August Pickups

Yossarian · #1 08-17-2014, 12:46 AM

Matt - the '54 Topps Ernie Banks RC is one of my top 10 all-time favorite cards. You are absolutely correct about the funky centering on it. I have seen tons of them with wonky top-to-bottom centering where his name is basically sitting flush against the top border. That is in addition to the left-right centering issues endemic to that set.

Short version = very nice card. Good work.

pawpawdiv9 · #2 08-17-2014, 10:31 AM

Arrrrrrrrgh! I was lokking at a Banks RC the other day, it is difficult to find one especially with a bit of border at the top, not being cut-off. Plus its hard for me to see the beige background to look at centering, I think i found one yesterday, but held off on it.
MattyC- i'm so jealous!!

savedfrommyspokes · #3 08-17-2014, 10:41 AM

Seems strange to be excited about picking up what many would consider just a common, but....

I have been working on the 61 Post set, and embedded in a lot I recently won was one of the tougher cards from this set, the Chuck Estrada card. This card was a "company only" issued card, in other words it did not appear on a product box as most all of the other cards in the set. The card is in great shape (nice edges, crease/stain free), so I consider myself lucky to find a copy of this tough card in this nice of shape at a fraction of the typical price.

MattyC · #4 08-17-2014, 01:00 PM

That is amazing about the Estrada-- at least with the Goudey Nap they allowed you to send in for it! So how do most set builders obtain the Estrada? Did a few manage to escape the factory? Fascinating card. As a former set builder I love cards with mystique like that. Must feel great to finally have it.

MattyC · #5 08-17-2014, 02:59 PM

Chris & Yossarian, thx re: the Banks. Very few places one can go to find those who can appreciate the challenge of finding a properly cut Ernie Banks RC!

This card below is one of my favorite baseball cards of all time. Sacrificed a bit on top-bottom centering for picture clarity and color...

savedfrommyspokes · #6 08-18-2014, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattyC

That is amazing about the Estrada-- at least with the Goudey Nap they allowed you to send in for it! So how do most set builders obtain the Estrada? Did a few manage to escape the factory? Fascinating card. As a former set builder I love cards with mystique like that. Must feel great to finally have it.

Thank you Matt....and yes, a relief to cross this card off of the need list. While the copies of the Estrada are available(there are several offered on ebay as singles), they command a steep price. In this shape, a $100 price point would be considered good(for a common?). While the 61 Post set has over 200 different players in the set, when the variations are figured in there are over 350 different cards. There are 160 "company issued" cards, and if I am not mistaken, 2 cards (Estrada and Shaw) were only issued as company cards. Here is a link to a REA auction for a set of the company issued cards from this set ....it also discusses how the company cards were issued:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/.../2011/918.html

brian1961 · #7 08-18-2014, 12:38 PM

Howdy Savedfrommyspokes,

A hearty congratulations upon getting that beautiful '61 Post Estrada for your set.

I think you are mistaken about the number of cards that were ONLY available by sending away for a particular team sheet. I am no expert, but I do recall a couple other examples of this---the Yankees' sheet having Bob Turley, and the Senators' sheet had Chuck Stobbs.

The other scenario I well remember from hobby literature was a couple players that were very hard to find, and only on the cereal boxes. You probably know of them: Bob Shaw of the White Sox; and Mel Roach of the Braves. What you might not know is that even in 1969, renown mail order dealer Bruce Yeko singled those two cards out in his catalog entry for the set, and put a hefty premium on their purchase price. The price is of course comical today, but at 1-2 dollars for each, that made them approximately 10-20 times the cost of a common single. In fact, he priced all the cards the same, save for Shaw and Roach.

As you can imagine, 1969 was a time when very few adults, teens, and youngsters sent away for cards. Had Bruce been buried with orders for certain stars, he would have adjusted his prices. When he didn't have the card, which was half the time for the admittedly star cards I wanted from him, he'd simply issue me a credit slip on the paperwork with the cards he had sent me. In a few short years, the price of all star cards was being adjusted on a monthly to a weekly basis by the now burgeoning adult card hobby!

Sounds as if you're having a ton of fun with the '61 Post. I'll always love those--the first baseball cards I saw in 1961, the year I began collecting. Have a great one. --Brian Powell

savedfrommyspokes · #8 08-18-2014, 06:18 PM

Hi Brian, thank you...
When I posted that previous message, I was indeed going by memory and not my checklist, thus my disclaimer. You are correct that the Turley and Stobbs were also only company issued....I received a copy of the Turley in the same lot as the Estrada. As far as the Shaw and Roach, the Roach arrived embedded in a previous lot. So, if you have not guessed this yet, I will be patiently waiting for both the Stobbs and Shaw cards to arrive via a future lot.

Interesting story about Bruce....he was probably one of the few people who handled enough quantity of and requests for these cards that he must have quickly recognized that Shaw and Roach were low pop type cards, based on his supply and demand.

Any idea why the Roach card was not numbered in sequence with the other Braves cards from this set?

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