Tatoo Orbits R308's

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Posted By: Chad

How tough are these cards? I have to decide whether to pick up a HOFer from this set or to fill out another set I'm working on with commons. I'll probably see the commons again as they're rare, but not super rare and the set isn't commonly collected anyway. Is picking up a Tattoo Orbit a chance I shouldn't miss? The card's in pretty good shape. The edges are a little worn, but the image is strong. Any advice/info is appreciated.

--Chad

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Posted By: peter ullman

they're not that tough...a vg-ex common sold yesterday on ebay for less than $50...a very good deal. you'll obviously pay more for a hof'er.

pete in mn

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Posted By: dd

Pick up the orbit.

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Posted By: Chris Mc

They are rare but what makes them tough is the fact that a lot of them were overdeveloped and thus hard or impossible to read. The set has to be in the top ten. (for being ugly) They surface on ebay every once in a while. If you can read it,it's a hofer, and you want it for a type card I would say pick it up. The moderature dude has a few on his site I think.

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Posted By: Mike

Based on their needing moisture, then their needing to be rubbed piece of paper in order to develop them, this makes them obviously quite difficult to find. Especially in grades 4 and up. I own a Foxx, grade 4, and it is the only one I have seen in years. I would say that if you have a chance to pick up a HOF'r, you should. These cards are considered to be a novelty. They are incredibly rare. But their novelty aspect keeps them affordable. They make for an interesting acquisition. i would go for it.

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Posted By: Chad

I appreciate it. I think I will grab it while I have the chance. The hardest part of this hobby is deciding what not to buy. Sometimes it's tough.

--Chad

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Posted By: davidcycleback

The Orbits are easy to authenticate, as they often have a silver patina or tarnish to the photo surfaces that changes in intensity as you change the angle of the suface to the light. This 'silvering' only happens with age and is a near sure sign a baseball photo or Orbit is vintage.

Below is a picture of a 1920s snapshot with Casey Stengel that has strong silvering in the dark areas of the image. If you change the angle of the photo, the silvering would get darker and lighter.



Luckily for card collectors, this authenticating silvering appears on other early 1900s real photo cards, including the T200s, Fatima Premiums and real photo postcards.

Last, the silvering appears in the very dark areas of the photo. So if your Orbit or other photo is underdeveloped or otherwise overly light, the silvering might not be noticeable.

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Posted By: Chad

Makes me even more confident about buying the card. I'm accidentallt putting together a pretty cool 1930's type collection. I've got 2 different German issues, 2 different Venezuelan issues, plus a decent # of American issues. I'm so stupid, sometimes I'm smart!

--Chad

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Posted By: leon

If you think R308's are tough try finding a type 2. They are much larger and only had 2 players, I believe. I have seen a total of 2. One of them Lew Lipset sold on ebay a few years ago and my good friend Lyman outsniped me. No harm there as it happens all of the time...sometimes I win sometimes I don't. I pleaded ever since then to get that card from Lyman, but no way was he letting go. I even offered a decent Lone Jack (baseball)...and no dice. About 6-8 months ago one went semi-unnoticed on ebay and I hit a BIN for about $500.... one of the best $500 I have spent in the hobby.....

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Posted By: fkw

Nice ones with good contrast are tough!

The small ones are seen every once in a while (sometimes in groups), the large one are seen once every couple years if that. I have seen 2 large ones (both Foxx) on eBay, and at least 2-3 dozen small in last 5-6 years or so. Sometimes you will see a seller who has quite a few of the small ones listed at same time, that is the best time to pick them up as there is less fighting over them. I used to pick them up for under $10 but I think those days are gone.

There was also a related album on eBay not too long ago that was full of them and I believe many cards were othersport or nonsport.

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Posted By: leon

My thought on scarcity is the type 1's are scarce and the Type 2's are next to impossible. I have been avidly collecting for almost 10 yrs and have seen 3 total Type 2's for sale. Of those 3, 2 were the same card auctioned in different places. Lew had one in one of his auctions, it didn't sell, and he sold it on ebay....as I stated previously....Here is the album. It had about 4-5 baseball cards in it and the rest are Hollywood stars. It has 4 pages with places for 96 cards in total. The back page has a place for 12 more. Each space has one word in it until the theme is finished...and says " Each Surprise Photograph has a number _ small figures near the bottom. Paste your Surprise Photographs in these spaces according to number on each photograph. Collect the whole set of Movie, Radio,__, Theatrical, __, also other Famous People. Makes a most _ and valuable collection. Anywhere you see a space has a card and I don't want to take anymore out. I went in on this with someone else. He took most of the baseball cards and I took the album and several stars cards....Hope this helps....

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Posted By: Rick McQuillan

I picked these up a while ago. They are ugly, but interesting. Rick

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Posted By: brian p

Heck on a stick this message could have just as easily been placed in the best steals seen on ebay thread. My Type 2 R308 came to me completely by accident. A lot on ebay about three years ago was listed something like "Photographic card". I noticed that it was a R308, and I ended up winning it at the opening amount of $5.00, which I thought was a pretty good deal. Imagine my amazement when I received the card (my first R308) in the mail and it was huge--I had to double check the measurements with the guidebooks. Eventually I had to find another Pepper Martin R308, this time a Type 1, and pay over twice the amount to have the smaller, more common version in my collection, and in lesser condition.

So the moral of this story is always put a quarter next to your card when selling on ebay--that way people can get an idea of the scale.

Brian