1925 Gehrig Rookie Exhibits Card

[glchen]

Originally Posted by orly57

I am surprised no one has mentioned that it is rumored the population report on this card may actually be inflated due to psa mistakenly slabbing the very similar 1926 Gehrig in a 1925 holder. The tint on the two cards are different and Gehrig's name is in a box on the '25, but the rumor is some 26s ended up in '25 holders.
I own a rough psa 1, but I am glad I got it before it started sky-rocketing.

This is not a rumor. I have definitely seen some 1926 Gehrig's in 1925 holders for both PSA and SGC. You have to be careful as they look exactly the same except for the color tints. The 1925 version should be gray while the 1926 one is light blue. The 1926 card is actually much rarer than the 1925 one, but of course the 1925 one is selling for much higher prices these days. The strange thing about the Memory Lane one currently at auction is that it looks greenish colored, not sure that's due to the lighting or what.

For example, the card on the left looks like a proper 1925 Exhibits, but the one on the right looks light bluish, so probably a 1926 Exhibits. Again, it's possible that the color tint looks different when seeing in person, but everyone should be very careful.

[BeanTown]

Great examples of two killer cards! So, I guess today's lesson is to buy the card and not the holder?

[griffon512]

Originally Posted by glchen

This is not a rumor. I have definitely seen some 1926 Gehrig's in 1925 holders for both PSA and SGC. You have to be careful as they look exactly the same except for the color tints. The 1925 version should be gray while the 1926 one is light blue. The 1926 card is actually much rarer than the 1925 one, but of course the 1925 one is selling for much higher prices these days. The strange thing about the Memory Lane one currently at auction is that it looks greenish colored, not sure that's due to the lighting or what.

For example, the card on the left looks like a proper 1925 Exhibits, but the one on the right looks light bluish, so probably a 1926 Exhibits. Again, it's possible that the color tint looks different when seeing in person, but everyone should be very careful.

why would the presumption be that there were many more 1925 exhibits manufactured than 1926 exhibits for those with the white box both years (like the gehrig)?

wouldn't it be more likely that the manufacturing runs in both years were much more equal than what the pop reports reflect -- hardly any 1926 exhibits? the feedback i've heard is that even experienced graders find it difficult to distinguish between a '25 and '26 exhibit (e.g., scott mt. joy cited this in previous posts on this subject), meaning the tint distinction you are referring to is ambiguous in many instances...so graders likely defaulted over time to calling almost all exhibits over this 2 year period 1925 exhibits either out of ignorance that a 2 year manufacturing run existed or they were following the pop distribution.

the upshot is for those who think they have a gehrig rookie because that's what the flip says, it's up in the air whether they have a first year or second year issue. you can draw your own conclusions for the impact on the value of the card depending on whether you believe the two years can be clearly distinguished.

[orly57]

My 1925 is clearly black and white. And if the 26's have a bluish tint to them, as it has been espoused, I can tell you I own a 1926-29 Exhibits Gehrig Portrait which has an unmistakeable blue tint. If they used the same blue tint on the '26 exhibits as they did on the 26-29, this is extremely easy to distinguish in-hand. I say "in-hand," because in photos of the 26-29 gehrig pose the blue isn't very pronounced at all. It is very different story in-hand.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by griffon512

why would the presumption be that there were many more 1925 exhibits manufactured than 1926 exhibits for those with the white box both years (like the gehrig)?

wouldn't it be more likely that the manufacturing runs in both years were much more equal than what the pop reports reflect -- hardly any 1926 exhibits? the feedback i've heard is that even experienced graders find it difficult to distinguish between a '25 and '26 exhibit (e.g., scott mt. joy cited this in previous posts on this subject), meaning the tint distinction you are referring to is ambiguous in many instances...so graders likely defaulted over time to calling almost all exhibits over this 2 year period 1925 exhibits either out of ignorance that a 2 year manufacturing run existed or they were following the pop distribution.

the upshot is for those who think they have a gehrig rookie because that's what the flip says, it's up in the air whether they have a first year or second year issue. you can draw your own conclusions for the impact on the value of the card depending on whether you believe the two years can be clearly distinguished.

James, take a look at this thread: Link.

Although some players in the 1926 Exhibits set can only be distinguished from their 1925 counterparts by color tint (e.g., Gehrig, Ruth), others can be more easily catalogued because of "box" vs "no box." Even for these players which have the easily distinguishable "no box," the population reports consistently show fewer 1926 Exhibits compared to the same player for 1925.

[griffon512]

that's helpful, thx Gary

[smtjoy]

As Gary said the 1926 set is many times harder. IMO the 1926 standard set was cut short because of the popularity of the 1926-29 PC set, this short print makes it the toughest exhibit set to complete (the 1933 set is close just has a lot less cards needed).

Also the 26 blue is very different than the color used on the 1926-29 PC exhibits, examples below-

Examples-

1925

1926

1926-29 Blue

[BeanTown]

Scott, great examples and thanks for sharing. So, it sounds like you cant go wrong with either the 1925 or 1926 Gehrig exhibit. Reminds me of Mantle rookies. 1951 Bowman vs 1952 Topps.

[botn]

Originally Posted by BeanTown

Reminds me of Mantle rookies. 1951 Bowman vs 1952 Topps.

Ummmm...no. 51 and 52 Mantles were issued by different companies. 25 and 26 Exhibit Gehrigs were issued by the same company, which is like a 54 Topps Aaron and a 55 Topps Aaron.