Undervalued & Underappreciated Hockey & Hoops Cards

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by jb217676

The Test Orr RC is undervalued IMO, it's the '52 Mantle of hockey! Around 100 are believed to exist and a lot of them are really off-centered.

That's a great card. The thing about some of these oddball issues (not the test Orr, which is very valuable) is that sometimes, as a friend of mine says, the only thing lower than the supply is the demand. But ton the plus side as a collector there are many incredible pieces one can pick up at a fraction of what some widely-available, to my mind mediocre cards go for.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The thing about some of these oddball issues (not the test Orr, which is very valuable) is that sometimes, as a friend of mine says, the only thing lower than the supply is the demand. But ton the plus side as a collector there are many incredible pieces one can pick up at a fraction of what some widely-available, to my mind mediocre cards go for.

Again, a very astute observation from you and your friend, Peter. I would have to add that some of those non-mainstream issues are sleeping giants. Tunnel-visioned hobbyists can be very, very slow to mentally internalize the merits of the non-mainstream, if they ever do. They are quite content concentrating on the mainstream gummy bear market. However, for those collecting either a tough regional / food set, or player collectors hunting down an exotic beauty and rarity, the VERY LAST THING THEY WANT IS FOR THE HOBBY TO WAKE UP AND TAKE INTENSE NOTICE OF WHAT THEY DESIRE!

I well recall some years back when a gent placed an ad (either in here or SCD) and let it all hang out by stating he would pay something in the vicinity of $8,000 for a 1951/52 Royal Dessert Gordie Howe card. The "Royal Stars of Hockey" set, devoted to the Detroit Red Wings, had to be cut off the back of the product package. While the photos are black 'n white, they are nice head and shoulder shots---very well-rendered. Google the set if curious, but photos may not show up except by Googling individual players.

Any Gordie Howe collector would "go white as a sheet" if they were proudly crowing to a competitor about their high-grade Parkie Howe rookie, then were quietly shown the competitor's Royal Gordie Howe.

'Nuf said, as per usual. ---Brian Powell

[Peter_Spaeth]

Wilt and Lew, at a cost of next to nothing.

[Exhibitman]

The Big E ain't exactly chopped liver.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

The Big E ain't exactly chopped liver.

He was in the Houston-UCLA rematch.
But yes, I grew up in D.C. and Hayes was a hell of a player, even if he did have an annoying proclivity to disappear offensively in the fourth quarter. The championship team with Hayes, Unseld, and Bobby Dandridge was very entertaining as well as good. But the Nils Lofgren song was bad.