Collecting Old Judge

[Archive]

Posted By: Joe_G.

There are many ways to collect OJs, nothing new there. I suspect collecting HOFers is the most common with nice examples (VG/EX front & back) ranging from $1000 - $2000 for a majority of the HOFers (~20) with the rarest and most popular (~7) easily twice that if you are not after a particular pose (particular poses can run 5 even 6 figures depending who's interested). So one could easily spend over $50,000 for a HOFer set (27 member set) even if you shop carefully.

There have been a couple newcomers that are trying to tackle one copy of each player. Because many of the PCL cards are unique, there really is no hope of completing a set in this fashion. Alan Sasson is fairly new to this board and has a nice start as can be seen on SGCs website. His collection is very similar but a little bigger than Trevor Hocking's old collection that he sold-off not so long ago (was more a business opportunity than a collection). Others on the Board such as Jim Clarke have hinted they are going to go after a copy of each player but not sure if they have embarked on that journey yet.

As you likely know, Jay Miller is the resident OJ expert. His ambition takes him well beyond one copy of each player. The collection he has amassed over the last ~20 years is staggering. I'll let him give details if he so wishes.

There are also several substantial collections out there with no contact to this board.

Taking a couple steps back to some of the more affordable options would include the team sets. Even here you have decisions to make such as sticking to a particular year, one pose of each player vs all, etc. I've noticed the following team collectors on this forum (off the top of my head):

Baltimores: Tom Lawrie (nearly "complete") & David Seaborn
Bostons: James Verrill
Detroits: Myself (Joe Gonsowski) & a couple others I've meet but not very active
Milwaukees: John Effenheim
Pirates: John/Z28 (nearly "complete")

To give you an idea of difficulty, I've snagged just about every 1887 Detroit card that has come my way, sometimes good deals, sometimes not. Ignoring a couple cards I picked up in the 1980s, I have been able to complete 19 of 28 1887 Detroit poses in the last 16 months (in nice "gradeable" condition). I fully expect to complete all 28 with time, maybe another year. The fact that my cards, the 1887 Detroit Wolverines, happen to be from the long numbered series (1887 "0" numbered cards) helps. With 11 of the 28 cards being HOFers, total investment is in the $20k range. One pose of each player would be significantly less, maybe $7000. I also luck out by picking Detroit as the other 7 National League teams and the American Association Brooklyn Grays have more, sometimes twice as many poses for 1887.

Then there are the many subsets that usually get mentioned such as the Browns Champs (1887 short numbered series), the Spotted Ties (1887 Script cards, a bit more difficult), portraits (spread throughout the set), double player cards (spread throughout the set), etc.

Pick a collecting habit that matches your interests and financial abilities. And then practice patience.