Posted By:
Bruce BabcockI've got complete sets of both issues and I would say that I've seen fewer D322's overall. Still, both are really tough. I don't think any of the D304s are any tougher than any other, but some of the D322 are tougher - specifically, the mascot, the Forbes Field card, Secretary Locke and President Dreyfuss - than the cards that actually depict ball players. I'm guessing a lot of these cards were thrown away because they weren't players.
The SCD 2006 Standard Catalog lists the D304 set at $18k in vg and the D322 at $11k in vg, with both sets containing 25 cards. I think the price differential probably relects higher collector interest rather than scarcity. The D304 set is probably a more popular set due to the number of HOFers, while the Tip Tops depict only one team. The D304 set also has back variations while D322 does not.Since both are regional issues, both are much less common the the major tobacco and most of the caramel sets of the period.
As far as numbers go, Leon's are probably a good guess.
It would be interesting if someone with a lot of time on his/her hands decided to create a "census" of the collections of the collectors on this board, along with anyone else who wanted to participate. Seth did this for a while at 19th Century Only. One problem with that of course is that our collections/invetories are constantly changing.