Vintage Oddball or Rare/Scarce?

[Mbjerry]

I just entered the vintage world last year. Looking for advice or information on how to find oddball vintage cards that the herd isn't chasing. For budget reasons and interest, I seem to gravitate to the stuff the crowds aren't after. Overlooked and undervalued all time greats is one way I have been doing this. But now I would also like to look at less desired (more rare) stuff. That is the tricky part for me is finding more rare or scarce items that aren't also highly sought after. Any recommendations on specific sets/years/types to look for? Any recommendations on how to identify this stuff? Any help would really be appreciated. I am most comfortable in the under $200 range. Thanks!

[quitcrab]

I love the oddball issues, but the price has really gone up on most issues. Bazooka, Transogram, Kellogg’s, Dexter Press, Nabisco are all great!
Topps has plenty of sub sets and oddball issues to chase too… I love the 64 stand ups and the 69 supers.
Good luck on your quest
Scott

[ripfan008]

Good afternoon,

You may want to start by buying and flipping through the 2012 Standard Catalog and just to see all of the obscure sets that are out there.

Reading the late Bob Lemke's blog is another good source to find more obscure issues.

http://boblemke.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

I love the oddball issues, but the price has really gone up on most issues. Bazooka, Transogram, Kellogg’s, Dexter Press, Nabisco are all great!
Topps has plenty of sub sets and oddball issues to chase too… I love the 64 stand ups and the 69 supers.
Good luck on your quest
Scott

Thanks Scott. I really haven't looked at many of these. I am going to check them out! I guess they are going up with the rest of the hobby. Appreciate you sharing.

[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by ripfan008

Good afternoon,

You may want to start by buying and flipping through the 2012 Standard Catalog and just to see all of the obscure sets that are out there.

Reading the late Bob Lemke's blog is another good source to find more obscure issues.

http://boblemke.blogspot.com/

Good luck!

That looks like a great blog! Looks like I could spend hours on it. lol. I am going to order that catalog now. Thanks!

[todeen]

69 Deckle Edge is a great start! HOF'ers on the cheap.

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[Lucas00]

Some great cheap odder issues.
1968 Topps game set
1964 Topps giants
1967 Topps pin ups
1961-63 Post cereal
1963 Fleer baseball (my favorite pick)

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Some great cheap odder issues.
1968 Topps game set
1964 Topps giants
1967 Topps pin ups
1961-63 Post cereal
1963 Fleer baseball (my favorite pick)

I'll second that 63 Fleer pick...great set, good amount of HOFer's, and considering the population counts it's my contention these cards are undervalued. The Mays and Clemente are classics...and I love the checklist!

[jchcollins]

+1 for '63 Fleer. Sleeper set with some fantastic players that look great.

[Mbjerry]

Thank you all for the replies. I have written down all the suggestions to go start hunting. I did recently buy a NM/MT 63 Fleer Koufax and loved the card and the price! Ill check out some of the other HOFers in that set.

[Zach Wheat]

Might also want to consider the Milk Duds or Kellogg's run of cards. You can collect the complete Milk Dud boxes or the relatively cheap clipped/cut cards. There is a wide range of prices sufficient to suit any collecting criteria.

Regarding Kellogg's - the key is collecting cards which aren't cracked. The cracking often times is difficult to accurately detect in the photos online.

Good luck and have fun!

[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by Zach Wheat

Might also want to consider the Milk Duds or Kellogg's run of cards. You can collect the complete Milk Dud boxes or the relatively cheap clipped/cut cards. There is a wide range of prices sufficient to suit any collecting criteria.

Regarding Kellogg's - the key is collecting cards which aren't cracked. The cracking often times is difficult to accurately detect in the photos online.

Good luck and have fun!

Thanks for the heads up on the Kellogg's! Anything to look for on any of the other recommended sets?

[quitcrab]

1955 Topps double headers.So undervalued in my mind.
1964 bazooka stamps are cool…. Only 100 players.
1971 Topps greatest moments…. Expensive but so freakin cool!

[Harliduck]

Originally Posted by quitcrab

1955 Topps double headers.So undervalued in my mind.
1964 bazooka stamps are cool…. Only 100 players.
1971 Topps greatest moments…. Expensive but so freakin cool!

Every time Jolly posts a 71 Greatest Moments I want to jump in...then the prices bring me back to reality. So cool, and I do have to imagine they are very good investments. I have to pull the trigger on the Killebrew card as it's one of the few I need. But yes, those are sweet...

