GA & tobacco cards

[heinlein99]

I keep a half eye on the trading card world (mostly non-sports due to my own interests & my website) and have been sort of looking at vintage baseball cards lately. I never owned any early-20th-century tobacco cards back in the day, though I knew a few collectors who had them. Anyhoo, it strikes me that tobacco cards & the players they show are even less relevant to today's baseball card collectors than Golden Age comics are to modern comic collectors - GA comics often aren't irrelevant at all, due to some of the characters being still popular a la Superman. In the case of tobacco cards, most or all of the teams pictured don't even exist anymore; the players are certainly dead and the fields where they played are now paved over or forgotten completely.

 

And yet - tobacco cards are through the roof in terms of pricing! Has anybody glanced at the Heritage auctions going on right now? They're not exactly five-figure prices, but many of those items, even in lower grade, rate $3,000 or more each. I remember just a few (relatively speaking) years ago these things were the poor relations of the baseball card world, when they were hardly collected & rarely seen due to lack of interest. Now - wow.

 

Am I right in seeing these as being equivalent to the GA books? If those craapy little pieces of cardboard can command thousands of dollars in this volatile economic time, does this bode well for the GA world in the face of a possibly longer economic downturn? Or... are these the equivalent of Platinum Age books, which will one day rise up from their current squalor and command ungodly high-dollar bids in the near future?

 

Anyway, let's hear your thoughts.

[Point Five]

Not a direct answer to your question, or any answer at all!, but anyhow:

 

I don't collect those early tobacco cards, but I happily could, even though I'm a pretty casual baseball fan by most folks' standards. I find them fascinating and cool, the same way I do GA comics...they feel like a link to an America that pretty much doesn't exist any more. For me, that lack of connection makes them more interesting, rather than less.

[EastCoastExchange-migratio]

I keep a half eye on the trading card world (mostly non-sports due to my own interests & my website) and have been sort of looking at vintage baseball cards lately. I never owned any early-20th-century tobacco cards back in the day, though I knew a few collectors who had them. Anyhoo, it strikes me that tobacco cards & the players they show are even less relevant to today's baseball card collectors than Golden Age comics are to modern comic collectors - GA comics often aren't irrelevant at all, due to some of the characters being still popular a la Superman. In the case of tobacco cards, most or all of the teams pictured don't even exist anymore; the players are certainly dead and the fields where they played are now paved over or forgotten completely.

 

And yet - tobacco cards are through the roof in terms of pricing! Has anybody glanced at the Heritage auctions going on right now? They're not exactly five-figure prices, but many of those items, even in lower grade, rate $3,000 or more each. I remember just a few (relatively speaking) years ago these things were the poor relations of the baseball card world, when they were hardly collected & rarely seen due to lack of interest. Now - wow.

 

Am I right in seeing these as being equivalent to the GA books? If those craapy little pieces of cardboard can command thousands of dollars in this volatile economic time, does this bode well for the GA world in the face of a possibly longer economic downturn? Or... are these the equivalent of Platinum Age books, which will one day rise up from their current squalor and command ungodly high-dollar bids in the near future?

 

Anyway, let's hear your thoughts.

 

Actually bud your wrong. Some of those "Tabacco Cards" are worth 7 figures. That right 7 figures . The T206 Honus Wagner sells in midgrade at 2 Million+; and a copy (either ripped in half and taped back together, or one round as a quarter will run $250K. A whole HELL of a lot of money expecially when you compare it to a funny book.

 

CC

 

 

[PokerKid]

I keep a half eye on the trading card world (mostly non-sports due to my own interests & my website) and have been sort of looking at vintage baseball cards lately. I never owned any early-20th-century tobacco cards back in the day, though I knew a few collectors who had them. Anyhoo, it strikes me that tobacco cards & the players they show are even less relevant to today's baseball card collectors than Golden Age comics are to modern comic collectors - GA comics often aren't irrelevant at all, due to some of the characters being still popular a la Superman. In the case of tobacco cards, most or all of the teams pictured don't even exist anymore; the players are certainly dead and the fields where they played are now paved over or forgotten completely.

