33/34 goudey Lajoie question

[ullmandds]

This card has always been special to me...as since my early days of collecting it has always been amongst the most coveted cards in the hobby due to it's inclusion in a very popular set...and it's relative scrcity.

So it seems that most copies that you see are in high grade condition?!?! Is this mainly due to the way they were acquired?!?! or maybe those that cared enough to send for them...took better care of them?

thoughts?

[Rob D.]

For decades it has been accepted in our hobby that the only way collectors could obtain this card in 1934 was to write directly to the company and request it. And though there is documentation that this method certainly could lead to acquisition of a Lajoie, given how many copies of this supposedly "rare" card there are, I wonder whether some were distributed another way. Again, this is just me thinking out loud, so to speak.

I don't think it would be a stretch to think that the company mailed a limited number of copies to retailers, with instructions to distribute them as they saw fit. There just seems to be way too many Goudey Lajoies to support the belief that the mail-in request was the only way to get one.

Peter, more to your question, I think we see more high-grade copies because many were obtained via the mail -- and like you say, if a person was going to take the trouble to write the company to get one, then he or she likely would have taken good care of it.

My non-high-grade copy:

[benchod]

Looks great, Rob
Maybe You can flip it to someone who recently came into money and is looking for rare cards cha ching

[g_vezina_c55]

Originally Posted by benchod

Looks great, Rob
Maybe You can flip it to someone who recently came into money and is looking for rare cards cha ching

LOL


Verry nice Lajoie card Rob

The Lajoie card was also a special card to me.
The rarity is due to the fact that only serious collector wrote to goudey for have a card number 106..

[ullmandds]

nice Nap Rob!!!!!!

[Sean]

Peter, I think the number of high grades is directly related to the fact that only serious collectors would go through the trouble of writing to the company for a Lajoie. Other cards would inevitably wind up in the hands of casual collectors (ie. kids). But the Lajoies went to people who made an effort to get them, and consequently took care of them.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Just my opinion, but to me it's a post-careeer, tribute card (17 years after he retired!) and not that desirable despite its relative scarcity.

[atx840]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

My non-high-grade copy:

I know D-all about the set but what a card....that green background is stunning. Great card Rob.

[T206Collector]

I think Lionel Carter got his from Jeff Burdick, who apparently had multiple copies in the 1930s -- supporting the theory that some people wrote more than once to acquire a copy. That could account for the numbers out there.

[g_vezina_c55]

Originally Posted by T206Collector

I think Lionel Carter got his from Jeff Burdick, who apparently had multiple copies in the 1930s -- supporting the theory that some people wrote more than once to acquire a copy. That could account for the numbers out there.

Yep .. in the Mastro auction dvd , MR Carter said that Burdick have 10 copy of the Lajoie card ....
The scan of the Carter/Burdick Lajoie card

[barrysloate]

Just a guess, but maybe Goudey printed more than they needed, as not that many people actually requested them. So if they had a bunch left over that were never distributed, that could account for the large number of higher grade ones still around. And this is pure speculation.

[ullmandds]

Wow...he had 10 of them!!!!! I think I had like 10 68' topps seaver cards...and I thought that was cool!!!!

[glchen]

Beautiful card, Rob! I still think this is one of the top tier iconic cards in the hobby, even if it is a post playing days card.

[tedzan]

DITTO....to what Barry Sloate said. Back in the early 1980's, A veteran collector told us that many 1934 Lajoie cards never got into circulation.
When the Goudey Co. stopped printing their Sports & Non-Sports cards in the 1940's, their back inventory was released to the public.....including their left over Lajoie cards.


1934 GOUDEY Hi# sheet (#73-96 + #106)




TED Z

[atx840]

Well, there goes my work productivity.

Ted, you can't be showing uncut sheets this early in the morning.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by atx840

Well, there goes my work productivity.

Ted, you can't be showing uncut sheets this early in the morning.

Hahahaha.

Peter,
I never really thought about it, but good question.

[g_vezina_c55]

Anybody know approximatly the lajoie population. ?