Top 20 Cards In The Hobby - PSA Slideshow Online

mattyc_collection

Came across this cool slideshow linked below; the notion of The Top 20 Cards also came up in Mr. Orlando's coffee table book a ways back. I'm more of a baseball guy myself, and so I wouldn't go in for the football examples listed-- though there's no debating they are great and important cards.

There are a handful of expensive and obscenely rare cards of major players that don't appear on the list, but I understand not putting a card in the list that is essentially unobtainable because only 1 or 4 exist in all grades, and are locked away in collections. Some good write ups of the cards on the list, I thought.

For baseball, I think other cards in that same top tier are:

Balt News Ruth
Just So Cy Young
1921 Frederick Foto Babe Ruth
1914 CJ Mathewson
1914/15 CJ Cobb
Tip Top Bread & e90-2 Wagner Portraits
e90-1 Shoeless Joe Jackson RC
Mantle Dice Card
The e107 big guns (i.e., Wagner, Matty)
Zeenut Batting Pose DiMaggio
m101-6 Ruth
m101-6 Jackson

I'm sure there are more but these are just off the top of my head.

PSA's Top 20 Cards In The Hobby Slideshow

DezHood

Thanks for sharing that - I enjoyed it. There was actually only one football card though - less cards than there were of Ty Cobb. I was hoping there were more when you said examples. I honestly don't know what the #2 football card would be though...... Maybe the 48 Leaf Bednarik?

CW

Very cool, thanks!

Love the art composition on that site. This is a great image and card....

mattyc_collection

Yeah, Chuck, I think they did a good job with it, too, graphically. The little "Top 20" badge is kinda fresh.

After chasing a few of these for my set, I'd say the Leaf Paige and CJ Shoeless are absolute beasts to find in any state. The Mantle & Mays RCs, too, can take quite a while if one wants good centering.

In terms of just what it takes to gain sheer completion, let alone with any regard for the eye appeal of the cards, this "set" may be Mount Everest.

miklia

yeah, this list is waaaaay too heavy on baseball.

Morgoth

Initial thoughts,

T205 Ty Cobb has really lost some steam with collectors. Right now the Green Portrait T206 is the most desirable of the T205/6's out there.

T206 Wagner, funny they didn't show the PSA 8 version .

I think this is more of a popularity poll than value or scarcity poll so I am ok with the Mays, Aaron and Clemente RC's being on this list.

mattyc_collection

I don't know if the T205 has lost steam as much as nice examples of the card just don't surface for sale with any regularity, especially as compared to the relatively common T206s. And I don't mean common in a pejorative sense at all; the T206 Cobbs are great cards, but we do seem to see them in almost every collection. No so much with the T205 Cobb.

I think sometimes when a card doesn't surface on the auction scene for a while, especially a great example of the card, it tends to get forgotten. Then a great one surfaces, sells for a TON with a premium for pent up demand, and then it's viewed as back again-- when in essence it never left.

I know I have been seeking an elite example of the T205 for some time now and have been consistently unmoved by the menu. The T205 Cobb can even be found in high grade with the red ink shift registration that can wreck eye appeal. In any event, I think the far more impressive card for a collection is the high end T205 Cobb over the comparatively ubiquitous T206, if I had to pick just one.

Morgoth

Most T cards trade in the 1 to 4 range and those are the ones I am talking about.

The high end cards, 5 and higher, are so messed with in auction by shilling and potentially altered (rebacked, soaked etc.) that I don't really care about them.

In the 1 to 4 range the Green Cobb has been the better mover, I had a T205 SGC 3 and it sold very poorly even in a PWCC auction, in fact it sold for under what I paid for it 7 years ago.

Most recent PSA sales.

PSA 4 Cobb T205- 1691 from PWCC
PSA 4 Cobb T206 Green- 2800

My 3 sold for less than the 1200 I paid.

mattyc_collection

Ah, I see; I was focusing more on 5s +. I think it's also interesting to note that the T206s in lower grade often carry more eye appeal than lower grade T205s. There is border color of course to consider, which I think is a huge factor. As a buyer, I can find 1-4 grade T206 Cobbs that have lovely eye appeal. Whereas the same grade T205 Cobbs just don't offer the same bang for the buck. It seems if you want solid borders and focused registration on a T205 Cobb, you are left looking at an anomalous nice 4 or the 5s and up.

Morgoth

I agree with that. Eye appeal is a big deal on lower grade T cards.

I would be interested in seeing what the last 8 in each set brought.

mattyc_collection

Yes, it sure would be something to see an auction offer both an accurately graded 8 of the T205 Cobb and a T206. Accurately graded being the key term of course. Reminds me of when the Balt News Ruth and Wagner went head to head in the same grade at REA I believe.

ThoseBackPages

i was looking at this list the other day. really enjoyed it.

as for the T205's, those borders are very unforgiving when it comes to chipping and/or wear

pdub1819

Very cool and informative slide show.
I just added this set to my registry. I plan on finishing my Post WWII HOF Rookies set first and then I will delve into this one. That means it will be years from now until I even get to it!

mattyc_collection

<< <i>i was looking at this list the other day. really enjoyed it.

as for the T205's, those borders are very unforgiving when it comes to chipping and/or wear >>



Indeed, I feel like the T205s are the great granddaddy of all the later infamous colored border sets.

Mapleleaf

Where's the love for other sports?

handyman

"T205 Ty Cobb has really lost some steam with collectors. Right now the Green Portrait T206 is the most desirable of the T205/6's out there."

I thought the same thing when I saw the T205 on the list.