Posted By:
EricHello Darren,
The subject of recataloging has been approached several times by several different enthusiasts looking to improve the system. I can't cite exact sources or information on this one, but there was a guy that created a recataloging effort of his own back in the 80's I believe. His wasn't a re-cataloging effort so much as I hear that it was more or less an attempt to give some uncataloged issues an ACC designation of their own. I don't know the specifics of what he did, but if I remember correctly, he was the one responsible for issuing the W9316 designation to the uncat strip card set often referred to by collectors as the "crude drawings" issue. As I've been told, his system never really caught on (except the W9316), and his attempts to alter the ACC system were widely ignored.
I'm sort of in your corner about recataloging..but, I don't think any of the existing designations should be changed. We all know that many issues should have been classified with a different designation (ie..a W should have been an R), but those mistakes are etched in stone. What can be done, however, is the task of assigning catalog designations to popular uncataloged issues. Take the Voskamps issue for example. This is a food (actually tea/coffee) issue..and doesn't have an ACC designation. I think it would be great for an issue like this to have a D, or more appropriatly, K designation in front of it.
The Cubs will win the World Series before ACC adaptations are made and fully excepted by the vintage card collecting society (pricing guides, grading companies, and collectors). I would think that a panel could be assigned to determine new ACC additions, but again, too many people in vintage card collecting are against change, and my thought is that too many people would resist even the addition of newly catalog designations. The other thing to consider about the difficulty of adding ACC designations to baseball cards is, baseball cards make up maybe 1/10,000 of the different types of cards cataloged by the ACC. Assigning the exact letter-number combo's would be very tricky.