The Post War Cards Newsletter #20
Discover more from The Post War Cards Newsletter
👋 Welcome to the latest issue of The Post War Cards Newsletter, the newsletter that celebrates #TheHobby.
🗓️ Every other week, I share unique content about vintage sports cards, hobby & sports history, and industry activity with collectors.
😎 Sound cool? Feed your hobby soul with issues sent directly to your inbox:
👟 A Pre-War Set For Post-War Fans
If you’re a post-war sports card fan looking to dabble in the pre-war market, but the prices of some of the well-known sets turn you off, I suggest the 1910-1912 T218 Champions set for its variety, gorgeous illustrations, tobacco branding, and affordability.
The T218 set has 153 cards, measuring 2 1/2 inches by 2 7/8 inches, depicting a variety of sports figures, including those from track and field, bowling, aviation, golf, and boxing. The fronts showcase colorful illustrations of the sportsmen.
The tobacco branding (Hassan, Mecca, and less commonly, Tolstoi) on the backs offer an exciting introduction to T-cards and a challenge for those who would tackle a master set.
And because the T218 set doesn’t include any cards from the big-4 sports (ok, there are sort of three baseball cards), its prices are a lot lower than you’d expect for a pre-war set. The boxing cards are the priciest (particularly Jack Johnson’s), but you can pick up most cards for just a few dollars. If you have the funds, and are in a hurry, complete 153-card raw sets sell for between $1400 and $2000.
Over the years, I’ve flirted with pre-war collecting with the 1914 T222 Fatima and 1926 W512 sets, but had been reluctant to start the T218 set, despite the encouragement of @PreWarCards. That is, until now! I recently picked up a nice lot of just under 50 of the set’s track and field stars, and they’re awesome!
For more about the set, check out this great summary from Sports Collectors Digest.
✍️ Great Hobby Writing
Pre-War Cards: What’s a 1936 Bowman Baseball Card, Anyway?
SABR’s Baseball Cards Research Committee: Frank Thomas “The Original One” Wears Number 25 Again for the Mets Old Timers Game at Citi Field
Baseball Cards Come to Life!: Vintage Equipment: 1962 Topps
Tan Man Baseball Fan: 1996 Fleer Ultra Home Run Kings Gold Medallion Exchange – Monster 90s Card
The Topps Archives: Some Jive In 1965
Cardboard History: Around the USA with the NBA
Night Owl Cards: 10 reasons why Topps finally made the right call
Beckett: In Conversation: Martin Biron
Collectors Dashboard: T216 Cards Continue Auction Surge as Scarcity Rules
A blog you might want to read regularly, particularly if you like modern hockey cards, is CrazieJoe’s Card Corner.
🏀 Tall Boy Basketball Cards
If hobby card manufacturer(s) want to lure vintage collectors into the modern hobby, they could probably do it with a tall boy release - I’d be a buyer!
1969, 1970, and 1976 Topps basketball cards are incredibly popular among vintage collectors, and the increased card size lent itself to incredible photography, more befitting the game. Here’s a summary of each of these nifty sets.
The 1969 Topps basketball card set, which was Topps' first basketball release since 1957, features a strong design measuring 2 1/2 inches by 4 11/16 inches. The set’s highlights are superstars like Wilt Chamberlain, Lew Alcindor, Oscar Robertson, and Jerry West, but interestingly, the checklist card is now considered one of the set's most difficult to obtain.
In 1970 Topps stuck with the same tall boy size but increased the set to 175 cards. The design featured a colorful background with a basketball logo in the lower right corner. The same superstars were included, with the addition of a few rookies, like Calvin Murphy and Pete Maravich. I’m a big fan of the set’s last eight cards highlighting the 1969-70 NBA playoffs; the black backgrounds pop.
Topps went away from the tall boy size for a few years but returned to it in 1976, but with altered dimensions of 3 1/8 inches by 5 1/4 inches. The vertical team name makes for a nice design that’s tougher to pull off on standard-sized cards. The key Hall of Fame rookie card was David Thompson’s, but the set’s crown jewel is Julius Erving’s card #1.
🌎 World Champion Team “1st” Cards
Last week, while researching my article on 7 League Leader Cards That Kicked Off Vintage Topps Baseball Sets, I discovered another popular theme Topps used to start their sets: featuring the previous year's World Series champions.
A lot of collectors might not include the 1967 “The Champs” card in this little group since it doesn’t picture the entire team, but it does highlight the fact that the Orioles won the 1966 World Series title (a 4-0 sweep over the Dodgers who only scored two runs the entire series).
The other three cards highlight:
The 1969 World Series Champion Mets, who defeated the Orioles 4 games to 1.
The 1970 World Series Champion Orioles, who defeated the Reds 4 games to 1.
And the 1971 World Series Champion Pirates, who defeated the Orioles 4 games to 3.
And wow, these cards are a nice reminder of how good so many Orioles teams were between 1966 and 1983.
🗞️ In The News
Golf Digest: You won't believe how much these Tiger Woods cards are going for
Fox5 Atlanta: Trading cards worth thousands stolen from Roswell store
Denver7: Sports card store owner surprises boy who lost card collection in Denver house fire
PSA’s Blog: Complimentary Images Now Available for All Service Levels
Fox Business: LeBron James' jersey from Game 7 of 2013 NBA Finals sells for over $3.6 million
MarketWatch: Federal investigator lost job after baseball-card addiction led him to moonlight as Amazon and Uber driver
VentureBeat: Courtside Ventures raises $100M fund for sports, collectibles, wellness and gaming
⌨️ On The PostWarCards Blog
January 23rd, 2023: 7 League Leader Cards That Kicked Off Vintage Topps Baseball Sets
January 24th, 2023: 10 Things You May Not Know About The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Card
January 30th, 2023: Identifying Venezuela Topps Baseball Cards: A Basic Guide
January 31st, 2023: Ranking the Top 5 Topps Baseball Card Set Designs of All Time
February 1st, 2023: This Month on PostWarCards – February 2023
🖼️ Carpet O’ Cards
The man behind the wonderful series of tweets that share baseball cards and sports history, Mr. George Bennet, finally shared his closet of complete sets.
