1934-1936 R327 Diamond Stars

[puckpaul]

It was interesting to go back over the PSA pop reports on DS. The high numbers are definitely scarce. With 15-40 examples graded, and not jist 97-108 but also 85-96.

But what is the deal with the Lew Fonseca card number 7? Only 7 are listed as graded. Is this a true rarity? I have the whole set so I should know, but i bought 80% of it in one lot and never searched for many of the cards.

My Fonseca is labeled as “35 years old”. There was a thread on this a little back in 2003 that I found searching the forum. Was that a gimmicked card that was issued later or purposely low-printed? Never hear it talked about on these boards.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by puckpaul

It was interesting to go back over the PSA pop reports on DS. The high numbers are definitely scarce. With 15-40 examples graded, and not jist 97-108 but also 85-96.

But what is the deal with the Lew Fonseca card number 7? Only 7 are listed as graded. Is this a true rarity? I have the whole set so I should know, but i bought 80% of it in one lot and never searched for many of the cards.

My Fonseca is labeled as “35 years old”. There was a thread on this a little back in 2003 that I found searching the forum. Was that a gimmicked card that was issued later or purposely low-printed? Never hear it talked about on these boards.

The Diamond Stars were issued from 1934 to 1936, and many of the same card numbers were issued multiple times with different information on the back depending on the year they were issued. For the Fonseca, it either says 34 years old or 35 years old in the bio information at the bottom depending on if it was issued in 1934 or 1935. I'm not sure why the population count is so low.

[Seven]

Was it ever determined why Gehrig wasn't in the set? Licensing problem? Compensation?

As far as I know the only issues from around this time for Gehrig were his cardboard cutouts through Wheaties, or his rare World Wide Gum issue from 1936.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Seven

Was it ever determined why Gehrig wasn't in the set? Licensing problem? Compensation?

As far as I know the only issues from around this time for Gehrig were his cardboard cutouts through Wheaties, or his rare World Wide Gum issue from 1936.

Diamond Stars were first issued in 1934, the year in which Lou was prominently featured in the 1934 Goudey set with 2 cards and the "Lou Gehrig Says" on most of the cards, so I assume he had an exclusive contract for that year and perhaps the following years (?) And perhaps since that was the case, as a carryover he was not considered for other later issued Diamond Series cards.

It is interesting to note that he is also not in any other later Goudey sets (1935 4 in 1, 1936 B/W, the R312 or R313 premiums or the 1938 Heads Up. Perhaps a dispute with Goudey?

Brian

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by jayshum

The Diamond Stars were issued from 1934 to 1936, and many of the same card numbers were issued multiple times with different information on the back depending on the year they were issued. For the Fonseca, it either says 34 years old or 35 years old in the bio information at the bottom depending on if it was issued in 1934 or 1935. I'm not sure why the population count is so low.

And to add on to what Jay said, it is easy to check the issue date for all but the Fonseca card by checking the year listed for the stats on the bottom, and just add a year. For example, cards that have stats for the year 1934 were issued in 1935. Since 1933 was the last year Lew was in the majors, the makers of Diamond Stars left his 1933 stats on his 1935 card, and only updated his age.

Brian

[puckpaul]

Originally Posted by jayshum

The Diamond Stars were issued from 1934 to 1936, and many of the same card numbers were issued multiple times with different information on the back depending on the year they were issued. For the Fonseca, it either says 34 years old or 35 years old in the bio information at the bottom depending on if it was issued in 1934 or 1935. I'm not sure why the population count is so low.

Thanks. Well, i was looking up other Fonseca cards for sale and clicking through for listings from the pop report there were 4 psa graded DS Fonseca’s on Ebay today alone, so clearly PSA is just missing info and the website pop report is in error.

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by puckpaul

Thanks. Well, i was looking up other Fonseca cards for sale and clicking through for listings from the pop report there were 4 psa graded DS Fonseca’s on Ebay today alone, so clearly PSA is just missing info and the website pop report is in error.

The PSA population report has three separate listings for Diamond Stars Cards: 1934, 1935, and 1936. The Fonseca card is listed in both 1934 and 1935, which is accurate, because the Fonseca card was not issued in 1936.

In the 1935 listing, PSA has Fonseca listed without the '35 Years Old' designation, which is perfectly fine, and is possibly their new way of identifying this card on labels. I see 10 total cards graded, 3 with qualifiers.

In the 1934 listing, PSA has two separate Fonseca listings:

34 Years Old: total of 91 cards graded

35 Years Old: total of 84 cards graded


The '35 Years Old' listing in 1934 is incorrect, and should be moved to the 1935 section listing.

Brian