T206 Lionel Carter vs. Harris Collection

[Exhibitman]

I've been collecting T206 since the 1970s and I never saw purportedly high grade cards in the numbers that have been seen since the Copeland/Harris sales. I've even been in on finds of original accumulations of T cards and they simply do not remain in near pristine condition with normal handling--vg/ex to ex/mt is about the range for the nicest ones but with nice fat borders. My belief is that there are a hell of a lot of hacked T206 'high grade' cards out there. And SGC gets caught sometimes too. I owned an SGC 80 Waddell portrait. Beautiful card except for the trimming. I showed it to Dave Foreman at the National and he acknowledged it was bad and offered to buy it back on the spot to get it out of circulation. When SGC screws up they say so and they take steps to remedy the problem, which is one reason why many vintage card collectors take their work product over PSA's. PSA never admits error without a fistfight.

But I digress. Carter's cards get more respect for all of the reasons others have outlined above. I also know of several collectors who quietly collect Carter-pedigreed cards, which probably helps drive prices too.

[ullmandds]

That brings up a really good point Adam...that some newer high grade collectors may not be aware of...that all of these super high grade cards kinda just appeared outa nowhere!!!!!

That's why I am so skeptical of super high grade cards!

[g_vezina_c55]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

that brings up a really good point adam...that some newer high collectors may not be aware of...that all of these super high grade cards kinda just appeared outa nowhere!!!!!

That's why i am so skeptical of super high grade cards!

x 2

[wonkaticket]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

That brings up a really good point Adam...that some newer high grade collectors may not be aware of...that all of these super high grade cards kinda just appeared outa nowhere!!!!!

That's why I am so skeptical of super high grade cards!

Not out of nowhere. As a person who was collecting before grading and who has handled thousands of T206s in finds and bulk buys like Adam. I can tell you at one time you could lay 100 T206s on a table or stack them and look at them from the side very few were of the exact same size. In fact it wasn't rare or odd to see so many with huge oversized borders top and bottom.

The old timers used to trim down the oversized cards to fit in binder pages and later the oversized cards got whacked down for Copelands and grading games.

That's why today huge big oversized T206s are like the "white" rhino almost all gone and when you see one a huge deal is made out of it calling out its oversized because it seems odd to the newer collector or to let the new buyer know "hey you could trim this one down" wink...wink....

Cheers,

John

[steve B]

Originally Posted by wonkaticket

Not out of nowhere. As a person who was collecting before grading and who has handled thousands of T206s in finds and bulk buys like Adam. I can tell you at one time you could lay 100 T206s on a table or stack them and look at them from the side very few were of the exact same size. In fact it wasn't rare or odd to see so many with huge oversized borders top and bottom.

The old timers used to trim down the oversized cards to fit in binder pages and later the oversized cards got whacked down for Copelands and grading games.

That's why today huge big oversized T206s are like the "white" rhino almost all gone and when you see one a huge deal is made out of it calling out its oversized because it seems odd to the newer collector or to let the new buyer know "hey you could trim this one down" wink...wink....

Cheers,

John

That's pretty much how I recall it. Large cards seemed more common. But there were a lot of undersize ones too.
Looking at my own cards most of which I got pre-grading there's the whole range. I guess it can depend on where you draw the line for high grade too. The best I've gotten is an 84, With a couple cards having nice corners but tiny flaws keeping them in lower grades. (The bulk of my collection is only G, no need to grade most of those. )
In a way I'm glad I didn't try to chase perfect cards. I've got less to worry about as far as trimming.


Steve B

[DeanH3]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

That brings up a really good point Adam...that some newer high grade collectors may not be aware of...that all of these super high grade cards kinda just appeared outa nowhere!!!!!

That's why I am so skeptical of super high grade cards!

This is exactly why have turned into an "armpit" collector. Not sure I could afford 7's, 8's and 9's anyway, but with all that has gone on, I just can't feel cozy about super high grade cards anymore. I have truly come to appreciate well loved cards.