1986 Fleer Jordan vs T206 Plank
 

I have enjoyed watching the results, and reading the comments, on the Wagner vs Mantle thread. So why not post another challenge. Neither card is mine.

The t206 plank sold in Goldin in May of 2021 for $162k

PSA 10 Jordans have been regularly selling for about $180k over the past few months (according to VCP).

Which one would you rather have and why?

This poll won't be as close as the last one. Plank all day and 2x on Sunday.,
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Make that 100x on Sunday! Plank all the way!!

The Jordan and its not close for me.

While I do understand the rarity of the Plank, I would rather have a psa 10 of the most iconic card in the last 40 years.

Could not care less about Jordan. If you gave it to me, gratis, I would sell it, and use the money to buy the Plank or something like a complete set of 1954 Topps, and remodel my kitchen, with money in the bank.

Would take the Plank & pocket the $18,000 so I could buy more cards

Third year Jordan card is SO overrated. The 101 should have been accepted as his RC all along. XRC indeed. Joe Orlando refusing to grade them indeed.

I like rare cards and I like baseball cards so the decision is easy. Post this on a basketball forum and you'll get the opposite results.

Of course Plank, but would have loved to find the Jordan in a pack and sell it. Lol

I went with Plank, because Eddie had a lifetime batting average of .206 in 17 years in the major leagues, while Michael had a .202 batting average in his one season in AA ball.

Although I hear Eddie's 3 point game was pretty lame.

Brian

I'd definitely rather have the Plank.
While I completely understand the hype of Jordan, I'd personally never choose a card printed when I was in 6th grade over a 110+ year old somewhat rarity.
On top of that, while I love high grade cards I do not personally buy or collect PSA 10's as I feel that the prices most bring are absurd. The few vintage PSA 10's I've been lucky to land on submissions were sold as fast as I could get them back and replaced with 8's or 9's.

Plank

Wow, mercy rule already. I am not at all surprised by the poll or the comments. However, I was surprised by the Mantle 8 v trimmed Wagner poll. Somehow I thought a badly trimmed Wagner vs PSA 8 mantle was a comparable challenge to a Plank 3 and a Jordan 10; I get that Jordan is basketball while Mantle is baseball, but this is the prewar section and I really thought more people who frequent this section would take the Wagner.

Plank means nothing to me and Jordan is the greatest B-Ball player ever. I'll take the Jordan.

This one was easy. Plank all day long. I'm not attracted to the Jordan rookie at all and have always loved the Plank. I do think Phil had a good point that if this poll was posted on a basketball card forum it would likely get a different consensus.



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I walk the Plank here.

Plank for me, without hesitation.
I have a lowly PSA 7 Jordan in my collection already, and that's easily good enough for me. A Plank in any condition would be more difficult for me to afford.

Haha! :D

Rarity and the fact that the price doesn't fluctuate with the wind. I'll take the Plank easily.

Plank. You can still pull a Jordan but you ain't no way pulling a Plank..

Plank hands down for me. In addition to the rarity, one of my favorite cards in the T206 set and at the top of my want list.

Classic tobacco SP > 3rd year modern.

Most of the hobby would disagree, but the answer is writ by the subset of the audience here.

+1 Agree.
but to me the rarity of the plank over the quantity of the Jordan 10 and Vintage over Modern and Baseball over Basketball

Plank. There are so many Jordan’s compared to it.

For me always a combo of factors involved
 

including an eye toward the future maintenance of value. I voted for the 52 Mantle over the Wagner. Here I am taking the Plank - there are currently 319 PSA 10 Jordan's with the possibility of new ones still out there. While I do think the 86 Fleer card will remain a greater iconic Jordan card than the 84 Star (Similar to 52 Topps Mantle Vs. 51 Bowman Rookie), with a population that large there is a lot greater possibility that this card swings wildly - are there 319 people willing to pay $160K+ for a PSA 10 Jordan? How about in 10 years? 79 PSA Plank's + another 10 SGC. A lot safer card imho. An interesting experiment would be to run a similar poll with a younger generation of collectors - I suspect it would turn out vastly different.

