W514 Williams
 

Can anyone here tell me why the W514 card of Lefty Williams goes for such high dollars (compared to other "common players" of the same series) at auctions?

Lefty Williams was a member of the 1919 BlackSox scandal

Williams had very few major league card issues.

Lefty Williams was part of the infamous 1919 "Black Sox" team and was one of the guys that threw the World Series - he also has very few cards outside of that set, so anyone trying to collect a card of each guy from that team has limited options outside of W514

W514 Williams
 

I understand about the Black Sox scandal and the W514 series probably was the first set produced after the scandal... I'm trying to complete my "every 20 game winner since 1900" collection and he is turning out to be tough... along with the E107, Rose Co and W600's only pitchers! Oh well I try to avoid minor league era cards but maybe the 1915 Zeenut will be easier.

stick with the w514

The 1915 Zeenut of Williams will be considerably more difficult to find and more expensive than a copy of the W514.

Lefty Williams
 

Hmmm, I guess the Zeenut is tough also... How about his E135 cards?

The W514 is in all likelihood going to be the cheapest and most readily available card of Williams you will find.

I own a 1916 card, I think it was Standard Biscuit....don't remember which one. I purchased about 5 years ago.

The following list includes all known
vintage baseball cards of Lefty Williams.

1915 (E137) Zeenut Pacific Coast League
1916 (H801-8) Boston Store #190 (Black Stockings)
1916 (H801-8) Boston Store #190 (White Stockings)
1916 (H801-8) Boston Store #76 (Hugh High with White Stockings)
1916 (E135) Collins-McCarthy #190 (Black Stockings)
1916 (E135) Collins-McCarthy #190 (White Stockings)
1916 (E135) Collins-McCarthy #76 (Hugh High with White Stockings)
1916 (E135) Standard Biscuit #190 (Black Stockings)
1916 (E135) Standard Biscuit #190 (White Stockings)
1916 (E135) Standard Biscuit #76 (Hugh High with White Stockings)
1916 (D328) Weil Baking Co. #190 (Black Stockings)
1916 (D328) Weil Baking Co. #190 (White Stockings)
1916 (D328) Weil Baking Co. #76 (Hugh High with White Stockings)
1917 Davis Printing White Sox
1919 (W514) Mother's Bread #35
1919 (W514) W514 #35
1921 (D327) Holsum Bread

As the others have said, the Zeenut will cost you an arm or a leg, IF you can even find one. The cheapest options are the W514 and possibly the E135 Hugh High card that actually pictures Williams (the latter only if you don't mind the card not actually saying "Claude Williams").
-Rhett

As crazy as it will seem to some, it is my belief that some of the kids that collected the strip cards back when they were issued... some of those kids would throw a card away once that person left the major leagues. Kids would collect current, active players. With the Williams card, some kids would toss the card because he was no longer playing, some tossed him out of disgust with the Blacksox mess.

I think the main pressure on the value of the card today, compared to common W514s, is because modern collectors seek out and pay a premium for the Blacksox players who were banned. Only to a much lesser extent would it be that there are slightly fewer of the card.

From the sounds of things I'll have to keep looking for a beat up raw W514 of his... I see there is a trimmed E135 for $250 on the BST section of this board but thats about way too much for me. Oh the joy of collecting!

That E135 doesn't have his name on it - it's only him in photo - not sure if you want to count that or not.

I tend to stay away from those kinds of mis-identified cards. So what do you think the W514 PSA 4 Williams on epay will go for?

The PSA 4 is a mess with a horrible bad cut. It would never cross to anything other then authentic with SGC. It also looks like it might be missing the lower right corner, so I don't know how it ever got that grade anyway. I think if you are not willing to spend in the $200 range you may have a tough time finding anything that isn't really beat up. With these strip cards I look at how nice the image is and how good the cut is and go from there. They can be priced all over the place, so you will need to buck up and pay more or wait till you find one you can afford.

James G