19th Century Cards

[Wanaselja]

I'm not sure I agree with the above comment. I don't think grading has anything to do with it. If you've been paying attention to the current market it's been gradually moving back in time. The boom started w/ modern and moved back into Junk Wax and is now in post war. I imagine pre war will be next and so on. I think as each market gets beyond the reach of most collectors they start to look elsewhere for value.

I think the biggest thing 19th Century cards suffer from is the dominance of Wagner, Cobb, Matty, Johnson, Cy Young, Lajoie, Speaker etc. in the narrative of the first stars of the game coupled with the inaugural HOF induction class. Even seasoned fans and collectors tend to think of the game that we know today starting with that crop of stars.

Maybe I'm wrong in all of this but as someone who's been collecting on and off since he was 9 and who grew up loving baseball history and being more drawn to it now than ever I tend to view the game as really starting with the above mentioned guys. That being said - as I find myself being priced out of what I like to buy (or not yet able to justify paying double etc) I've found myself in the last few days looking into 19th Century. Mouschi's post (and past posts) certainly helped in that regards.