FS: 1960 Jintan Gum Cards - Sadaharu Oh, Nomura, Harimoto, 100+ others
 

Have a pretty good collection of 1960 Jintan Gum baseball cards (catalog sets JF8 and JF9) I'm looking to sell. I know there are a few vintage Japanese baseball card collectors here so wanted to offer the whole lot for $9500 before splitting it up and sending the various cards to auction and ebay. It is one of the truly iconic Japanese post-war sets with individual cards about the size of an old-fashioned stick of gum.

As anyone who collects the set knows, it's almost impossible to complete. I got to a little over 100 different cards including the key star cards of Sadaharu Oh, Kaneda, Harimoto, Nomura, Murayama, Chiba, and Barbon (but missing Nagashima). And also have two of the impossibly rare cards: Enomoto and Nishimoto. The JF8 and JF9 sets are assigned a scarcity rating of R3, meaning there only 11-99 copies known of most cards. The Enomoto and Nishimoto cards have a scarcity rating of R5 (meaning 5 or fewer known copies), making them key to ultimately completing the set. In total, this is under half the cards of the entire JF8 and JF9 combined sets.

The condition varies greatly. The Sadaharu Oh card is slabbed SGC 1.5 (presents nicer but graded low due to pencil mark on verso). There are a couple of other SGC graded cards but the rest are all raw. If anyone is seriously interested, I can provide full scans or go through condition card by card. Barbon, Chiba, Hashimoto, for instance appear in excellent shape while Murayama and Kaneda are more roughly handled. Some sample and key cards (out of roughly 106 total):

https://i.imgur.com/uX4ADpZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/80GyyVs.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gCdRLDd.jpg

The collection also includes half a dozen variations, either cards with alternative photos to the main card or unlisted/uncatalogued cards from the set.

The hard part is valuing the set. The 2019 Guide lists it as one of the most valuable sets, with common card BV of $50 and the Sadaharu Oh card (in NM) at $2500. Certainly for certain star cards, these prices seem low. I've had a $2000 offer for my JF8 Oh card (SGC 1.5, definitely not NM). The rare Enomoto and Nishimoto have listed book values of $600 and $750 respectively. So, all told, I think the asking price is reasonable and probably much less than what it would cost to build the collection in any reasonably short time frame.

I know it's a long shot but figured one worth a try before breaking it up and sending it out. Thanks for reading!

$9500 PayPal including CONUS delivery.