Highest valued vintage baseball cards list

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Posted By: Dylan

Theres a post talking about Pop report of the 1932 Caramel, and it brought up that only 2 examples of the Lindstrom are known of, and one graded a psa 3, sold for 80,000 a while back. Can we compile a list of the 10, or more, most valuable vintage cards. Only cards at(preferable) or around VG, to keep subjectivity of grading affecting price to a minimum.
Obviously im sticking to cards that have actually sold at auction to keep speculation on certain rarities out.
Here's what ive got so far...
1. T206 Honus Wagner SGC 40 $450,000 Nagy Collection
2. 1914 "Baltimore News" Babe Ruth Vg/Ex $243,000
3. 1910 T210 Old Mill Joe Jackson SGC 40 VG $116,000 4/30/06
4. T5 Pinkerton Cabinet of Joe Jackson $100,000++ Mile High
5. Four Base Hits Buck Ewing private sale over $100,000
6. N172 Daly (California League) Ebay $100,000
7. H813-2 Boston Garter Joe Jackson (restored) nearly $100,000
8. 1931 U.S. Caramel Lindstrom PSA 3 $80,000
9. T206 Joe Doyle N.Y. Nat'l PSA 3 $64,100 2003 Mastronet
10.N172s Kremmyer sold for $50,000
11.N172 Anson in uniform $50,000

K modified the list, only $50,000 or above qualify. I realize there are MANY virtual one of a kind nineteenth century cards (and other rarities) that would probably eclipse 100,000$ but im only accounting for cards that have been on the sales block and can be accounted for in VG or less condition.

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Posted By: barrysloate

The Lindstrom card you refer to was originally auctioned by me in 1999 for $92,000. At the time it was raw, but the winning bidder sent it to PSA where it was graded a 3. It was later resold for just under $80,000. It's hard to believe that just 5 or 6 years ago rare cards were going down, but that was a slow period for vintage cards.

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Posted By: Dylan

Speaking of the U.S. caramel set why is it cataloged as an R card and not an E card? the set was issued by U. S. Caramel Company of Boston, MA.

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Posted By: leon

Everything we talk about in cataloging numbers goes back to the ACC, by Burdick (let's save the SCB debate for sake of this thread). Burdick classified candy/gum cards, that were made past 1930'ish as "R" for "Recent" gum or candy cards.......Do yourself a favor and buy a copy of the ACC. It is to collecting pre-war what the alphabet is to the English language. It's where it starts...regards

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Posted By: Dylan

I'll add it on my list after the Lipsett encyclopedias... can anyone add any cards to the list that may belong in the hobbies top 10 value(VG condition plus or minus a grade)

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

Dylan,

Are you related or know Sean?

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Posted By: Judge Dred (Fred)

Dylan,

Do you think that the criteria for your topic could be expanded upon? There are so many cards that may be "one of a kind" or from very obscure sets which makes each of the cards in the set relatively valuable. How about picking the top ten cards from the more widely distributed and collected sets like T206, Goudey, E90-1, etc.

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Posted By: Richard Masson

How about:

N172 Anson in uniform (4 known)- last traded years ago by Lipset for about $50k
T206 Doyle, NY N'tl(several known, some actually real)
Maple Crispette Stengel (I think one exists, never been publicly sold)
N173 Kelly portrait (only a handful exist, never been publicly sold)
E223 G & B Spaulding (sic) (1 known, never publicly sold)

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Posted By: barrysloate

Richard- I believe I remember two instances of the N173 Kelly portrait sold at public auction. And I think a 50K price for an Anson in Uniform is a bit outdated, don't you think?

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Posted By: Richard Masson

Clearly the price is outdated, but the fellow above was quoting actual sales data and that was the only public trade after Copeland.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

because there are quite a few contending cards out there that are only known examples and that are not going to see the light of day/haven't been sold in recent memory.

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Posted By: Zach Rice

Some others:

Four Base Hits Buck Ewing which was privately sold for over $100,000.
H813-2 Boston Garter Joe Jackson (that had been restored) recently sold for nearly $100,000.
T5 Pinkerton Cabinet of Joe Jackson in Mile High sold for well over $100,000. Soon later, another example was sold in a Mastro auction for significantly less.
N172 Daly (California League) just broke the $100,000 this year in an eBay auction. Two other SGC graded California League N172s (Kremmyer and I forget the other) sold for $50,000 a piece as part of the Richard Egan collection which wasauctioned off by Mastro. Both were in low grade.
N167 Mickey Welch sold in an SGC 20 (I believe) in a Mastro auction for over $60,000.

I am struggling to come up with accurate prices right now but will hopefully be able to give them later.

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Posted By: Dylan

Hey Bobby-shut your mouth its a legitimate question. It seems that anytime someone wants to speculate on value your accused of being another Shawn. Its played out guys... Dont kid yourself money is a huge part of the hobby, its why the cards were produced in the first place. The only list I found on the internet that addresses this question was 6 years old!
Yes id like to see those rarities with numbers from previous sales. I understand the criteria is difficult, some of the most valuable cards have never been sold or were sold so long ago the numbers are meaningless. If you could reasonably speculate it would be a top 10 or 20 valued card its a legitimate candidate. If you want to eliminate all regional sets were only left with cards were all very familier with and see them for sale at a yearly basis almost...
Richard- i did list the O'Hara PSA 3 that sold in an auction in the initial post.
-------Revised listing in initial post----------

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Posted By: Dylan

anyone else that can add or change the listing, i dont want to leave anything out!

