The commonness of rare cards is less perplexing than the rarity of common ones

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Posted By: DJ

I believe there are different rules and a different mind set when it comes to certain collectibles. Do we aim for the Pez with feet or without?

As far as autographs go, I always find it difficult to compare this type of collectible to others because of the high volume of fraud. If you choose to collect or deal in signatures, you are essentially dealing with a product that is roughly 80% fraudulent and quite easy to duplicate. It is also a collectible that is invented by it's owner and doesn't cost anything to reproduce (by it's owner) and essentially given away to those who beg for it.

The comparison between George Stirnweiss and Joe Page is valid to some degree, but also incorrect. Stirnweiss perished in 1958 and while an All-Star, he would be only remembered by true die-hard Yankee fans for what he achieved throughout his 7-8 seasons in Yankee garb. I once saw a signed photograph sell for $250 and one was included several years back in an auction offered by Lelands for around $500.

Joe Page signatures are actually rather common and I have sold three over the past several years in three by five form for around $30-35. But I understand where you are going with this. Stirnweiss is popular because of his premature death, as is Urban Shocker, Harry Agganis, Nile Kinnick, Ernie Davis, Len Bias and let's face it, if Roberto Clemente was alive today, he's be commanding $75 a pop in the autograph circuit and he wouldn't be quite the legend that he is now. While Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio were giving the public what they want, filling heavy demand, Page was being ignored despite being a popular player during his time...which can essentially be said about any of those great Yankees. What if Don Larsen would have perished in 1957? How much would his signature bring?

The beauty of either cards or autographs is it's wide variety of opinions and interests on how these items should be collected. If there are two people on the polar opposites of the earth, both looking for an obscure signature and that comes up, one will be able to steal it if the other doesn't know about it or the bidding will get out of control. In some regards, rare cards and rare autographs remain a mystery to exactly what is up in some little old ladies addict who knows nothing about the stuff.

With cards, there are a lot of different ways to collect them and it all depends on the collector and nobody is incorrect in the way they collect because it's so personal. You can buy a PSA 1 T206 for $15 or that same card can be had in grade 8 for $6,000. You can hate T206's. You can love ghost prints. You can wait and wait and wait for Alleghany game cards. You can think that W552's are the greatest thing on earth!..and so on.

DJ