When it was a hobby . . .

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

Here are two pages from the Card Collectors Company price list for March 1, 1965.

Note that the 1952 Topps Mantle #311 was available for $1.00, the same as any other 1952 Topps high number series card, and that the T206 Wagner was valued at $250.

The only references to pre-war cards in the 8-page booklet are the "OLD CARD DEPARTMENT," the "1910 Baseball Card Checklist," and a mention of strip cards, 10 for $1.50.

Other items that are included are Bowman and Fleer baseball issues, football cards, Canadian issues including Parkhurst, exhibit cards, Dormand postcards, baseball scorecards, football programs, 8x10s of current baseball players, books, basketball cards, Topps Ringside, the American Card Catalog ($4 a copy), album pages, storage boxes and MINT CONDITION group lots (50 assorted Bowman baseball, 1950-55 for $4.00).

There is a stern warning on the final page - WE CANNOT FILL ANY ORDERS UNDER 50 CENTS."

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Posted By: Mike P.

Even with inflation those are still good prices. The Mantle today would cost just over $6 and the Wagner would set you back about $1550.

http://minneapolisfed.org/Research/data/us/calc/index.cfm

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Posted By: petecld

I recently won a few old copies of "The Trader Speks" and the one thing that surprised me was that asking prices for HoFers and common players from the same set were either the same price or very close to each other.

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Posted By: Dave Yoken

Hey Mike,

Did you use the Consumer Price Index or the GDP Deflator to find equivalent rates?

Dave

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Posted By: TimJ

Ohh yea,The Card Collectors Company.I remember looking at their cataloge and dreaming about the cards I could buy.I got a mint condition '55 Koufax cheap! How about the '52-Topps 311-407 at $1 a piece !The only bummer was when you would place an order and it would come back as"Out of Stock".

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Posted By: Robert

I want to place an order who do I call

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Posted By: TimJ

I did a search and they aren't out there anymore.Where is the time machine when you need it? !!

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Posted By: Mike P.

...is what I used. The GDP deflator would have the Mantle at $5 and the Wagner at roughly $1200. I'm not sure on which is more accurate.

http://www1.jsc.nasa.gov/bu2/inflateGDP.html

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Posted By: Dave Yoken

For what it's worth, the GDP deflator is a broader index of what we call the "market basket" of goods and services - i.e. a broader sampling of prices for things that are not just for consumers, but for the government, private enterprise, etc., thus it is a more accurate index than the CPI, which just measures prices specific to household consumers.

Anyway, I would've taken all of the cards at either the CPI or the GDP deflator!!! $1 for a Topps 52 high # card!?!? Now I'm drooling. Heck,
I wish I could turn back the clock to when I was collecting cards as a youngster 16-17 years ago. Instead of all the crap I accumulated (late 80s Topps, Fleer, Donruss, Score, Sportflix, etc.), I would've gobbled up any vintage stuff I could find. I guess hindsight is 20/20....

Dave

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Posted By: pete

I hear ya Dave. My first t206 which I bought at a national as a kid was a white cap mathewson for $2. I wish I was more into vintage stuff than 77 pinella burger king cards and reggie jacksin rookies!

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Posted By: Josh K.

Amen to that - when I was a kid, I was too busy accumulating cal ripken jr. and steve sax rookie cards. I didnt even know they made cards before the 1950's. I lived right down the street from the house of cards and all I ever remember them carrying was cards from the early to mid fifties and newer.

I sure wish I could buy T206 HOFers for $2 now.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I was living in NYC at the time and it was big news there.

They were ultra heavy on old Topps cards because Woody Gelman was one of the owners and a Topps insider.

The fire sale was amazing. They had so many Topps cards of the 1950s and 1960s that they did not even want to check them for damage. They just clustered them into lots and sold them in bricks. I was a kid but I bought several of them. Alas, they were all hockey except one (hey, east coast and the golden era of the NHL, what can I say?). I remember getting lots that were perfect mint cards except for a little smoke damage around the edges--looked like minor foxing. Best of all, they left in all the stars. I remember getting Hull, Plante, Hall, Mikita, Sawchuk, etc. for like a nickel a card. I even got a 1963 Mays that was so sharp it could cut you, just a little toasted at the edges. I wish I had some of them left but I guess I traded them away a long time ago.

Richard Gelman (Woody's son) ran the operation into the ground after the old man stepped away. As I recall, it was dead shortly after I moved to CA (late 1970's); at least my inquiries went unanswered. The company was revived around 10-15 years ago to sell reprints and modern crap but it failed.

From time to time reprinted classic books by the Nostalgia Press surface for sale on ebay; that's how I got my ACC.

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Posted By: Bob Marquette

I'd sure like to buy that Topps All American FB set from '55 for $7 or a complete run of Topps cards from 1956 to 1964 for $63.25! I wonder what condition those cards were in back then.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

judging from what I received, they were vending box-fresh. I could cry over some of those hockey cards...

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Posted By: Paul

My recollection of the fire is different. They put out a catalog in which fire damaged cards were half price. As a kid, I was so cheap that I decided to spend 10 cents each for my 1962 Topps Ford and Berra cards, instead of 20 cents. Same for my Seaver rookie. And I believe I paid $2 for my 65 Mantle, instead of the regular price of $4. Most of the cards were just warped irregularly from water damage, but some had smoke stains. For some reason, the smoke seemed to effect the back more than the front. I believe the Mantle was the worst.

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Posted By: Hoytdunk

I wanted cards for my birthday present in 1974 (I think that was the year) and my parents decided a week before my birthday to let me place an order the CCC. I waited and waited, but cards from CCC.

I received an envelop from CCC some weeks/months later stating they had a fire and lost alot of inventory and gave me a credit for future purchases. From my recollection they said the fire actually took place on my birthday March 30 in 1974.

At some point after that CCC had cards for sale in "poor condition" which had water and/or smoke damage. I had real nice 1965 Mantle from that purchase that looked great. In the 1980's I realized it had the smoke damage trimmed off and that is why it looked so nice.

I bought a set run a couple of years ago that contained cards from the CCC fire inventory. The cards were purchased in the 1970's/early 1980's. I can always tell with the smoke damage on the edges, etc.