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Posted By: warshawlaw

Heck, I am guilty of it myself. I know I can never hope to own either T206 rarity, so I look to own the same pose from another set (e.g., M116, E cards, etc.). I think a lot of other T206 collectors do the same and I think this tends to drive the prices on their cards in some respects. The rarity of these cards also reduces by a large margin the typical pool of cards available for HOF collectors of the era. If Cobb was as rare as Wagner, how many hundreds of HOF collectors would be out of luck and would have to look elsewhere for a card?

I also think that the name recognition factors into things with many vintage collectors, especially at the start of their collecting experience. Remember the old Hollywood adage: good press or bad press, as long as they spell my name right. Wagner and Plank benefit from high name recognition generated by the publicity surrounding their cards. The same is true of other publicized players: Joe Jackson, Jim Thorpe and Buck Weaver come to mind. This tends to drive their cards to heights that I don't think we'd otherwise see, even for the post-career cards (e.g., 1940 Play Ball Jackson, 1948 Leaf Wagner).