Q&A -- A Glossy Clemente Card

Today's question comes from Stephen:

Q:

"I have a Bob Clemente Baseball Card that looks a lot like a Topps 1965 Card, but on the back it states that it is a Dover reprint. 

I have the following questions:

1) What can you tell me about?

2) When could this card have been reprinted?

3) Value of this card?"

 

A:

Your card was included in a book called Hall of Fame Baseball Cards by Bert Randolph Sugar. It came out around 1983 and was essentially a collection of reprinted baseball cards going back to the 1800s. The cards were glossier than the originals, perforated and each one clearly stated "A Dover Reprint" on the back to differentiate them from authentic cards.

It's the book on the right in the above picture. I own the other one. Here's a random card from that edition:

It looks like a 1915 Cracker Jack card of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, but it's very glossy and actually printed on thicker, sturdier cardboard stock than the original was. Here's the back of the card:

And right along the bottom, you can see the words "A Dover Reprint." Dover was the name of the publishing company Sugar used for these books.

Sugar authored a number of these books in the late 1970s and early 80s. They are fairly easy to locate in complete form, including this one on Amazon that is $5.99 new or as little as 99 cents used:

As for the final part of your question...since it would cost six dollars to get the complete book with your Clemente card still attached, the value of your card is worth much less.

Q&A -- T207?

This has been one of my most common questions:

Q:

"I have a card from the T207 set of Lewis, Boston. It's the variation with no patch. I see where it originally had a $700 value, but what is it worth today?"

(Here's an image of the card...I'll identify it in a minute.)

A:

The first thing that looks out of place is the part about how it "originally" had a $700 value. How did that information become available? The answer: "It was written on the back of the card":

First of all, there is no way an authentic T207 card is going to have any information on how the card became rare. Nor will it have any information on how much it was worth. In fact, the mention of "T-207" on the back gives away the fact that it's not real; the T207 designation wasn't even given to the set until the 1930s.

This is one of five cards that were reprinted and included in Hygrade hobby kits during the 1980s. Besides this card, there were three T206 cards (Wagner, Plank, "Magie") and a 1933 Goudey Napoleon LaJoie that were reprinted. They were even found with different-colored blocks on the back: the yellow one above, green or red. They were changed to reflect price increases as the 1980s went on.

An authentic T207 card will feature a writeup about the player and an advertisement of one of teh cigarette brands mentioned above. Any vintage card that has an explanation that it was rare...or has a price given on it...is not a real card.

Today, there are cards with manufactured scarcities (serially numbered, "1-of-1" cards, etc.), but they didn't play those games with cards that long ago.

Q&A

In this entry, I will try to address a subject that has popped up a lot in my email inbox over the years.

Corky from Washington State writes:

"Hi Chris!
I think I have a Napoleon (Larry) LaJoie #106 Goudey Gum Baseball Card with the Goudey design on the front!
How do I find out its worth and who would buy it?
Thanks!"

The 1933 Goudey card of Napoleon Lajoie is legendary among collectors of vintage baseball cards. It is one of the most valuable cards in the hobby as a result of its scarcity, and most collectors of 1933 Goudeys do not consider the card as part of a complete set. Because of that notoriety, the card has also been reprinted quite a lot.

During the 1980s, the Hygrade Sport Card Co. of New York issued a kit for baseball card collectors. It was designed to help younger collectors become acquainted with the hobby (I got mine at a school book sale in 1983, when I was in the 6th grade).  The kit featured a 20-page guide to the hobby, an annotated price guide, a semi-rigid top loader, a nine-pocket plastic page, five cards commemorating great ballplayers of the past (Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Cy Young, Mickey Mantle and Jackie Robinson) and five reprints of rare cards.

The five reprinted cards included a trio of T206 cards: Honus Wagner, Eddie Plank and Sherry "Magie."  Also featured were the T207 card of Irving Lewis (Boston, no patch) and the 1933 Lajoie. Each card was identified on the back and had a value listed (in 1982 dollars). There was also a short description of why the card pictured was so scarce.

When looking at the backs of these cards, common sense should dictate that no original card would explain why it is so scarce or give a listed value; however, in today's lottery-type, "1 of 1" insert-happy hobby, common sense seems to have gone the way of the St. Louis Browns. Novice collectors (who I often refer to as "the uninitiated") often come to the realization that they may have found something quite valuable.

I'll give credit to those collectors who see my website and email me to ask about these cards. The fact that they are doing the necessary research into their discovery should be commended; they are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, many of these cards find their way onto eBay and are put up for auction as the genuine article. Despite the fact that the card backs are often shown, people still bid on these cards and pay good money for worthless reprints.

I tried to notify some of these sellers that they were offering reprints, but most never responded (except for one who told me he'd have me thrown off eBay if I bothered him again). Since that approach didn't work, I'll keep writing about these reprints. Hopefully, my words can help keep an unsuspecting collector from throwing good money after a bad card. Which brings me back to my opening question.

When Corky sent me the message above, I explained that there are a lot of Lajoie reprints floating around. I simply asked him if he could describe the back of his card for me. Sure enough, it was one of the reprints; however, when my email reached him, he had already come across a post I made on a message board and had determined that the card wasn't authentic.

Don't get me wrong. Reprints are great for those collectors who realize that Honus Wagner is never going to make a home inside their T206 collections. I just don't like seeing other collectors get tricked into thinking that they will be getting a rare or valuable card and forking over good money to have it.