What card in your favorite set is tough? Why?

budmancubfan

I know that I can just check the registry populations and find which cards in each set are really tough, but I thought it would be interesting to learn more from our various specialists out there.

The set that I'm working on right now is 1973/74 topps basketball. The hardest aspect of the set is the centering, especially the all-star cards.

The hardest card, though, is #222: Don Buse's rookie card. I've looked at dozens of them and they all have a weird smudge on the name at the bottom. The SMR for this card may as well be $500 for psa 9, as I doubt there will ever be one found.

Any other thoughts about hardest cards?

helionaut

Population reports don't tell you everything. Cards might be hoarded by a player collector so they're off the market. Or they might be otherwise owned by one guy, like a one guy has submitted a bunch of the same card, sending the population up but they aren't circulating in the market. And there's always the resubmit bugaboo, where you crack open, say, a 7 and resubmit hoping for an 8. The same card might be graded 10 times, so the count is inaccurate.

But there are also the cases where supply exactly meets demand. In the sets I'm most familiar with I know that there are some cards that have always and likely will command a premium for some time because they simply don't surface very often, even though the population on them may not be the lowest in the set. They are simply the best known examples of "Tuff Stuff." In 75 Topps, there are several cards like Tanana, McEnaney, Heidemann, and Hughes, and to a lesser extent maybe a dozen other cards, that simply do not appear very often at all in 8 and almost never in 9, the target grades for most collectors. Even though populations do rise fairly regularly, these cards are the toughest to find and bidding is always competitive. Not like it once was, but they aren't cheap. Why those cards are tough I don't know. Some cards like Milt May, Mike Lum, Jim Bibby, etc., are hard to find in a grade lower than a 9, but these cards are just on the other end of the spectrum.

jason045

1972 Topps #582 Expos Team in PSA 8 or better. I have looked at at least 50 or 60 of these in the last year or so. Out of those, only three, maybe four were centered enough for a PSA 8. Almost all of these cards are horribly OC to the point of being miscut many times. Luckily I was able to pick a raw one up on ebay a couple of months ago for $2 and ended up with an 8 in my last submission.

duner

there's only one set i'm intricately familiar (1951 bowman fb), and the impossible card to find is #126 dick wildung. while most cards in the set only have 30-50 graded examples, that freaking wildung took me over a year to find, my set sat a 99.31% seemingly forever. the last time i looked there were only b/w 15-20 of them graded and only 1 above a six. I gave up for about 3 months trying to obtain graded examples, and looked for an ungraded one to grade....and i've NEVER had the patience to submit a card in my life. even during that proces i could only find a few beat up examples. when a five finally popped up, i set a snipe for $150 for a card in SMR listed at $10. fortunately i got it much cheaper, and was able to sweet talk another registry member to trade his 6 with me. really a pathetic story when you think about it.

I'd love to know what the deal is with that card and a couple others. but i doubt there are any uncut sheet out there....more importantly i doubt there's enough interest in vintage football that the secret will ever be revealed. It's amazing on these boards to see the depth people have investigated in their baseball sets, it's just phenomenal what gets dug up.

jimtb

My toughie is the one I posted this week, the 1978 Burger King Alan Trammell. Always seems to have bad corners and be way off-centered.

helionaut

Jason - I found a very nice 72 Expos team last year that was a solid 8, maybe a 9. The centering was probably too low for a 9, but it's definitely in the 8 range. The guy had his cards in plastic pages and when he put the card in a penny sleeve, he snagged am edge carving out a nice flake. I almost yelled at him, but what are you going to do?

Duner - The guy's name is Dick Wildung? That is the funniest name I've ever heard for a ballplayer.

And one of you guys has to change avatars. At least upload a different helmet.

Fuzz

1966 Topps FB Checklist #132.
Can't be found even remotely centered. Even pack fresh, they are o/c and very often mc.
Two copies graded to date are as high as a 7. Anything higher has qualifiers.
Only card I am missing for a straight 8+ set.
Fuzz

crsportscards33

In 1960 Topps, avoiding the obvious low pop commons, #50 Kaline is usually very hard to find niceley centered.

Virtualizard

Chris,

I agree. My PSA 8 is borderline. I'd like to find a better centered example!

JEB.