Posted By:
David Posested, while i agree that its a tough card to find, i disagree that it is the toughest. there are a few other southern leaguers i have found to be much harder (bernhard, paige, foster and ryan, with shag being on par with lipe, revelle and hooker). i base this on a year and a half of trying to assemble a southern league set, searching high and low for cards i needed.
indeed, one can pick up a foley white, bastian or miller pretty much anyday, but, at least during my quest for the southern league set, i had an easier time finding shag than bernhard and paige. at one point i had 2 hindu shags and an old mill shag- and that was before i had kiernan, fritz or hart (little rock). (thanks to ted, i managed to snag a paige, which was driving me crazy to find).
ultimately, when i ended my mission, i had all the cards EXCEPT bernhard, which, i believe is actually the toughest of the southern league cards.
i think a combination of factors have created a mystique around the card. among these factors, the more "aesthetically pleasing" cards seem to command a premium, and by most accounts, the shag card is a favorite among t206 collectors. as such, on any given day, all things equal, people will pay more for a shag than a bernhard. because any given shag will sell for more than any given bernhard, the higher value is perceived as being "more scarce." arch persons is a relatively hideous looking card, yet according to scot reader's exhaustive study, its the most scarce (though in my experience, it was easy to come by).
i think what i'm trying to say is that shag is the "most wanted" southern league card, but not necessarily the "hardest to find."
