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Posted By: Bob Lemke

There are no specific guidelines for earning contributor's copies of the big book. Factoring in are such things as how much work was it for the contributor and how much for me to add the particular items; how much does it add to the book's sales potential; can the same information (listings, photos) be found elsewhere; what is the level of the contributer's overall support of the SCD "family"; will the contribution support a "Standard Catalog Update" column in SCD, etc. Most importantly is the question: How much does this information benefit the individual collector-reader and the hobby as a whole? In general, provision of a 50-card checklist, a newly issued SGA team set or a handful of new/replacement photos doesn't warrant the comp copy, while providing the first-ever 2,500-card J.D. McCarthy checklist does. Anything in between is a judgement call. Maybe I'm just being a cheap old bastard, but I feel every generation of collectors owes a debt to those who came before them and provided the bedrock data on which books such as this are based. That debt is repaid by expanding on the body of knowledge for future collectors.
As for pricing of "dotted ties" or any other "vintage" area of the book, the final responsibility is mine. Barring the occasional typo or computer glitch, I have bona fide transaction records to support changes (up or down) or I concur with what our proprietary analysis programs suggest based on other changes made by type, era, player, etc.
I can't get into extended debates about this or that change but I can say concerning the "dotted ties" that I recall being surprised that sales data supported narrowing the gap between that subset and other N172s.
This is the first year of a completely revamped Old Judge presentation and I expect that next year's price structure will continue toward our goal of accurately reflecting the retail market on as timely a basis as possible.
I do thank the regular participants on this forum and appreciate the many tips which it provides for improvement of the book. Feel free to e-mail me if you wish to engage in less-public dialogue or stop by the SCD booth at the forthcoming Pittsburgh show.