1933 low-number Goudeys, a key question

[T206Collector]

Set Production

The 1933 Goudey cards were produced with vivid colors and sensational artwork showing both portrait and action shots. They were printed on ten 24 card sheets that were released throughout 1933, with each card measuring roughly 2 3/8" by 2 7/8".

Sheet 1 (cards 1-5, 25-35 & 45-52), sheet 2 (cards 6-24 & 36-40), sheet 3 (cards 41-44, 58-67, 75-79 & 92-96), sheet 4 (cards 100-105, 115-120 & 130-141), sheet 5 (53-57, 68-74 & 80-91), sheet 6 (cards 143-165 with card 144 printed twice), and sheet 7 (cards 166-189), all have the red label at the bottom of the cards that reads "Big League Chewing Gum".

Sheet 8 (cards 190-213), sheet 9 (cards 97-99, 128-129, 142 & 214-231), and sheet 10 (cards 107-114, 121-127 & 232-240) have no label on the front of the card. The final production sheet contains an equal number of players from the 1933 World Series teams, the Washington Senators and New York Giants. While the exact release date of sheet 10 is not known, we can assume it was sometime after October 7, 1933 since the write-ups on the backs of these cards reference World Series events.

Series Pricing

The 1933 Goudey set is broken into two sections for pricing. Sheets 1 and 2 are considered the "low number" cards. They were printed on inferior cardboard compared to the remainder of the sheets and, as a result, are much more difficult to locate in high grade today. The Sports Market Report (SMR) lists the value of PSA 8 low series commons at $1,000. That is roughly a 235% premium to the $425 SMR value of cards from the other series or sheets.

In fact, it's not even close to a true representation of market value. It's not uncommon for low population cards from the first two production sheets to sell at fifteen to twenty times their SMR value. With a large number of people competing to build the set in high grade, low population cards are gobbled up when they re-enter the market and you can "throw out" any price guides that are published.

[GregMitch34]

Wonder if anyone else wants to add their favorite example of pricing way out of whack with pop report--often it's a "variation" or higher number where pop is virtually same as main card but price much, much higher....