Pre-80s Rookie Card Craze?

[novakjr]

Now that I think about it. Wasn't the '86 Donruss Canseco pretty ridiculous right off the bat? Or did that not hit 'til a few years later?

[Beatles Guy]

Originally Posted by novakjr

Now that I think about it. Wasn't the '86 Donruss Canseco pretty ridiculous right off the bat? Or did that not hit 'til a few years later?

Yeah, it came out of the gates on fire. I want to say $50 or something like that.

[mintacular]

Okay, so in the late 70s or so a 55 clemente and a 65 clemente were about the same $ or just a small premium for 55 since it was rarer but all other things equal the rookie cards of HOFers sold for close to their other cards?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Okay, so in the late 70s or so a 55 clemente and a 65 clemente were about the same $ or just a small premium for 55 since it was rarer but all other things equal the rookie cards of HOFers sold for close to their other cards?

There was a premium by 78 or so, but it wasn't all that big in many cases. I'll see if I can dig out an old price guide. The popularity of the player and if the card was a high number or short print changed things too.

One examle that comes to mind is the 48 Musial. Rookie card, short print, lots going for it, and it was the most expensive card in the set. I bought the one I had in maybe 1979. It had paper loss on the upper left corner, but wasn't all that bad looking. It was $2. I think catalog was about 20 or 30.

Steve B