1885 NL Constitution

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Posted By: T206Collector

I picked this up on Ebay about 6 or 7 years ago. I don't remember what I paid, and I haven't seen another since. Anybody have any idea of the scarcity and/or value of this item?

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

From the November 2006 Hunt's auction:

http://www.huntauctions.com/online/imageviewer.cfm?auction_num=29&lot_num=850&lot_qual=

The one in the closed auction sold for $200 and is in better shape than yours so I would guess yours to be around $150.

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Posted By: T206Collector

...for the info.

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Posted By: barrysloate

Constitutions become rare and desirable the older they get. Ones from the 1870's and 1880's are not too expensive. Those from the 1865-70 era, which show up once in a while, can run $500 or more.

Civil War era ones are quite rare and expensive, and anything pre 1860 is usually in the unique or near unique category. I have an 1859 one from the NAABP (National Association of Amateur Baseball Players) which is the only one from that year I have ever seen.

And there are two types- team and league ones. Team ones tend to be rarer, and the more famous the team, the more desirable.

One of our board members has a unique 1848 Knickerbocker BBC Constitution, and the recently auctioned 1838 Olympics one. Those are unquestionably the two best known in the hobby.

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Posted By: Jason Mishelow

There is a 1876 constitution up on ebay and its had attracted a flury of early bidding- 17 bids over 600 and 8 days left

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Posted By: Dan Bretta

1876 is the first year for the National League which is why that one is so much more valuable than the other NL volumes.