[BobC]

Would also suggest looking at the 1964 Auravision records/cards. Small, but extremely star studded set, very reasonable prices for them, and I think they are arguably some of the greatest, most clear and stunning photos of players from the 50s and 60s that are out there. In person and in hand, they are absolutely gorgeous, and not too difficult to find in great shape.

Also, at least for some time in the past as far as I can remember, one of the few sets where the Willie Mays card was actually more valuable than Mickey Mantle's as Mays was supposedly a short print, if memory serves me correctly.

[Exhibitman]

I dunno if this fits your era but there are a whole slew of oddball sets from the 1960s-1970s that are challenging and fun. Some can run a few bucks but nothing compared to earlier cards. Some examples

1960 and 1961 Nu Card. People are starting to realize that this set has career-contemporary cards of Aaron, Mays, Musial, Williams (1960), McCovey RC, and some others I don't recall. Slabbed can cost you but nice raw cards are still a deal.




1968 Atlantic Oil. Forty cards mostly HOFers. The game ticket packaging makes condition an issue but if you don't insist on high grade there are plenty of career-contemporary HOFers for reasonable prices.



1961-63 Post and Jello cards are very reasonable.

[ValKehl]

1961 7-11 set. The cards are so ugly that hardly anyone collects them. I have only this one card from this set, because Runnels was my favorite player when I was a kid.

[Zach Wheat]

Val,

The 7-11 card looks like it was typed on a typewriter!

[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I dunno if this fits your era but there are a whole slew of oddball sets from the 1960s-1970s that are challenging and fun. Some can run a few bucks but nothing compared to earlier cards. Some examples

1960 and 1961 Nu Card. People are starting to realize that this set has career-contemporary cards of Aaron, Mays, Musial, Williams (1960), McCovey RC, and some others I don't recall. Slabbed can cost you but nice raw cards are still a deal.




1968 Atlantic Oil. Forty cards mostly HOFers. The game ticket packaging makes condition an issue but if you don't insist on high grade there are plenty of career-contemporary HOFers for reasonable prices.



1961-63 Post and Jello cards are very reasonable.

These are some cool cards! I love those Nu Cards. Haven’t seen those before. Thank you!


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[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

1961 7-11 set. The cards are so ugly that hardly anyone collects them. I have only this one card from this set, because Runnels was my favorite player when I was a kid.

Man those are ugly. Lol


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[steve B]

The 1969 MLB sports collectors "stamp" set has always been affordable.

[philliesfan]

My choice would be to go after the 1964 Topps Stand Up set or the 1971 Greatest Moments.

[mrmopar]

Sometimes just patience and a little luck. Bargains for almost anything older is a ship that has mostly set sail, but you can find some deals if you are looking in the right place and at the right time. I was fortunate to dabble in some of the oddball sets at a decent time. My purchases were almost always Dodger related, so good in that regard. Bad in that I passed on adding other players or issues if there wasn't a Dodger or former/future Dodger. I sometimes wish I had focused even more on it when I did, but without an endless stream of money, I was always missing out on something. Heck, I will go through my vintage Topps and Bowman stuff and often realize with some level of shock that I am grossly underrepresented in certain sets, besides the Dodgers.

A lot of the real obscure stuff has fewer people fighting over it, but those people are not messing around and if they still need it, forget about it.

[Clutch-Hitter]

Gorgeous!

[Mbjerry]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I dunno if this fits your era but there are a whole slew of oddball sets from the 1960s-1970s that are challenging and fun. Some can run a few bucks but nothing compared to earlier cards. Some examples

1960 and 1961 Nu Card. People are starting to realize that this set has career-contemporary cards of Aaron, Mays, Musial, Williams (1960), McCovey RC, and some others I don't recall. Slabbed can cost you but nice raw cards are still a deal.




1968 Atlantic Oil. Forty cards mostly HOFers. The game ticket packaging makes condition an issue but if you don't insist on high grade there are plenty of career-contemporary HOFers for reasonable prices.



1961-63 Post and Jello cards are very reasonable.

Picked this one up in the Net54 marketplace yesterday. Thanks for the suggestion.




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[Exhibitman]

Also consider team issues, McCarthy postcards, and picture packs. They are kind of the wild west--little cataloguing, lots of BS--but present some great early cards of postwar players, sometimes for a pittance compared to other career-issued sets.

1962-65 Jays Publishing:



1966 McCarthy PC (happens to be signed):



Boston TI's:

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

1961 7-11 set. The cards are so ugly that hardly anyone collects them. I have only this one card from this set, because Runnels was my favorite player when I was a kid.

I once owned an antique convertible that a friend of mine who was a collector described as "rare and undesirable."

[tod41]

1972 Pro Star Promotions.