1974 Laughlin Old-Time Black Stars - A Set Ahead of its Time

[paleocards]

An update and a plea after the Chicago National. Last year I decided to go after the '78s too and I now have the highest-graded '74 and '78 Laughlin Black Star sets on the PSA registry. Crossed-over seven cards from BVG and SGC to PSA in Chicago, here are the two biggest successes:







Checking the pop report after the National, I was blown away to discover that these five have recently been added to the population:

#15 Satchel Paige (HOF) PSA 9 (Pop 1, none higher)
#16 Louis Santop (HOF) PSA 10 (Pop 1, 3rd "10" ever graded from this set)
#19 Bullet Rogan (HOF) PSA 10 (Pop 1, 4th "10" ever graded from this set)
#31 Bill Monroe PSA 9 (Pop 2, none higher)
#34 Oscar Charleston (HOF) PSA 9 (Pop 2, none higher)

If anyone has these or knows who does, I am VERY interested in obtaining these cards via purchase, trade or a combination. Please PM me.

Thanks.

[Rickyy]

I love these cards it has a certain charm to them and ofcourse the big name stars. I have a Josh Gibson and am glad I got it!

Ricky Y

[paleocards]

As mentioned above, I noticed that the population of PSA 10s had doubled for this set after the National. I had sub'd the first two Gems and they're still monstrously tough for a 40-year-old issue with only 4/705 = 0.57% Gem Mint 10s in the total population.

I am thrilled to report that I was able to track them down and procure both for my collection. I now own all four 10s from the '74 set and the two from the '78.

Of these two new 10s, I'm particularly stoked about the Rogan which has been one of the set's tougher cards. Until this 10 popped, the highest-graded was one PSA 8.5 (no 9s).

Enjoy their pristine beauty!


santop74f_PSA10.jpg rogan_74f_PSA10.jpg

[paleocards]

I was able to procure the three other upgrades to my set and I now am tantalizingly close to my ultimate goal for the 1974 Laughlins: to own the highest-graded example of each card. With these three "9's" below (the Paige is a Pop 1, the others are Pop 2's) I now have the highest PSA-graded example for 31 of the 36 cards in the set.


paige_74f_PSA9.jpg chrlstn74f_PSA9.jpg monroe74f_PSA9.jpg

[laughlinfan]

Beautiful cards, Andy! Not big on grading cards, but those 10's are incredible! As anyone who has ever tried to put one of these sets in pages can attest, these cards are slightly wider than a standard card, which makes any of these cards that were stored/stacked with standard cards very likely to have received dings on the corners or marks on the edges, and those brown borders don't lie!

[Whiffers13]

Are there any short prints in this set? I see folks on eBay claim so every once in awhile but I cannot verify if there is/isn't?.

[laughlinfan]

Hey Whiffers! Welcome aboard!

There are no short prints in the set, as they were all sold as complete sets by Bob and dealers. That being said, there are certain cards that are clearly more popular than others, and the entire set was printed in very low numbers (my educated guess is about 2500 sets or less) so I guess you could really say all cards are "short prints" when compared to most other issues of the day.

Happy collecting!

[ALR-bishop]

Welcome Wiffers--- what else do you collect ?

[paleocards]

Glad to see this thread resuscitated after almost two years! I too would like to welcome Whiffers.

Thought I'd take this opportunity to update you Laughlin collectors on the progress of my '74 & '78 PSA registry sets.

For the '74 set I've recently added the Lloyd (Pop 2, none higher), the Rube Foster (Pop 3, none higher) and the Charlie Grant (Pop 1, & now the 7th PSA 10 extant from the set).

[lloyd_74f_PSA9.jpg fosterr74f_PSA9.jpg c_grant74f_PSA10.jpg


I bought a couple of high-grade '78 sets online late last year, and they produced the Chappie Johnson (Pop 3) and the Crutchfield (Pop 1). I bought the Holloway (Pop 1) slabbed off eBay:

25c_johnson78f_PSA10.jpg 35crutchfield78f_PSA10.jpg holloway78f_PSA10.jpg

[DBesse27]

I love your sets, especially the 74's!

[paleocards]

As of today, I'm very pleased to report that I've been able to upgrade my set to the current Finest Possible GPA and Set Rating. I now own a highest-graded example of all 36 cards in the set, with one-third (12) of them Pop 1's. Many thanks to Brian Hodes, aka BKH, for agreeing to trade me the only three cards on the planet that could allow me to complete this goal. Here are the three 9's (all Pop 1's) that I acquired:

demoss74f_PSA9.jpg beckwith74f_PSA9.jpg wells_74f_PSA9.jpg