Adam,
Certainly, and I understand it, but more along the lines of someone picking up a 56T Mantle because the '52 is out of their reach. The value of the '56 being period to Mick's career makes that logical to me.
We don't have that option with Gibson, but because the Laughlin was issued so much later, that is what perplexes me. I understand it was a limited print run, which is of course tantalizing to a broad collector base, but still. The current value of these goes hand in hand with the retroactive proclamation that the players, in fact,
are Major Leaguers. Those on one side of the argument will never understand; those on the other will never understand why they will never understand!