Negro League Baseball Collectibles Update

[bcbgcbrcb]

Definitely lots of private transactions in this segment of the hobby and no way to track those, of course.

But for those public auction items, as previously mentioned, prices spiked during the selling of the key items of the Merkin collection by Hake's a few years back. However, very strong prices on Negro League items were also realized at the same time by REA, Huggins & Scott, Heritage and others so we can't just attribute everything to the Merkin collection.

It is my opinion that collecting Negro League material suddenly became the "en vogue" thing when all of the Merkin stuff plus others hit the market over a relatively short period of time. When things started to dry up, those collectors maybe got out of the market and moved on to other things.

Do you think I am on the right track towards explaining things here? Could it be simply one or two individuals that made all the difference in market fluctuations?

[Scocs]

Phil,

I think demand is still strong for:

a) HOFers and near-HOFers
b) High-end condition, which for most of these Cuban issues is anything over VG-EX

I have had the pleasure to interact with many Negro/Cuban League collectors I have met on this Forum over the past three years. I know it's a tight-knit community but I don't think the same two or three items are merely changing hands between just two or three collectors.

-- Scott

[bcbgcbrcb]

Good points, Scott. Your expertise appears to be very strong on the cards side, i.e.-Aguilitas, Tomas Gutierrez, Nacionales, etc.

My collecting focus has been much more on the postcards and photos side, particularly team images. That is where I am coming from with most of my comments and related discussion.

[Scocs]

Phil,

As much as I rail against the Vintage BBC price guide -- at least there is a price guide that catalogs most if not all of the Negro/Cuban cards. You are not so lucky when it comes to photos and postcards. To be honest, that aspect kind of scared me off from collecting that type of material. There seems to be no kind of objective gauge by which to measure "value" and "worth".

And yes, my interest is in the cards, but some of the original photos and real pcs are breathtaking and truly museum-quality pieces.

[bcbgcbrcb]

Scott:

As I started shifting my collecting focus more and more to Negro League baseball items a few years back, I too noticed that there was very little reference material on the subject. Thus, I began a year-long research project that culminated with the publication of my Negro League Baseball Collectibles Guide. This reference tool includes a whole section devoted to cards and another section devoted to postcards, photos, programs, scorecards, broadsides, etc. I still have some copies available if interested, they are $29.95 plus $6.10 for USPS Priority Mail.

[Scocs]

I already own a copy, Phil. If you weren't going to mention it, I would have! 👍

[Kenny Cole]

Originally Posted by Scocs

Phil,

As much as I rail against the Vintage BBC price guide -- at least there is a price guide that catalogs most if not all of the Negro/Cuban cards. You are not so lucky when it comes to photos and postcards. To be honest, that aspect kind of scared me off from collecting that type of material. There seems to be no kind of objective gauge by which to measure "value" and "worth".

And yes, my interest is in the cards, but some of the original photos and real pcs are breathtaking and truly museum-quality pieces.

Back in about 2001, Bob Lemke approached Ryan Christoff about pricing the Cuban cards. Ryan recruited Matt Goebel and I to help him. We spent quite a bit of time on it, pricing the Billikens, both Aguilitas sets, the TGs and the Nacionales. I don't remember doing the Cabanas and am sure that we didn't do the Punch or Mallorquinas. I'm not sure any of us even knew they existed. I know that I didn't.

In any event, once those prices got published, they sort of stayed there. Maybe Ryan updated them, but I know that I didn't assist. I agree that the prices are waaaaay old and stagnant. My guess is that if Ryan did update them, he only did that for a few years and that was it. That is likely why they are where they are.

[Scocs]

Thank you for the info, Kenny. I never knew that!