Negro League Baseball Collectibles Update

[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!