Red Man Tobacco Card Collecting?

[LuckyLarry]

I’ve got a full run 52-55 a few with tabs fun set to put together.
Larry

[Volod]

I collected the '52 set back in the '80's because I was in my second childhood and always fondly remembered my father giving me those cards in '52 as he opened a new pack of Red Man chew. As a big fan of the Braves at the time, I thought the Torgeson and Gordon cards were particularly beautiful, wanted a Spahn of course, but for some reason, the old man never produced one of those, among other shortcomings. Had to wait more than thirty years to get Spahnie.

[111gecko]

This is my old group of them. Wasn't really a fan at the time; but now regret getting rid of them...

[UKCardGuy]

I love the Red Man sets. I'm working on the full 52-55 run with tabs). I'm doing it as a slow build over time.

They're not too expensive and there's a good selection around. But finding them in higher grades is tougher. The prices on a NM Redman get expensive but if your willing to accept VGEX to EX+ there are bargains to be had.

I try to focus on EX+ but I have a small number that are worse and a small number that are better.

This is my latest Redman pickup

[David W]

A few Cardinals.

[commishbob]

My Billy Pierce run, a Spahnie and Orioles pitcher Joe Coleman enjoying the product it seems. I have one or two others. Can't find the scan of Sam Mele as an Oriole. He's in the '54 set as a White Sox player as well.

[metroac]

Like many of us, I once had a large card collection, but sold it off -- in my case, in two large divestitures in 1997 and 2009. A few years later, though, I found that I missed collecting and wanted to get back in. I didn't want to collect what I'd collected before unless they were sets I really liked. I started with two sets that I thought were 1) small, 2) really beautiful, 3) didn't have to be perfect to be enjoyable, 4) didn't contain any real budget busters, and 5) that I hadn't collected before. They were the 1936 R312 Pastels and the '52-'55 Red Man.

I started with a "find" on eBay of about 30 1953's (with tabs) that had been pasted in an album and survived a fire (as evidenced by the charring around the edges). About half of them were Hall of Famers. I replaced all of them as I built my '53 set, but they're still some of my favorite cards (and they still smell of smoke).

[homerunhitter]

These are really cool guys! Thanks for your posts! I’m still trying to decide if I want to collect these with the tabs or not. Besides monetary value in the lower g run not sure if tabs are more desireable or not. Or if it makes a huge difference or not. I’m really not sure which way to go on the tabs or not. What do you recommend?/suggest? Thanks

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by LuckyLarry

I’ve got a full run 52-55 a few with tabs fun set to put together.
Larry

Good stuff, Larry!

[G1911]

I store mine just like Larry does, except I don’t have dividers between years because I’m lazy. I think he’s onto something here

[homerunhitter]

I’ve been tracking some of these on eBay for the past week or so in hopes of adding some with tabs to my collection and….. wow! Ones with tabs are going for insane numbers compared to the ones with no tabs. For me at least , I’m not so sure chasing those with tabs is cost effective for me. I might just settle on collecting those with no tabs instead!!!

[Chris-Counts]

Here's all three Red Man cards of Minnie Minoso. I'm happy to collect these mostly without tabs ...

[homerunhitter]

Agree! These are beautiful cards with or without tabs. If one comes my way with a tab and it’s priced reasonably , I’ll buy it , but man, the prices of tabbed ones , I’m not sure are worth it too me. (Meaning, I think I’m fine with just a complete set/run of the un tabbed ones for a fraction of the price.)

[IndyDave]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

Agree! These are beautiful cards with or without tabs. If one comes my way with a tab and it’s priced reasonably , I’ll buy it , but man, the prices of tabbed ones , I’m not sure are worth it too me. (Meaning, I think I’m fine with just a complete set/run of the un tabbed ones for a fraction of the price.)

This is me. I'm down to only needing the 1955 Mays to finish all 4 sets. I would guess I have somewhere around 20% of the cards with tabs. All things being equal, I will pay a small premium for a tabbed version if I have a choice. I upgrade to a tabbed version what I can.

My only true card "find" of my nearly 50 years in the hobby was in the early 1980's when one of my dad's friends sold me and my brother his "childhood" collection - it was some 52 Topps, 53 Bowman color and 52 Red Man. Most all of the Red Man we got from Jake were without tabs - so that is what started me that way.

They are some of my favorite sets - the paintings are so colorful. And as others have noted, there really isn't an insanely priced individual card - though I'm finding I'm likely laying out a few hundred to get the Mays I need to finish my sets.