1978 Beckett Price Survey

[trdcrdkid]

I was digging through some of my old hobby publications tonight and I found my 1976 and 1978 editions of the Sport Americana Baseball Card Checklist book by Dennis Eckes, with checklists of the major card sets from T206 up through the latest Topps sets. The 1976 edition has a 30-page "Sports Card Catalog" at the back that I spent hours poring over as a kid, and which I may post some of in a bit. The 1978 edition doesn't have that, but it does have a price survey on the last page by Dr. James Beckett, the first he ever published, and a precursor to the book-length Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide that Beckett and Eckes published the following year (the direct ancestor of the current annual Beckett guides). I figured folks here would find it interesting, so I scanned it, and here it is.

Of course the prices are incredibly low by today's standards, with $2500 for T206 Wagner, etc., but what's interesting to me is the difference in relative prices of some sets. For example, T207 commons cost more than four times T206 commons ($4.30 vs. $0.90), but today T207s only command a slight premium over T206s. In general, T206s and T205s were much cheaper relative to lots of postwar sets -- they were cheaper than Red Man tobacco cards, for crying out loud.

[GehrigFan]

Funny that the 1975 SSPC set was so high. Only sells for about $50 a set now, so not a lot of profit for a 40-year investment!

[Rich Klein]

It would probably sell for more if a "reprint" set was not created about 20 years later. THe "warehouse" find was a reprint set.

[ullmandds]

dunno...T206 minor leaguers were valued at $1.19? Why not round up to $1.20?

[DaClyde]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

It would probably sell for more if a "reprint" set was not created about 20 years later. THe "warehouse" find was a reprint set.

Are you talking about the SSPC set? Is that why all the cards have two different photo croppings and a slight color difference in the card stock?

[clydepepper]

Rumor has it that Dr. Beckett's rent has also gone up.

[Rich Klein]

Originally Posted by DaClyde

Are you talking about the SSPC set? Is that why all the cards have two different photo croppings and a slight color difference in the card stock?

Yes and it's why the "Nolan Ryan and Catfish Hunter card" has a Noland Ryan and Catfish Hunter title:. I forgot which one came 1st but that's why there is a variation there as well

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

dunno...T206 minor leaguers were valued at $1.19? Why not round up to $1.20?

Pete, I will remember to "round up" the next time you buy from me.

[Leon]

I will try to add some other Beckett stuff later as I have a few old periodicals and ephemera of the company, in my collection hobby periodicals . I guess this is apropos here and is probably the "newest" card in my collection figuratively and technically.. Dr.Jim is a very nice person and one whom I have had the pleasure of speaking with on a few occasions. He has been a collector a long time and is obviously a pioneer in the hobby.

[trdcrdkid]

As I mentioned in my intro post last month, I have one of the few hardcover copies of the 1980 Sport Americana Baseball Card Price Guide (the second year it came out). I got it in about 1993 from Don Steinbach of the Sports Collectors Store in Chicago (actually in La Grange at the time), along with his copies of the other annual Sport Americana/Beckett guides through 1990. He said that Beckett had a few hardcover copies of the 1980 volume printed and sent to some prominent card dealers, including him.

[Rich Klein]

Bill Dodge once told me the 1981 hardbacks were printed to 10. I believe that as I have known of only 2 in my collecting years.

The 1980 Hardbacks are a bit more available as they were sold that way but collectors using the book actually preferred the soft bound version because of how often those books were used in those days.

And Leon, I have a Rich Klein available from that same set you have featuring Dr. Beckett.

Rich

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

And Leon, I have a Rich Klein available from that same set you have featuring Dr. Beckett.

Rich

alas I am a type card collector.....