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Posted By: Andy Baran

Dylan,

Please don't take this as a personal attack, as it is not intended to be one. I don't think that you had bad intentions with this post, but there is absolutely no way to be anywhere close to accurate with this type of list. I personally know of MANY cards (both in auction and in private sale) that have sold for more than many of the cards on your list. I'm sure others do as well.

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Posted By: Bobby Binder

Dylan,

Tell me to shut my mouth in person your topic is not well thought out and looks like you are digging for information that would not apply to your wallet. Next you will be asking who is the first player on a baseball card.

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Posted By: Dylan

Bobby-So your solution is to meet face to face, all talk im sure. I aint hard to find.
And if there are cards that eclipse those on the top 10 recorded sales then just post it. No im not making a list so i can purchase them all, who cares? How many posts have there been on the T206 Wagner? Should no one be allowed to discuss expensive cards unless they can afford them?? Wow what a good point, unless you own a card or are buying it, you cant discuss it

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Posted By: JK

Anyone want to place bets as to who the next newbie to be banned will be?

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Posted By: William Heitman

"E" was for early candy and gum. "R" was for recent candy and gum (post 1930)

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Posted By: Cobby33

Welcome back, Mr. Heitman!

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Posted By: Frank Wakefield

R Bill Heitman, a Recent poster!!! Great to see you posting!


What did the T210 series 6 Stengel go for about 2 Goodwin auctions back??? My recollection is about 15k plus juice. Anyone know? That card would be down toward the bottom of your list.

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Posted By: JimB

I echo Andy's statement. I can think of a lot of cards that have sold for more in public and private venues than those listed. Even several of the cards above have sold for a lot more than the amounts listed such as T206 Cobb/Cobb back, T206 Doyle, T206 Plank, etc.
JimB

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Posted By: Richard Masson

The Stengel shouldn't make the list (just ask Brockelman).
Each of the HOF Just So, Four Base Hit and unique Kalamazoo Bats would be above six figures in today's market. An E107 Matty or Wagner would be close to that.

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Posted By: Aaron Seefeldt

Sometimes ya gotta pay "top" to acquire the cream of the crop.

About 10 years ago Steve Verkman had a t210 Jackson for sale in his catalogue for $7200 (about good condition). At the time the HIGH book price was less than $5,000. The thing is, it took some time for the card to sell. That was until some knucklehead (me) paid the price.

I sold the t210 a few years ago. When the price popped recently to $100K I could not believe it. I still can't.


An analogy:
In the late 90's it seemed every single stock in the market was priced around $100+ a share.

Currently it seems like every highly sought after card sells for $100,000.


a couple of recent sales:
1) the e107 Wagner in Sotheby's for around $100k (their site is currently down or I'd have the exact price)

2) 1 of a kind Henry Reccuis Cigar H. Wagner in Leland's (previous auction) for around $50K

3) I seem to recall a PSA 7 (or 8) t206 Plank selling in Mastro's about 6 years ago for slightly over $200K

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Posted By: Dylan

Jim, Aaron- remember im not looking for examples that have sold for the highest amount im looking for cards that have sold for the highest amount in VG CONDITION. i too know of the Plank PSA8 and 52 Mantle PSA10, and a plethora of other high grade big cash sales, not counting them though.

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Posted By: dennis

now days if a shiny insert 1/1 grades a 10 then it could fetch a small fortune. also a lot of other issues have crept way up in value in the last 15 years. but the t206 wagner and plank and the 33 goudey lajoie are the 3 most famous "collector cards" of all time. followed closely by the 32 caramel fred lindstrom. these in top grade would always be the big 3 or 4 in the bb card hobby in $$$$ value. imo

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Posted By: Aaron Seefeldt

Dylan, is the t206 Wagner on top of your list the one that just sold in the just finished Memory Lane auction? I think you accidentally put Mile High.

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Posted By: JimCrandell

In the Memoty Lane Auction the 52T Mantle in PSA 9 went for $282,587--a staggering number imo.

Jim

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Posted By: JimB

THe "Nagy Collection" Wagner which was in an GAI 3.5 and now resides in an SGC 40 holder sold for over 450k.
JimB

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Posted By: Brett

I think a t206 Plank PSA 8 sold for $305,000 some time ago. I might be getting it confused with another card though...

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Posted By: William Heitman

The American Card Catalog numbers were very interesting and sometimes almost self explanatory. U.S. 19th century tobacco cards carried no letter along with the number. People started calling Old Judges N172 rather than just 172, thinking the N was for 19th Century. But the ACC already had N cards--it stood for "Central and South American Tobacco Cards." Haven't posted in awhile as I am still suffering from the culture shock of attending my first National in 15 years. It was nice to meet many of you.