T206 ??? RE: Wagner & Plank

[Leon]

Originally Posted by mullinsm

I think this is spot on. The legend of the Wagner and Plank T206 cards is so great that it affects the value of their cards from other sets. They were outstanding players in their own right, which doesn't hurt, but it's hard to say either name without immediately thinking of their famous cards.

Almost no doubt T206 has raised all Wags's values.

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by Leon

Almost no doubt T206 has raised all Wags's values.

And vice versa.

[clydepepper]

I think the Wagner card would be in the Cobb range, slightly higher than Mathewson and Johnson. If there were no history of 'the card', Wagner would still hang in there with the rest of the initial HOF class IMHO.

Also entering into the 'formula' are the afore-mentioned fact that there is only the one T206 for Wagner and he is also considered an upper tier HOFer.

As far as Plank is concerned, his single card value would be a tad under Mathewson and Johnson, but slightly lower still if there were multiple poses/cards available.

Good discussion topic.

[Pilot172000]

Great topic! Love the discussion. My opinion is that Wagner would correlate with Cobb and no less than say Tris Speaker/Lajoie. When I think about Gettysburg Eddie, Mordecai Brown fits the profile exactly. He wouldn't quite be in the Matty/WoJo catagory but a good bit above Bender/Joss/Willis

[Bliggity]

Another interesting question is how much the Wagner would be worth if it were a card of a common player, rather than Wagner. Combined pop reports show about 500 graded examples of O'Hara and Demmitt (so maybe 300-400 if we account for crackouts and crossovers), and there are maybe 50 Wagners. So if O'Hara and Demmitt are about $3K in VG condition, where would that put a "common" Wagner? Maybe $10K? Or maybe even north of Magie, since there are more Magie errors than Wagners?

I realize that the existence of Wagner is what drives pricing for the entire set, so it's kind of an impossible hypothetical.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Originally Posted by Bliggity

Another interesting question is how much the Wagner would be worth if it were a card of a common player, rather than Wagner.

An iconic vintage set with the rarest card being a common - reminds me of the 1894 Mayo set on the football side - I wonder what the AH descriptions would be like - would they try to prop the player up? (John Dunlop is often referred to as the holy grail or some such hyperbole - it usually isn't explained that he wasn't one of the star players on his college team).

Would T206 be less popular if there weren't any really rare HOF cards? I would think more people may start the set if they knew they had a shot at finishing it, but maybe I'm way off.