Sadaharu Oh

[Frankish]

Originally Posted by seanofjapan

You've got a really good Sadaharu Oh card there. The round one on the right is from the 1965 Giants Furikake menko set. Its extremely rare, fewer than five copies are known to exist. I have one too, I wrote a bit about it here:

http://baseballcardsinjapan.blogspot...-oh-cards.html

Thanks, that was a cool read.

Since I have your attention and you are much more knowledgeable than me, I wanted to ask your thoughts on the total populations of these cards.

For instance this 1965 Furikake Oh card. I have a copy (and am not a serious collector) and you have one...I'd be inclined to think that here are hundreds out there. Maybe fewer than five have been reported at some central forum or registry, but could it just be that vintage card collecting never had the same devotion in Japan that it had in the US? If prices make it worthwhile, I'd expect some enterprising Japanese dealers to start unearthing pretty significant quantities.

Also in this thread, the OP has a copy of the '59 pitcher-back Oh rookie card. I also have that card and saw another one sell at auction last week. Could it really be as rare as reported?

I don't mean to be flippant, am just genuinely curious as I've only gotten into Japanese cards in the past couple of years. My general opinion on this evolved from the large number of Engel's rated R5 cards that I've picked up in that time. Admittedly, there might not be much of a market for some, especially the lesser known names, but I find it hard to believe I have one of only four or five known copies of so many cards. I've found half a dozen in the last two weeks.

Anyway, hope you don't mind the inquiry. I'm not sure where else to ask!