Have you heard of this odd Babe Ruth card?

jrdolan

The name on the flip, 1950 Menko, doesn't help me much. I can find no references to it and it's not in PSA pop. reports. I guess PSA hasn't graded one. The reverse of this card is sorta like the back of a Bicycle playing card, you know, with those intricate patterns. On the front, there's some Oriental lettering under Babe's picture, but "Joker" is obviously in English. No other text anywhere.

Has anyone heard of this issue? What can you tell me about it? If I cracked it out, you think PSA would slab it?

Griffins

Japanese Baseball card. One of the early ones.Here's a site with some info
Rob's Japanese Baseball cards

phreakydancin

If I'm reading the katakana chart correctly, the writing underneath says "Babe Ruth" (actually more like "Be-bu Ru-su").

roastedcat

Thats my card!!!

Hey that card in the SGC holder was once owned by me. I reconize the serial number...lol. I also had an SGC 88 & 96
I had submit those cards when PSA wasn't grading cut outs. I used to own "ALL" but 2 uncut sheets at one time. Which I purchased from a connection in Japan. These are 1948-50 Menko cards All Japanese player in playing card format, except the Ruth card being the Joker card.
The story behind the sheets were, the workers at Menko would put the defective sheets aside for destruction or be place in the trash. The perfect cards would be cut up and inserted in Menko rice candy one card per box. One of the workers decided to put a fewsheets aside, since they were being thrown out, take a few home. The sheets were given later to My friends dad who took the 15 sheets home with him and put it in his closet just for a keep sake. In 1988 I happened to visit Japan and hangout with some friends for the summer. My friend knew I liked Baseball and said his father used to work as a gopher/runner for the Menko Candy Company and had some old Baseball cards in Japanese. I met with him and he showed me 15 of the cleanest Baseball Menko uncut sheets which I bought 13 sheets from his father for $100. I got them because his father had no use for them and I was a friend of the family. I experimented and cut up 3 sheets back in 1992, Since then I've sold all the sheets except for 5 of them. I kept the best looking one's for my collection which I still have.

RepublicaninMass

Was there a Saduhara Oh card on that sheet?

roastedcat

Nope!

pandrews

<< <i>Was there a Saduhara Oh card on that sheet? >>



i would love to have a nice Saduhara card.. any idea if one was ever made and by who?

roastedcat

There are a few known to exist printed on Menko cards.

jrdolan

Wow, this is some great info. I didn't know anything about (older) Japanese cards until I bought this one on impulse. Roasted cat, are you saying this is a card cut from a sheet, and it was also available as a single? Does that mean PSA won't slab it? How did this card leave your possession?

roastedcat

jrdolan- I believe PSA will slab them now, I've seen stripcards slabbed, they might have them say "hand cut" on the slab. Then again they might not. If you want it graded. Instead of cracking them out, submit it as a crossover, this way you'll get the grade advantage. I have sold all of the SGC graded ones on ebay, that one I believe I sold to a guy on ebay user ID: Tacobeer awhile back. Tacobeer is a Babe Ruth collector up in Washington. He has purcased a bunch of my vintage Ruth's. I have sold most of my uncut sheets on Ebay, average price was $300.-$400. they had printing flaws, I have listed one on Mastro 3 years ago just to see what it will fetch, $750. was what I recieved for a uncut Menko sheet, it's not much! The 5 remaining sheets I still have are flawless which I still kept, I just haven't got around to getting them custom framed. This card is very cool, it's still unlisted in the Krauses standard catalog of Baseball, it's just a matter of time. I love the artwork.

Jery

jrdolan

The only problem with submitting it in the SGC 7.5 holder is that it will certainly go down to PSA 7, regardless of what the grader thinks in his heart. If it's raw there is at least a chance it will grade 8.

I wonder how SGC decided it was 1950 Menko as opposed to 1948 or '49? Do you have any idea what this card's real market value is? Is there interest in Japanese Ruth cards? I didn't buy it in a situation where there was competitive bidding, so I don't know what it might do at auction.

invader

Hi,

pandrews,

There is a Sahuhara Oh card in the 1967 Kabaya-Leaf Set.


Matt

Davemri

ohs rc card is in the 1959 Menko set. I have a picture of it on my site.

dave

Davemri

1959 Menko

pandrews

Thanks for the info on the Saduhara cards.. how often do these come up for sell? the Menko or the 1967 Kabaya-Leaf? what kind of prices do they fetch?

roastedcat

Jrdolan- I think I got like $350 for that one! You never know it might cross over to an 8, seriously I think it looks great in the SGC holder with the black back ground. And if your seriously thinking of getting it in a PSA holder, why not have SGC do a regrade, it also looks like an 8 I think. then you can send it to PSA and do a crossover. I've done that a few times myself.


Pandrews- Type up Menko in the search on Ebay, I see them all the time. I've even picked up a few uncut sheets for under $50. with Saduhara Oh on them. Not many people really know about them so they're very each to aquire.

Jery