Easily the Plank. How many Jordan 10's are out there......with how many more possibly eligible to upgrade or in sealed packs/boxes compared to how many
total Planks there are.
Bob

I'd take the Plank, but it's not a no-brainer. If you held this contest outside your LCS, I think the numbers would be different, by a large margin.

Plank

Plank. I think that values long enough so I could list in the next REA auction to buy other cards.

The 86 Jordan is the recognized RC of the GOAT and far more iconic than the Plank, so I would buy a nicely centered 8 with the proceeds

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Jordan

I personally would prefer the Plank from a PC standpoint but if I were buying the card that I thought would increase in value more over the next 10-15 years I’d go with the Jordan.

I'd probably pick the Plank, but I'd consider the Jordan if only for the fact that I like to show and share my cards and I think the Jordan would get a much better reaction when shown to non-collectors.

Probably should add some basic conditions to the vote selectdion. I'd guess that people would take the Jordan 10 if they could sell it and buy the Plank and have a few bucks left over. I voted Plank because there have got to be a load of Jordan's out there in all conditions.

As this is prewar forum the results are not surprising. I am one of the few that would take the Jordan. Current prices are way off the peak value, and will go back up. I don't know much about the modern basketball market, but it's world wide and much bigger than prewar baseball. I would be willing to bet anyone that a psa 10 jordan hits 500k again at auction before a psa 3 plank.

If I were guaranteed prices between the two would always be about the same I'd probably take the Jordan and pass it down to my son Jordan.

Two very overrated cards in my opinion.

For me it’s the Jordan.

As a kid in the 80’s and 90’s I remember hearing about the exploding value of that card. And as we all watched Jordan’s incredible career play out, that just increased the mystique of that card. To me, the Jordan is desirable, and it is a card I would love to have in my collection to look at, show off, and enjoy.

I collect prewar baseball cards, but don’t really collect t206 (I have a handful).

The only reason I know about the Plank and it’s value is because of knowledgeable collectors like you guys. But I have no ‘connection’ to it or a true desire for it. The value of the Plank to me would be purely monetary, but owning a Jordan would actually “mean” something to me if that makes sense.

Good poll and good discussion!

I collect modern and pre war and I love both cards. For me it comes down to this: I can take the Plank and be happy with a clean, centered PSA 9 Jordan (or even a Beckett 9.5) I can pic up later at a fraction of the cost.

let's step back..... U can get a beat up Jordan RC for less than $1k and u probably won't enjoy that Jordan as much as a beat up Plank which would cost min of $10k. You would be glad of owning a Plank in any condition. (I understand it is a budget issue....)

Jordan but close. Goat versus eh. Not fully into t206 like others but no get it.

I wonder which one 20 years from now would sell for more?

Never been a condition collector. There are theoretically hundreds… maybe thousands of Jordan fleer rookies that could grade 10…or 9 depending on the day and the grader… and literally tens of thousands of this card in existence if not more.

How many t206 planks are there?

I love how these types of hypothetical discussions always bring up which card would sell for more money in the future. I know not everyone based their choice on values, but many did. I just think about which one I would rather have. I don't care about the current or future value of either card. There are a million Jordan rookies out there and (which sometimes seems like) a million of them are graded 9 or 10. Not a big deal card for me. Yes, he was the greatest basketball player ever. But the Plank has more hobby history and lore behind it. Take money out of the decision and which one would you rather own?



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The Plank. And not just because he had a higher batting average than Jordan.

When it comes down to it, I will always take a 100+ year old card, even a common, over one that was issued when I was already an adult.

Brian (and baseball is better than basketball, and as a bonus for those that have difficulties spelling longer words, baseball has two fewer letters in its name)

If someone gave me $ 180.k to spend on a card - either the Plank or Jordan, I would ask if I could go off the board for something else.

