1933 George C Miller discussion

[Mrvintage]

That's a nice Lefty!!!!! Sweet card Brad.

[steve B]

I've been lucky to pick up eight of them since 1979 or so. The first few from the shop I hung out at, the most recent off Ebay, where it was listed as "old baseball card" for $40 opener. Nobody else bid, probably because the listing had all the traits of fakery except grandpas attic.




As far as I know they're all tough. There are also two backs, and one may be harder than the other. I don't have both, but I've seen both in a small lot I got to look at, maybe 30-40 cards? Mostly vg, and I think the two backs were about equal. I should have bought at least one, but they were just too much at the time.

There's at least one uncut partial sheet out there. It was on the TTS cover in maybe 1980. Everyone local was a bit put out, the dealer found it on a buying trip to Boston.

The set was also in book of lists as part of a list of the 10 rarest baseball cards. And aside from the Wagner, Plank and Lajoie I think it's the only one that still has any major following.

Steve B

[leftygrove10]

The Grove that I posted above is a Type I back. The Klein below is an example of the Type II back.

[leftygrove10]

Some of the cards were also punch cancelled. The Hafey below is an example.

[benjulmag]

Between the artistic quality of the cards (so representative of the era), the importance of the players depicted and the challenge to finding cards, this is my favorite 1930's set with no close second. Kudos to Mrvintage for initiating this thread.

[HRBAKER]

My favorite set of the 30's as well, narrowly over the Butter Creams.

[Mrvintage]

Jeff that Gehringer is a beauty and you already know how I feel about the Foxx that you have there. Is the Gehringer in an authentic holder because it is a bit short? I have had around 30 Millers at one time or another, but like an idiot I sold them all a few years back. The only one that I currently own is a psa 3.5 Oscar Mellilo. I always keep coming back to this set though and hopefully this time I will be able to show more patience and try to collect them all. In my experience Bill Dickey seems to be pretty tough to find. I've never collected any of the cut or punched cards, but even those are tough to find. As far as the backs I believe that the type 1 backs are thought to be the original printing and can easily be distinguished because they misspelled Foxx as Fox and Klein as Klien. Personally I have found the type 1 cards to be more difficult to find, but I can't really say whether or not they command a premium.

[HRBAKER]

No the Gehringer does not appear to be short. It does have some paper loss on the back that may account for the grade. I have always loved these, it's a tough set to build. Imagine what a Ruth and Gehrig would bring!

[murcerfan]

I started this set 10 years ago as a side project (either back).
Have all in sgc/psa 2 or better except:

Waner, P
Grove
Foxx
Dean
Bottomly


Money could have bought any of them, but my bids/pockets were shy.
So I consider them tough(er), I also found Hafey and Heyworth hard to find in anything but poor condition.

McKee is the expert.

[murcerfan]

I found the Bartell and Grimm cards the easiest.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Mrvintage

Jeff that Gehringer is a beauty and you already know how I feel about the Foxx that you have there. Is the Gehringer in an authentic holder because it is a bit short? I have had around 30 Millers at one time or another, but like an idiot I sold them all a few years back. The only one that I currently own is a psa 3.5 Oscar Mellilo. I always keep coming back to this set though and hopefully this time I will be able to show more patience and try to collect them all. In my experience Bill Dickey seems to be pretty tough to find. I've never collected any of the cut or punched cards, but even those are tough to find. As far as the backs I believe that the type 1 backs are thought to be the original printing and can easily be distinguished because they misspelled Foxx as Fox and Klein as Klien. Personally I have found the type 1 cards to be more difficult to find, but I can't really say whether or not they command a premium.

Interesting, all of mine are type 1. All but one were picked up here in the Boston area. I wonder if there was a more local distribution followed by a larger more national one?

Steve B

[spec]

Originally Posted by steve B

Interesting, all of mine are type 1. All but one were picked up here in the Boston area. I wonder if there was a more local distribution followed by a larger more national one?

Steve B

Steve's speculation seems on target. My set, built during many years in the Boston area, includes only one Type 2. As for individual scarcities, I never found any card more difficult than the others. Bruce's observation that he had the most trouble finding Melillo is an example of how small population samples can give a less-than precise picture since I found Melillo to be the most abundant.
Bob Richardson