cards and I'll start counting for the contest. <img src="/images/happy.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />Andy

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Frank Wakefield</b><p>I think Scot Reader's ebook had an approximation on card population, didn't it? There's lots in Scot's work, and I might be associating something I heard or read elsewhere while reading his book.<br /><br />Frank.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>peter chao</b><p>I really don't know where to start. But I will assume that there are fewer commons than star cards. Kids and adults for that matter tend to collect and keep their star cards because they are their heroes, the commons are the first to be given away in a paper drive, or thrown in the trash when people move.<br /><br />Peter

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Darren</b><p>How about counting up the # of pre WWI cards from our collections, I'll start a new thread.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>John</b><p>So you will be looking for cards from 1887-1913 correct?<br /><br />Also sports only or would non-sports and other sports count??

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>John S</b><p>I do not recall the list that you mention, but there have been many discussions of the relative populations of various issues. As part of those discussions I do remember estimates of the numbers of cards that have survived. I believe that Scot estimated that approximately 3000 of each common T206 are on the market or in collections.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Darren</b><p>John,<br /><br />you are correct, technically 1887 to 1913.<br /><br />It would hurt to note your non-baseball cards as well, cause I'm interested in that stuff.

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>John</b><p>It would hurt to note your non-baseball cards as well, cause I'm interested in that stuff.<br /><br />Would hurt? Or Would Not? LOL

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Joe D.</b><p>one of the tech guys here -<br />mine the PSA and SGC pop reports by set (if that is allowed?)<br />Figure out how many "complete sets" is possible among current graded cards.<br />Take out the real rarities in sets if that has a big effect on the numbers (like the big four in the T206).<br /><br /><br />Then post here: how many 'complete' sets are currently possible for each set (going by currently graded cards / pop reports).<br />I know the numbers won't be accurate, as POP reports don't tell the whole story and can over-count many cards.<br /><br />But it still would be cool to see....<br /><br />T200 - x possible sets<br />T205 - x possible sets<br />T206 - x possible sets<br />e92 - x possible sets<br /><br />etc.<br /><br /><br />c'mon Trae - a program like that would probably take you about 5-10 minutes to write. No? <img src="/images/wink.gif" height=14 width=14><br /><br />

Population of common preWWI cards
 

Posted By: <b>Scot Reader</b><p><br />John is right.<br /><br />If I remember correctly, I came up with the 3,000 estimate as follows.<br /><br />*Assume Demmitt (St. Louis) is a 350-only subject that was printed only with the Polar Bear back. (I believe this is correct for reasons that I won't elaborate on here).<br /><br />*Assume the number of Demmitt (St. Louis) specimens extant is roughly 200.<br /><br />*Assume Demmitt (St. Louis) is as prevalent as other 350-only subjects with the Polar Bear back.<br /><br />*Survey data show that the Polar Bear back appears on roughly 6.6% of 350-only cards.<br /><br />Therefore, the number of a typical 350-only subject extant is roughly 200 / 0.066, or 3,030. Round this to 3,000.<br /><br />Assuming other T206 series are roughly as prevalent as the 350-only series, the total number of T206 specimens extant is roughly 3,000 * 520, or 1.56M. Round this to 1.5M.<br /><br />Of course, these numbers are only as good as the assumptions.<br /><br />Scot