Am I Missing Something Here????

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Posted By: TBob

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1818125477

A pair of VG+ Topps 2002 "buybacks" going for, now, around $180.00? Whassup with that? Is there supposedly some kind of premium for the paper and plastic Topps holders? The pair of cards should be selling for about $50-60 total. I guess I am mising something here. Both cards are not only commons, but common commons.

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Posted By: Marc S.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1815450152

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

The "Topps 2002 T206" (or something like that) is covered. But I can't find the part that says "original T206s" or anything like that. The only section with early players is entitled "reprints." Then there's a section of "backs" : Cycle, Bazooka (?!!), and other old (and really old) backs--but i think that part has current players on the front!?. The "power number" for the set is "5," which means it's selling very well. But I can't find an example, or a list, of real T206s in the review.

I have not gone to Davesdougout (Dennis King, if he still sells cards at all, has just a few really nice ones in the basement of his print-and-painting gallery) to try to cash in on the , er, "riches." (The two dealers mentioned--stores, really--are in Berkeley)

I think, if the set were less confusing, that encapsulating T206s and inserting them in packs of Topps 2002 cards would be a good idea, drawing collectors of modern cards, if any, into more interesting aspects of the hobby. But apparently, the way they have the set set up, the poor new hobbyest doesn't really know what he's getting, and after buying, probably doesn't know what he has.

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Posted By: Tom

But I've picked up a few of the Topps T206's........ not the ORIGINAL T206's encapsulated in the cards but some of the smaller Topps cards.....okay........here's a primer..........
They have a 180 card regular set that includes about 15 'reprint' T206's at the end of the set. Includes Speaker, Wagner, Plank, Cobb and others. Size is normal 2.5 by 3.5. Then there's mini (T206-sized) 'parallel' sets of the 180 cards in Polar Bear (easiest), Tolstoi Black (slightly harder), Tolstoi Red (don't really remember these from 1909.....but like 1 per box) and Cycle (one per box). So...........now you know..........the real T206's (and T205's) are 'seeded' about 1 for every 5 boxes. Haven't seen any hofer's yet though. In addition, there are 15 cards that have mini versions that have
Bazooka backs (again....don't remember these from 1909....). They include Nolan Ryan, Ichiro, Pujols, and 12 others. There are only 30 of each of the Bazooka backs. Keith Olbermann has been bidding all those up to astronomical prices. He did a little writeup that is included in each box about how he bought T206's back in the 1970's and what a great product this is.......yadda yadda yadda...........
Please don't flame me for buying this stuff!

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Posted By: David

Tom, thanks for the informative write-up. Just to note, I saw that someone pulled a real T205 Chisty Mathewson fromt he Topps 206 product.

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Posted By: Elliot

You guys know altogether too much about this Topps t206 product. I think you are closet modern collectors. I have also ascertained why Tom has been selling so many cabinets---he wants to buy a "bazooka" back.

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Posted By: brian parker

Did anyone else notice that the winner of the Merkle T206 placed 37(!) bids, ranging from $19.49 to the winning amount of $208.50, all in a span of 6 hours? This has to be a record.

http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=1815450152

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Posted By: Tbob

I guess the guy was bidding against Fred's grandson for the card. He could have purchased a better one in nicer condition for $150 less if he didn't want the crappy Topps holder surrounding it.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

I guess, theoretically, a real T206, encapsulated in a Topps 2002 container, IS rarer than a T206, and therefore is worth more money, if you want one.

I don't.

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Posted By: Jeff

while smart fellows like us don't give a rats you-know-what about the encasing of the card, they do look to be pretty rare. y'all surely know about all these jersey swatch cards, and the like -- it's the same idea. If somebody put a 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch piece of Gehrig jersey for sale at $200, we'd laugh. (And so would collectors of modern-day cards.) But put that same swatch behind a little window in an Upper Deck subset, #'d to 25, and it's worth at least that much.

Makes me want to counterfeit the topps encasing thingys...get rid of my 206 dupes in a flash.

Jeff

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Posted By: David

Collecting is inherently an irrational act, and all collectors have irrational tendancies and logic. If collecting was completely rational, it wouldn't any fun.

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Posted By: jay behrens

Hey now, my collecting habits are perfectly rational. If it's shiny, I pick it up. If it's pretty, I put it on display. If it's old, rusty, or beaten up, I save it from the rubish heap. When I run out of room for everything, I buy a bigger storage shed.

Jay-

The difference between genius and insanity is acceptance.

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

genius and insanity..."

But "BUYBACKS"? What do the Topps people do, go to a cemetery where American Tobacco Company people are buried, and lay some old coins on the grave?!

I don't think Kit Young resembles, or counts.

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Posted By: Bob

I think there was also a Walter Johnson pitching Topps T206 "buyback".

Actually, a local dealer here in Seattle spoke to a larger dealer from Portland who was contacted by Topps about 9 months ago and they snapped up a lot of T206 cards from him and used those for the Topps T206 buyback cards.