E98 (more discussion)

[Jaybird]

I agree, Rob. Can't have it both ways. Either they were handed out and cherished or handed out and thrown away. Lajoie was a big enough star that he would have been cherished (Especially in Ohio) along the same lines as Cobb and Wagner.

But, I think it odd to think it was short-printed either.

Maybe we find a newspaper article where the Lajoie was a redemption prize. Collect all the cards and turn them in and get a Lajoie. Or an intentional chase card that was printed but not distributed in as high a number? Many theories. Perhaps an article or ad some day will reveal the answer?

[caramelcard]

We can have it both ways if these cards were more prevalent in Ohio.

Edited to add: I see what you guys mean. Yup. you're right.

When I was collecting my master set, I personally never found Lajoie to be difficult to find, but I respect the opinions of others who have...

Rob

[Jaybird]

I don't get it. If they were more prevalent in Ohio, then the people would be holding onto their Lajoies and they would be in old timer's collections, right? Why would the Cobbs and Wagners survive and not the Lajoies if they were more prevalent in Ohio?

[caramelcard]

In terms of this find, it does make sense that Lajoie could've been missing because he was popular and not stored away with the rest of the cards.

But, yes, there should be more Lajoie cards then commons (in my opinion). Again, I do think there are more Lajoie cards then Dahlen, Vaughn, Bridwell, Mclean, Tenny, etc.

Whether or not there are less red Lajoies then other colors is hard to tell. It's the collector's perspective. I had one in my set and never thought about that.

A while back, it was said that red was the toughest E98 color. I didn't find any color to be tougher than another. It's hard to say. Even when you have a large sample like this new find. It could just be a regional thing.

Scott M.'s original find were all green and I believe in the Philly area...

In general, the hall of famers are easier to find with this set. But, all of these cards are pretty hard to find.

Matty is such a great pose that many collectors hold onto it and you didn't see a lot of them surface for quite a while. You see a few more now cuz the $ has brought them to market.

I don't know how popular Walsh was compared to the others, but I have definitely noticed less Walsh cards compared to the other hofers.

Overall though, I do believe with many of the candy sets that were printed in equal numbers that the hofers survived in much greater supply.

[chaddurbin]

i think bob always jump the gun a bit with caramels. imo none of the colors or players were printed more or less. it all depended on distribution method and survival rate on whether they remain today. who knows? there are many more finds like this that will happen well past our lifetimes. this goes for e94s also.

edit: there are no less walshes, or coombs, or vaughns, or red lajoie, or orange chase...just depends on what month it is and whether you're looking for one or not. i've had at least a couple of each on walsh/coombs/vaughn through the years and i wasn't even that hardcore a caramel collector.

[ullmandds]

And the very best thing about this find...is that it's not about T206...and it has people talking about caramels again!!!!!! Hoooorrray Caramels!!!!!

VIVA CARAMELS!!!!!

[Rob D.]

I agree that scarcity often is in the eye of the beholder. I had a heck of a time finding a blue Lajoie in nice shape, so that seemed like the toughest to me. I've seen at least three red Lajoies for sale since I bought mine, albeit all were in rough shape. And I'm not a good one to speculate on overall scarcity of colors, because all I was interested in were the Naps.

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by Rob D.

I agree that scarcity often is in the eye of the beholder. I had a heck of a time finding a blue Lajoie in nice shape, so that seemed like the toughest to me. I've seen at least three red Lajoies for sale since I bought mine, albeit all were in rough shape. And I'm not a good one to speculate on overall scarcity of colors, because all I was interested in were the Naps.

there you go, i remember my best e98 lajoie was a blue psa 4, my green was a 40. i don't remember having an orange, so that's the toughest for me?

[glchen]

I think the Lajoies were handed out first, and the reason why there aren't more is simply that they were lost in time, e.g., as with anything that's ~100 years old, they became well worn and eventually tossed out since no one then knew that baseball cards would have any value.

Does anyone know how Heritage is selling all of the duplicates (e.g, the 40 odd Wagner's and so forth)? It would seem to be better that Heritage slowly sells the dups instead of dumping them all on the market, but who knows. Now that people know that there are all of these high grade cards from this find out there, it may depress prices until they are all sold. Who knows? I, for one, think it would be nice to pick up a Wagner or a Cobb from this find, but I wouldn't know if it'd be better to try to pick one up early or wait until the market settles down.