Liquidity & Investing vs collecting

[ls7plus]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Any card can be reprinted but I do understand what you are saying Larry. Like anything, you must do your homework. There are many minor league issues that have the serial number on the card or the sealed set like the Jeter Little Sun. For someone to actually want to do a reprint of a minor league card should be a sign that it's worth some money and the demand is there. Even if a minor league card got reprinted (which is rare IMO) then how close does it come to population numbers of the MLB RC of that player???

The Modesto As Big Mac card was a perfect example too! I have a dozen of uncut sheets of that issue I bought at the National, back when the Dead Sea was only sick! But I'll still take Alomar Witchita Rocks, Pawtucket Clemons, Pittsfield Maddux, and West Palm Vladimir cards all day long as I'd. Be shocked if anyone reprinted them along with the original printer.

With all due respect, I think you misunderstood my post, which was likely my fault. By "reprinted," I meant "reissued," i.e., a second or even series of subsequent printings BY THE ORIGINAL ISSUER FROM THE ORIGINAL PLATE! THESE ARE INDISTINGUISHABLE FROM THE SO-CALLED ORIGINALS, AND CONSEQUENTLY, RATHER THAN A FINITE SUPPLY OF THE CARDS, THERE IS A POTENTIALLY INFINITE AMOUNT THAT MAY BE MADE AVAILABLE WHENEVER THE CARD'S VALUE WARRANTS THE EXPENSE. I am most decidedly NOT talking about taking a photograph of an original card, and making a plate from that in order to produce reprints! A reissue, i.e., more run off from the original plate, will demonstrate the proper, linear dot pattern of any other "original," whereas a "reprint" made through the latter process yields a random dot pattern. The latter can be readily distinguished from the "originals" through magnification, whereas the former cannot, unless different card stock is mistakenly used.

And in practicality, it is certainly NOT true that any card can be "reprinted" in this fashion. IMHO, it is a virtual certainty that the vast majority of original plates from which "original" vintage cards (read "pre-war") can be made have long since ceased to exist. More modern card manufacturers, such as Topps, cannot run the risk of making more "original" cards from their original printing plates because doing so would bring about a total loss of credibility in the marketplace and thus their ruination, even should original plates from the '50's or '60's continue to exist (personally, I doubt that they do, but one never knows for sure).

With minor league cards, however, the printing of such cards was often a one or two-time thing, and there is no effective policing whatsoever with regard to printing more from the original plates when the original issuer determines that added revenue may well be worth it, which is precisely what occurred with both the Mattingly and Modesto McGwire. At the risk of redundancy, THE SUPPLY OF MANY SUCH CARDS DEPENDS ONLY UPON THE CHARACTER OF THE ORIGINAL ISSUER, AND IS POTENTIALLY UNLIMITED! Which is why I concluded with "caveat emptor." It is risky in the extreme to buy into any collectible market under such circumstances.

Best of luck to you in your collecting,

Larry