1932 Sanella Babe Ruth - Wisdom Wanted

[sandmountainslim]

I like the card and would like to own one but I see so MANY of them for sale on ebay it makes me wonder if the card was not reprinted at some point in Post War Germany. If not then a LOT of them survived the Third Reich and WW2! Of course a bunch could have came on the market from the east after German Reunification.
Still I am a little leary of them. I bid 90 bucks for one a couple weeks ago and it ended up going for 112 or so. I would be afraid to give more than 100 for a slabbed example honestly.

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by sandmountainslim

I like the card and would like to own one but I see so MANY of them for sale on ebay it makes me wonder if the card was not reprinted at some point in Post War Germany. If not then a LOT of them survived the Third Reich and WW2! Of course a bunch could have came on the market from the east after German Reunification.
Still I am a little leary of them. I bid 90 bucks for one a couple weeks ago and it ended up going for 112 or so. I would be afraid to give more than 100 for a slabbed example honestly.

As I have posted, I have the entire set and the Album titled "Handbuch des Sports", that contains all these Sports cards....its Copyright is 1932.

All these Sportscards (including Babe Ruth) were printed and issued circa 1932.

Originally Posted by tedzan

Illustrated here is the page in the 119-page Sanella Album with the Babe Ruth card.






Another page features an Olympic (5 Gold Medals) speed Skater Clas Thunberg card....and, a card depicting the famous Heavyweight Fight between
Max Schmeling and Jack Sharkey in New York City in 1932 (Sharkey won).






TED Z
.

[sandmountainslim]

I understand it was copyright 1932 and was printed during that period. I am just saying that I have no way of knowing additional copies have not been printed in Germany (or elsewhere) since the end of WW2 or in modern times.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by sandmountainslim

I understand it was copyright 1932 and was printed during that period. I am just saying that I have no way of knowing additional copies have not been printed in Germany (or elsewhere) since the end of WW2 or in modern times.

This could be said about any card.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by sandmountainslim

I understand it was copyright 1932 and was printed during that period. I am just saying that I have no way of knowing additional copies have not been printed in Germany (or elsewhere) since the end of WW2 or in modern times.

I am assuming you are pondering the matter of purchasing a period Babe Ruth strictly to own and enjoy for your collection, not to flip it in 6 months.

It's a very common concern among us as to whether there's actually "a ton of them out there that haven't been graded". Compounded by the fear a huge find of unsold stock of the Sanellas with come on the market. Come on, now, the chance of a find is something each of us lives with. Are you really enjoying yourself being consumed with such a preoccupation with the thoughts you expressed?

OK, so the Sanella is a rather common Ruth. It certainly is a recognizable image of the Babe. Are you despondent over the thought if you bought the card, everybody else on Net54 probably has one as well? I can understand that to a point, honestly, but if you wind up buying the Sanella Babe, and somehow allow yourself the luxury of showing it off to any of us, it might really surprise you how few of us own one.

If you confine yourself to the known rarities that also happen to be beautiful, such as the 1914 Baltimore News, but no doubt that was not your intention, triple negative not withstanding!

A Sanella is regarded much more highly than the beautiful Golden Press Hall of Fame, or 1949 Leaf, or a Kellogg's / Rold Gold 3-D. OK, most would not put a Sanella above the Leaf; I just feel the former has so much more eye-appeal, and is very much a career period card. The Leaf was produced in honor of Babe's sad passing, and moreover, many guys collect this set. A Sanella is a lot more respectable than a 1935 4-in-1 Goudey; again, the Sanella has so much more eye candy over the four-players to a card Goudey. I'm sure you weren't contemplating a modern Ruth, though a POST-WAR thread was initiated in the past few days about what modern Ruths are recommended to own, and in which you yourself chimed in.

Though the Sanella is almost paper-thin, so are the 1914-15 Cracker Jack. Once graded by PSA, immediately the card carries more cache, security, and finally the definite weight gain that always seems to help the collector, psychologically, with his thin cards.

A lot of thoughts here, and most I gave are to jar you on how you're coming across. I could use that right now, probably. It goes back to "supply and demand". Sanellas have a strong supply, but you and I are pretty aware of the massive demand for George Herman. I say spend your time finding a specimen that really does it for you, having the characteristics of a card you love, and buy it. Your bread in exchange for some vintage butter that has aged beautifully. Not trying to butter you up, bub, but judging from Babe's white cap on the Sanella, the original photo was taken when The Babe was becoming THE BAMBINO.

My nickel pack's worth. ---Brian Powell

PS---Don't waste your money on buying an entire set, just to get the Babe, unless the raw Ruth is outstanding, and the set price is not much more expensive than a nice graded Ruth itself. Again, if the Babe in a set or major group really pushes your button, OK, but factor in the probable grade PSA will give it, and its value for that grade. Remember, don't be too liberal gauging the grade YOU THINK PSA will award it.

[Jobu]

I think the reason they are so readily available at reasonable price has more to do with demand than supply or reprint fears. Obviously they printed a lot of them - the PSA pop for all variations combined is about 1,000 and we can assume that there are many ungraded. However, with Sanellas people don't hold them tightly or hoard them unlike, say, 33 Goudey Ruths (where PSA has graded 850-1000 of each of the 4 poses) - but there is a much higher demand and therefore higher prices in spite of the fact that there are a lot more of each graded Goudey Ruth than there are of each graded Sanella.

[drcy]

I had a PSA graded one a few years back and it was definitely from the 1930s. I examined it under the microscope and it used a type of ink that was discontinued in the 1930s.

[sandmountainslim]

Originally Posted by Jobu

I think the reason they are so readily available at reasonable price has more to do with demand than supply or reprint fears. Obviously they printed a lot of them - the PSA pop for all variations combined is about 1,000 and we can assume that there are many ungraded. However, with Sanellas people don't hold them tightly or hoard them unlike, say, 33 Goudey Ruths (where PSA has graded 850-1000 of each of the 4 poses) - but there is a much higher demand and therefore higher prices in spite of the fact that there are a lot more of each graded Goudey Ruth than there are of each graded Sanella.

Thank you. That is what I was wondering. It just seemed strange to me so many are around in this country in such fine shape considering their origin was Weimar Germany during such a turbulent period. Assuming many fewer people collect them than the Goudey cards would help explain why you see them for sale so often.

[Jobu]

As for the condition, Sanella distributed a lot of the albums like the one Ted posted, so it makes sense that many survive in high grades because lots of cards were immediately stored flat in books.