However, not all PSA 10 Jordan's are created equal. The one presented here with pic has too much subtle white showing on the side edges for me to be happy with the "10" grade. I would probably take a high end for the grade PSA 10 Jordan if those were my only 2 choices.

Jordan Vs. Plank
 

If money were not the issue it is Plank infinitely. The Jordan is available just about every day somewhere in a 10 for auction while the Plank has a total pop of 79 and may come up for sale in any grade 1 or 2 times a year. The pop as of today is 319 Jordans in 10's on PSA pop.

I always think to myself, I want the best 10 I can get. Maybe even an 11!

I like the Jordan RC more than the Plank, but I have zero interest in playing the PSA 10 premium game. There are so many Jordan 9s that are every bit as good or better as half of the 10s. I have two dead centered 9s. I'm more than happy with those, and somehow, they're 10% of the price. I'm taking the Plank over the Jordan 10 every time.

Most of us dont spend $180k on a card often, if ever. If we're assuming either someone is giving us this money, or we have to come up with it, future resale value is relevant.

If I was spending 180k of my own money on a card to keep for my collection without concern for resale value it would either be a 16 Ruth or a t210 Jackson.

As the Wu said, cash rules everything around me. Hobby interest is more around profit than the cards now, evidently for the better in the eyes of most.

Despite people's reasoning (we all know the ONLY real reason is dollars), it truly saddens me that so many 'collectors' would pick an overproduced 'new' card over an illustrious and legendary must-have card from an ancient, lost time when cards were inserted into tobacco products. Bummer. :confused:

A 3rd year Jordan card or a T206 Plank? Easy, Plank ALL DAY.

If that was Jordan's actual RC (1984 Star) in a PSA 10 I might think twice if I was drinking, but doubtful.

Considering that neither card is overly appealing to me (sold a Jordan rookie years ago), I'd take the Jordan 10, sell it and load up on old judges.

Plank v Jordan
 

Plank, not even close. Trent King

As a big basketball card collector, I’d have to take the GOAT- Jordan. I realize I’m in the tiny minority here on this forum!

+1

Now if it was a PSA 10 Star #101 I change my vote to the Jordan card.

Future resale value is irrelevant in a hypothetical situation though. Which card would you rather have? Don't worry about the fact that you would be spending $180K on it. That's not the point of the poll.

Edited to add: I guess what I'm saying is, if one of these two cards was going to be given to you and you couldn't sell it in your lifetime or profit from it at all, which would you rather have? Take all value out of it. I'm certainly not trying to start an argument or anything, just trying to simplify the hypothetical situation. ;)



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I would purchase the most iconic card of my lifetime: Jordan. Almost positive my son would prefer this as inheritance rather than Plank.

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Jordan really is the best to ever play the game - both ways too! But when you take the fact that there are SOOOOooooo many of his '86 Fleer cards out there, even in high grades, it's just insane.

Given the original post, at the current capital is almost equal - the clear choice is the Plank imo.

Look at the 1980 Topps Henderson at PSA 9 - current auctions are going for $1700 and there are 2100+ of those bad boys graded by PSA.... I'll take an e92 Dockman Cy Young at a PSA 4 at the same price and a pop <15....

full disclosure, I am certainly biased here!

Plank

As a t206 collector, I am taking the Plank, but I already have both. The Jordan RC is the most iconic post war card, the rookie card of the greatest athlete of the 20th century. I would definitely take it over a mass produced second year Mantle card.

So you’ll take a 3rd year Jordan card over a 2nd year Mantle card??!!!

The 1986 Fleer is the iconic card only because PSA refused to grade the Star cards. Now that PSA is grading them, the Star #101 Jordans are hitting the market and completely destroying the 1986 Fleer Jordans in the same grades. Admittedly, the sample is small but so far, at 6 and 7 levels, the Star cards sell for multiples of the Fleers. It is only a matter of time before PSA churns out 8-9-10 examples and they outsell the Fleers head to head. I think in the end the Fleer will end up comparably priced to the 2nd year Jordan Star cards and some of the oddball Star issues from the 1st-2nd years.

