1950s Minneapolis Lakers Jim Pollard & George Mikan

[Exhibitman]

They are rare but also obscure, unfortunately.

These early NBA Team Issue and oddball items are soooo hard to price. I love 'em and collect 'em but I usually just have to go with what feels about right rather than hard data. For a major HOFer pre-rookie, it just depends on the venue and promotion. I will buy early TI's of major HOFers all day at $30-$50, which is where you could often find them several years ago when I started. I thought, why not, here's a card from before the accepted RC in an era where the mainstream sets were few and far between, so they fill gaps in collections where it seems kinda stupid to discuss a RC otherwise. I mean, we are supposed to ignore the Condors TI and call the 1969 Topps Hawkins his RC, or the Jack In The Box Rockets and call the 1970 Topps the Riley RC? Seems counterintuitive. Lots of uncertainty, though, so lots of room to grow. I know it's been magical for some obscure issues like the Bell Brand Lakers. I wish I'd jumped on those damn things a decade ago, but they are so rare that I wasn't aware of them and by the time I saw them even the commons trimmed of the coupons were hundreds of dollars. Since then I've been grabbing other obscurities whenever I can. Probably would be a good thread subject...

But I digress.

I haven't seen any of these Lakers TI's sell so I am really not sure on value but my SWAG would be $200+ for Mikan and $20-$50 for other players, based on what early TI's sell for in other contexts and what Mikan's 'off brand' early cards go for, but who knows where it goes in a really strong basketball auction. It's a nice piece and I would certainly welcome it into my collection if I came across it.