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Posted By: cmoking

Some thoughts:

The #6 Jimmy Dykes card has two variations. On the back, one variation says he is 26 years old, the other variation says he is 36 years old. Set collectors in general do not give a premium to either one. I am not sure, but I do not think one variation is that much scarcer than the other.

There are several tough commons in the set, including:

1 Bengough - the number 1 card in the set

36 Thevenow - expensive in mid to high grade - I suspect it is not a scarcity, but that there is one descendant who collects his card, and that descendant is hoarding them

52 Cohen - a tough low number card that is difficult in mid to high grade. Also a favorite of collectors of jewish players.

any other low numbers from 1-52

there are other tough commons, but they are mostly tough in condition scarcity, not card scarcity

240 Schumaker - this card gets a premium because it is the last card in the set.

the cards with bright yellow backgrounds are often found 'dirty'. the yellow backgrounds seem to attract smudging from fingers easily. so you may want to look harder to find a clean one.

Berg: 158 Moe Berg is an interesting card because he was a spy for the U.S. during WWII. Although possibly not a very good one, but still a very interesting character. Although he was mostly a back-up catcher during his career, it is his spying career that puts the human interest story into this card and thus the higher price.

HOF cards:

2 Dazzy Vance is a very tough card to find in good shape. A low number and a HOFer.

42 Eddie Collins and 89 Tris Speaker are both also in the T206 set. But neither were players during the 1933 season. 78 Jack Quinn is the third person in both the T206 and the 33 Goudey set, and he was an active player during that whole stretch.

187 Heinie Manush & 207 Mel Ott are tough to find centered

Gehrig and Foxx: each has two cards that are almost identical. Gehrig #160 is tougher than Gehrig #92. Foxx #29 is tougher than Foxx #154
Ruths: in order of pricing: 53 yellow, 149 red, 181 green, 144 batting. It is suspected that the 144 was printed twice, and was the printed in placement of the missing 106 Lajoie card

Lajoie: you can read Lajoie's story in just about every catalog auction of his card. The card was not printed in 1933 and was not distributed with the rest of the cards. It was held back as an enticement for collectors to keep buying cards in search of a complete set. After receiving complaints, Goudey printed the Lajoie in 1934 and mailed them out to people who complained. The Lajoie has the style of the 1934 Goudey set. Collectors will dispute if it truly belongs in the 1933 Goudey set or is a gimmick. At $10K+ for a PSA 2 copy, it may be financially sound to think of it as a gimmick and not pursue it.


It has been found that the last series was likely out in stores in the last week of December, 1933, or perhaps not until 1934. Those players included Washington Senators and New York Giants and includes information on the 1933 World Series. This information came out in the Copyright Registration cards which shows they were published in the last week of December, which probably means that is when they were printed and packed. Given the speed of distribution in 1933, it would not be surprising to see they were not in stores until 1934. A bit of a tanget here, but ... subsequently, the Sports Kings set was known to be printed between the 1933 Goudey and the 1934 Goudey set and thus is truly a 1934 issue.

If you are buying raw cards, make sure to note the back of the cards. There is a similar issue called the World Wide Gum set which was issued in Canada and comes with backs in both english only and french/english. These are not the regular Goudey cards, although the fronts may be identical. The grading companies typically do a good job in identifying them, but they will sometimes screw up. The World Wide Gum cards have World Wide Gum written on them near the bottom part of the card very visibly.


I am simultaneously working on two sets. The set I have viewable on the PSA Registry is at the link below. I have scans of all the cards.

http://www.psacard.com/set%5Fregistry/display_cards.chtml?rsetid=44132&alltime=no&rank=22&tied=0&requesttimeout=9999