T206 Plank status in the hobby

[Jobu]

My question: Are we talking about the 5-10 most famous cards or the 5-10 most valuable cards?

If we are talking about famous, iconic cards, I think T206 Wagner, T206 Plank, 33 Lajoie, and 52 Topps Mantle should remain the most famous 4 because they are all major names, all have 70-110 years of being legendary cards, and strike the right balance between being available to more than a handful of people but rare enough to drive demand. They also hail from the three most-collected issues. All vintage card collectors know these cards, as do many (most?) modern card collectors.

If we are talking straight hammer price of the top examples of each, then all of those other cards enter the conversation. But I don't think they will attain the same status because (almost) nobody builds those sets and there are so few of each that not enough people are able to own one. Not all vintage card collectors are familiar with these and most modern card collectors have never heard of them.

I also think that the Plank belongs in the top 10 no matter which list is being considered. If a PSA 7 150 series Plank came to auction it would sell for as much as or more than a lot of stuff on that list. The last nice 150 Plank, a 3 at HA, sold for a quarter of a million dollars over two years ago, and we all know what has happened to the market since then.

[investinrookies]

Is there really that big of pop difference in the plank 150 vs the 350 back? To me its a rare iconic card and both are very valuable and sought after.

[JeremyW]

Originally Posted by investinrookies

Is there really that big of pop difference in the plank 150 vs the 350 back? To me its a rare iconic card and both are very valuable and sought after.

Read sb1's above post. He speaks from experience.

[Jobu]

A quick run through the gallery on the T206 Resource (http://t206resource.com/Plank-Gallery.html) shows:

Sweet Caporal 150: 12
Sweet Caporal 350: 34
Piedmont 150: 4
Back Unknown: 10
Total: 60

I went quickly so this isn't perfect, and I didn't bother to try to guess whether the scans without backs are 150 or 350 (though it wouldn't be too hard for the decent scans given the significant difference in image quality). But there are a lot more 350s than 150s.

[sb1]

To take Bryan's tally a step further of the 150's shown, all of the Piedmonts are Fact 25. none of the 350's appear to be, but I am pretty sure when I had better scans from matched PSA certs that 1 one was Fact 25. All of the rest of the 150's are Fact. 30's.

[Pat R]

This is what I have in my notes of the ones that I could tell what the factory's were.

SC150/25 - 1
SC150/30 - 9
PD150 - 5
SC350/30 35