 

And yet - tobacco cards are through the roof in terms of pricing! Has anybody glanced at the Heritage auctions going on right now? They're not exactly five-figure prices, but many of those items, even in lower grade, rate $3,000 or more each. I remember just a few (relatively speaking) years ago these things were the poor relations of the baseball card world, when they were hardly collected & rarely seen due to lack of interest. Now - wow.

 

Am I right in seeing these as being equivalent to the GA books? If those craapy little pieces of cardboard can command thousands of dollars in this volatile economic time, does this bode well for the GA world in the face of a possibly longer economic downturn? Or... are these the equivalent of Platinum Age books, which will one day rise up from their current squalor and command ungodly high-dollar bids in the near future?

 

Anyway, let's hear your thoughts.

 

Actually bud your wrong. Some of those "Tabacco Cards" are worth 7 figures. That right 7 figures . The T206 Honus Wagner sells in midgrade at 2 Million+; and a copy (either ripped in half and taped back together, or one round as a quarter will run $250K. A whole HELL of a lot of money expecially when you compare it to a funny book.

 

CC

 

 

You are correct about the Wagner and I assume he knows what the Wagner goes for and it has always been a very valuable card. However, most T-206's and others from the era were cheaper than most 1952 Topps cards. I bought a small handful for $3-$10 each when I was buying cards. Saying he doesn't know what he is talking about is like using Action #1 as the barometer for what golden age books typically sell for.

 

His point that even dead comics appear to be seeing a surge in value and might see a similar drive up in prices due to scarcity and newfound love among collectors is well taken.

 

[aardvark88]

Non-sports tobacco cards seem to be cheap comparatively. Wide variety available like Hollywood stars from 1930s, birds from around the world, etc. Not too many collectors of those, as they all died due to smoking for decades. Think Redmelvin eBayed some Boxing card sets in 2007 at reasonable prices.

[Ghoti]

Actually, in the UK, the tobacco card non sport hobby was the equivalent of Sports cards in this country. The reason that the T-206s bring the value that they do is that it is the monster set of 524 cards with most hall of fame players in the set. There are still players that are honored today in the set. Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, the famed triple player combo of Tinkers, Evers, to Chance.You also have classic quality printing and graphics. This is the set to try to get folks. I just sold a 409 card set of those and there still is a tear in my eye over that one!

[agro23]

Actually bud your wrong. Some of those "Tabacco Cards" are worth 7 figures. That right 7 figures . The T206 Honus Wagner sells in midgrade at 2 Million+; and a copy (either ripped in half and taped back together, or one round as a quarter will run $250K. A whole HELL of a lot of money expecially when you compare it to a funny book.

 

CC

 

Yeah, but with the Wagner there are what, 11 of them extant? Most were destroyed the legend runs because he objected to smoking.

 

Price is set by collectiblity; the usual combo of age, scarcity, grade and popularity. Just like with GA comics.

[ashrael]

T206 Honus Wagner...you mean that card that Ewert must have gotten hold of?

 

[Detroit MIke]

I have a T206 Cobb with the green back in a 3.0. I don't really think it's equivalent to a golden age book. The average guy on the street knows who Ty Cobb was but has never heard of Timely. I think buying Hall of Famers is a safe bet.

 

I saw 11 of the Wagner cards assembled at the 2004 National Sportscard Show. That was pretty freakin' awesome.

 

The tobacco cars are a heck of alot more scarce than the modern junk. I think people are starting to realize that?

[EastCoastExchange-migratio]

I have a T206 Cobb with the green back in a 3.0. I don't really think it's equivalent to a golden age book. The average guy on the street knows who Ty Cobb was but has never heard of Timely. I think buying Hall of Famers is a safe bet.

 

I saw 11 of the Wagner cards assembled at the 2004 National Sportscard Show. That was pretty freakin' awesome.

 

The tobacco cars are a heck of alot more scarce than the modern junk. I think people are starting to realize that?

 

Pretty freakin crazy. I expecially like that last photo. About 15 million dollars sitting right there in that one picture.