Are you speaking about basketball cards? Hasn't the Doncic surpassed it?

I think people under 35 think Michael Jordan is the guy in the Creed movies. And people over 60 would say Wilt or Kareem or something like that.

I would put the Jordan Fleer 86 in the ballpark of the 84 Donruss Mattingly.

No, the Jordan RC is iconic because it created the basketball card collecting hobby in 1988-1989. It was a $50 card when the Magic/Bird RC was a $1 and key vintage RCs were all much less.

The Star will never pass the Fleer RC. The quality of the printing was poor. They are all off centered and being loose on the top of a bag, the corners were damaged. Unless PSA gives out "gift" grades, you won't see any higher than a 7. Few cared about the Star in the 80s or 90s and I don't see it changing. It is like people trying to hype the Bond Bread Jackie Robinson. That didn't stop his Leaf RC from skyrocketing.

Highest sale price for a PSA 10 Mattingly RC 8k. Highest sale price for a PSA 10 Jordan RC 738k.

No, I am taking the Michael Jordan RC over a 2nd year Mantle card. When I wanted to buy a Mickey Mantle card, I bought his rookie card, not the second year card.

Haha, I mean in this forum could you really expect many people to choose the Jordan?

yeah, the premium for a 9 vs a 10 is very very silly. And that goes for cards, comics, everything.

Would “walk the plank” as they say…

Plank is a no brainer in my mind due to population. Doesn’t hurt that I’m a T206 guy as well!

I might be more inclined to pay a premium for a 10 if PSA hadn't moved the goalposts on us multiple times and then demonstrated absolute incompetency since the pandemic with respect to grading. The number of truly pristine cards (even under 30x magnification) I've seen in PSA 9 holders in the last year or two is absolutely bonkers. I used to average ~86% gem rate with my PSA submissions on modern cards. My last bulk submission with them was about 30%. I'm done sending them cards, and I'm done chasing 10s. Now I look for gem mint cards in PSA 9 holders (and even some in 8 holders).

The card did not make the hobby; PSA made the card. That was the power of the PSA registry and hype machine at work. Some people did not care about the Star cards because PSA refused to grade them. Also, you might want to check your history a bit. The Jordan card did not overtake the 1957 Russell. In 2004 a PSA 8 Russell was a $3500 card. In 2004 a PSA 8 Jordan was a $400 card. The Jordan 8 has never overtaken the Russell 8. We can't compare 10s because there are no Russell 10s. The 8.5 Russell went for $630,000 and the 8 Russells are $200,000 cards.

The Jackie Robinson is an interesting question. I see the parallel at first blush, but it does not hold up under scrutiny. Clearly, it was not issued in his rookie or even his second year. It is a 1949 card. However, it is akin to the 1952 Topps Mantle in that collectors do not seem to care that is not a RC when both are presented in the same grades by the same TPG: the 1952 T card sells way better than the 1951 B card. By contrast, until now, we have not had PSA graded Fleer and Star cards. We had Beckett, which is meaningless for comparables. We can now start to compare apples to apples. The PSA Star cards that have sold so far have beaten the PSA Fleer cards decisively in the same grades. Look it up on PSA's auction results function. The most recent Star 7 to sell went for $19,200 in the October 22 Heritage auction. The most recent Fleer 7 to sell went for $4,600 on eBay on 11/2.

Now, as I said before, this is a small sample based on the # of cards graded and sold thus far, but as the pop grows, as the cards make their way into the Jordan registry, and as we see some 8-9-10 Star Jordan cards, I think they will continue to beat the Fleer card in comparable grade. Time will produce the evidence to answer the question.

As for aesthetics. everyone likes what they like. I happen to think some of the Star cards are beautifully done.