Old Judge HOF Pricing

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Posted By: Paul

I never thought I'd ask this question, but do these Old Judge prices seem low?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190158743206

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320165225223&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011

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Posted By: JimB

I am no expert on these and have ony really begun to collect them in the past year, but these prices seem low to me, especially the Ward.
JimB

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Posted By: Joe_G.

Yes, Old Judge cards have been trending lower as of late, especially the lower grade HOFers. 2-3 years ago both those cards would easily sell closer to $1000 each. That McCarthy is a great looking 1888 OJ. N172s are bought/sold/traded in a thin market so swings are not uncommon although right now, some of the more common cards in lesser grades are selling as cheap as I've seen in over 5 years.

I welcome the lower prices, however, I haven't been able to find anything I need for a steal. The tougher cards still seem to command very strong prices.

Best Regards,
Joe Gonsowski

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Posted By: barrysloate

The rarer and higher grade Old Judge HOFers will still command strong prices. The off condition examples of the more commonly found players are soft. That is true straight across the vintage card market. The wheat is being separated from the chaff.

And those two cards look awfully familiar.

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Posted By: Jim Clarke

So I guess the next question would be, define what a tough Old Judge card is? What name or pose? I know any PCL card would be at top of list. I would like to see a top ten list without PCL cards on them..

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Posted By: Fred C

That Ward has a great image. At $661 it was a pretty good price. Maybe the GAI slab turned some people off. It was a little surprising to see this sell for such a good price. Image is everything with OJs. This came out of a recent auction that had six Ward cards. This is arguably the best card from that lot. I'd have auctioned off the other five and kept this one if it were me.

Who ever got the Ward did pretty well. Nice image!

The McCarthy card wasn't bad either. I'd say it was a fair price. This card came out of a recent aucton with three McCarthy cards in the auction. This one and another (both graded 20) had the better images. There was also a McCartthy card graded SGC60 (in the lot) which is what a lot of people probably perceive as the "value" card in the lot. I'd have taken either of the two SGC20 cards because of the superior images. To each their own I guess.

In any case, fair prices on both OJs!

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Posted By: Fred C

JC,

I would venture to guess that a lot of people would want HOF player cards for their top 10 OJ list. The spotted ties are pretty tough so if you removed the HOF players from the list then I'd bet there'd be a lot of spotted tie players picked. It'd be interesting to see a top 10 without any HOF, spotted tie, Cal League, PL or NL cards). One card at the top of my list would be a clean "Phenomenal Smith" portrait card. When I say clean, I mean a nice clear image. Oops, I don't want to hijack the thread.

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Posted By: barrysloate

JC- Ward and McCarthy are among the more plentiful OJ HOFers, and McCarthy was hardly a great player. Cards of Anson and Kelly, while not scarce are still strong; and tougher HOFers such as Mack, McPhee, Delahanty, Radbourn portrait and others still get good prices. Also, spotted ties, Brown's Champs, and key minor starts perform better than some of the more common players.

All that said, I think the market was stronger in 2006 than it is now.

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Posted By: Chris Bland

There are literally dozens of ultra tough cards of common players that would command extremely high prices if two big OJ collectors were going for them at an auction.

That is what makes OJ collecting so interesting - A prominent HOFer like John Ward can draw a fraction of what a card depicting Cushman/Toledo, for example, might bring...

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Posted By: barrysloate

Chris- in the end it's who needs it. Most Old Judge collectors got their Ward a long time ago, but they still need the Cushman.