Eddie Plank

[steve B]

I'm sort of surprised to see this question here. Other sites it would be less of a surprise.


Basically, it's from one of the most popular sets ever. Part of that popularity is availability, someones first prewar card is often a T206. Another part of that popularity is the Honus Wagner card.

A bit of the rest is that the Plank T206 is far from common. Using the population reports however flawed gives at least a rough idea. Wagners - 46 from PSA/SGC combined. Plank - 101 combined. Magie - 177 combined.

The three things that make for a valuable card or any other collectible for that matter are - A great subject, just enough rarity to matter, and a good story. Plank is certainly rare enough, and for years the story was that the card was rare because the printing plate broke. (It might actually be that the story about the Wagner card is actually about Plank. ) He's hardly an unheard of player, he may not get the attention of a Cobb or Wagner, but he was a great player. Only a small handful of players will continue to have an overall public popularity at a high level for a century or more.

Now a better question is whether the rarity, popularity and value of the T206 has made the rest of Planks cards more valuable. I'd say that's probably true for some of those cards.

Steve B

[Snapolit1]

Thanks Steve for the condescension. I don't collect Tobacco cards, but knew full well where his card fell in the Burdick classification system. Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).
And when you got done denigrating my question, it was kind of you to rephrase the question I actually asked, and then congratulate yourself for doing so.

[packs]

I think it's all about the pose. The E95 sells pretty well too because it's the same image. I also think the image on the Cracker Jack helps it's value too, although it's not the same image. When I look at his Cracker Jack I can't help but think: there's a ballplayer. I've always wanted that card. It also helps that he was a part of the famous Mack teams.

[Sean]

It's probably not the 2nd most valuable any more. I would put it 5th.

1- T206 Wagner
2- Baltimore News Ruth
3- T206 Doyle Nat'l
4- T206 Cobb/ Cobb back
5- T206 Plank

In each of these cases the cards are both rare (ie-total number of cards) and scarce (number of cards relative to demand for the card).

Plank is a rare card from the most popular set ever. You are correct that there are many cards that are more rare than Plank, but there isn't the same demand for these cards.

[Peter_Spaeth]

I think it's the combination of T206 where there are a lot of set completionists, relative scarcity, AND HOFer/300 game winner. I doubt the pose has much to do with it.

[sb1]

what's a discussion without some cards.

[Joshwesley]

Whoa!!!

[Sean]

Originally Posted by sb1

what's a discussion without some cards.

Nice Plank Scott. Here's mine:



scan0038.jpg

[sago]

I think N172 Anson in uniform would easily be in 3rd if one ever hit the marketplace. IIRC, its been at least a decade.

Originally Posted by Sean

It's probably not the 2nd most valuable any more. I would put it 5th.

1- T206 Wagner
2- Baltimore News Ruth
3- T206 Doyle Nat'l
4- T206 Cobb/ Cobb back
5- T206 Plank

In each of these cases the cards are both rare (ie-total number of cards) and scarce (number of cards relative to demand for the card).

Plank is a rare card from the most popular set ever. You are correct that there are many cards that are more rare than Plank, but there isn't the same demand for these cards.

[Baseball Rarities]

Originally Posted by sago

I think N172 Anson in uniform would easily be in 3rd if one ever hit the marketplace. IIRC, its been at least a decade.

Yes, the Anson definitely would.

A Just So Young would as well.
I think that the T210 Jackson would sell for more in comparable grades too.

I am sure that there are more.

[Snapolit1]

Cool stuff. Really cool stuff. Wish I had one.
The answers are essentially that they are scarce and the player was great and demand is high. I guess what I was getting at is why has demand always been high for some cards. I know it's not easy to answer. I have somethings in my collection where they are amazing hall of famers and less than 10 of them have been graded and there is little or no demand for the card. Some Zach Wheat strip cards as one example. Some of them I probably couldn't sell for $250. At some point there is a collective decision by a mass of people that the card is rare and a great player and is aesthetically pleasing. Like the 52 Mantle. I think there is a very subjective aspect to the demand for certain cards. Not saying it's good or bad. Some cards just have that "it" factor. Someone above said "he looks like a ball player". Maybe that's about it.

[swarmee]

Well, your point about strip cards is different though. Just like cards bought direct from manufacturers today, they hold less interest than ones that were pack-pulled. Strip cards were sold in sheets at the store, or given away. They are also normally on lower grade paper than cardstock. So being flimsy and not connected to a brand name (Ginter, Goudey, Piedmont) reduces their interest because they are not "tobacco" or "candy" cards.

The vast majority of strip cards are ungraded, so worrying about the population reports for those issues is not something I would do.

[scooter729]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).

There are most certainly many tobacco cards far rarer than Plank - many with populations in the single digits. But, they are in far less popular sets. It's the extreme popularity of the T206 set, coupled with the low pop of Plank, which make it so desirable. Plank's E104-1 card, for instance, is probably 10x rarer than the T206, but will sell for a small fraction, because the E104-1 set is far less popular and collected than T206.

If there are ~3,000 copies of other regular cards in the T206 set but only 100 - 150 Planks, that makes it 20x - 30x scarcer. Considering he is in the HOF and in such demand, the price tag is not surprising.

[steve B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Thanks Steve for the condescension. I don't collect Tobacco cards, but knew full well where his card fell in the Burdick classification system. Are you telling me there are not rarer tobacco cards? Heritage just sent out a catalog 1000s of tobacco cards. Are you telling me his is the second rarest tobacco card of all time? Would be interesting (and untrue).
And when you got done denigrating my question, it was kind of you to rephrase the question I actually asked, and then congratulate yourself for doing so.

Not intended as condescension.

I suppose - without knowing how long you've collected so I could be way off -it's a bit of the difference between generations. More older collectors are generalists, while people who began more recently tend to specialize. Nothing wrong with either approach, it just means there will be moments where those differences become awkward.

Yes, there are a lot of Tobacco cards that are more rare. There are probably at least a couple sets where there are fewer cards total than Planks.

But rarity isn't everything. There are lots of things that add up to value. I think we're in the same boat as far as having stuff that's more rare than the big ticket items, but won't sell for anywhere near as much. That's unfortunately true for me in all my hobbies. I mean really, that silly upside down airplane stamp! There's almost 100 of them left and yet the stamps I have that were also sold in quantities of say 100 or less won't even bring 1000, let alone a few hundred thousand. Of course, the expensive one is from a very widely collected field, and mine are a lot more obscure, and the errors are a lot less showy.

Steve B

[Snapolit1]

Apparently for years on this board people have argued and debated the very question I asked. And some of them believed theories that others believe they debunked. Others didn't find the question quite as simplistic or uninformed as you did.