1948 Leaf authentic or fake?

[Collectorsince62]

Has anyone else noticed how many strongly graded Leaf Jackie Robinson cards are listed in recent auctions? It seems like every major auction has at least one and sometimes several. I had always thought Leafs were much scarcer than Bowmans from that period, but there sure are a lot of Robinsons lately. Maybe that many Leaf Jackies in great shape have survived, but it just strikes me as suspicious. Someone please tell me my suspicions are unfounded.

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by Collectorsince62

Has anyone else noticed how many strongly graded Leaf Jackie Robinson cards are listed in recent auctions? It seems like every major auction has at least one and sometimes several. I had always thought Leafs were much scarcer than Bowmans from that period, but there sure are a lot of Robinsons lately. Maybe that many Leaf Jackies in great shape have survived, but it just strikes me as suspicious. Someone please tell me my suspicions are unfounded.

I think the whole "rarity" line for many cards, and series of cards - particularly for some notable Topps high number series - is / has always kind of been on shaky ground. Most of these issues were determined to be "rare" in the earlier days of the organized hobby, when there was no internet, no eBay, no constant card shows every single weekend all across the country. The market was a lot more disorganized, and not nearly as properly allocated as it is now. Is any base Topps card truly rare or scarce?

I'm digressing here, but the point would be maybe more of many things - including 1949 Leaf cards - really existed all along. I don't know, just speculating.

[steve B]

Many things are less "rare" than they were before the internet.
Ebay helped show just how much there is of some stuff.

More expensive cards have usually followed a cycle of availability.
It's being bought occasionally at a decent and slowly increasing price.
It's bought at fairly high prices in spurts based around publicity.
Then the supply dries up for a while, and it eventually gets back to occasional sales.
Once a "big" sale happens, and these days big is actually a lot of money, many of the people who have held onto theirs for years decide to sell.

So far most of my cards haven't been in that league, but I have occasionally considered selling off a bunch of the "better" ones that aren't in great condition.
Except the one time I did that I regret, and still haven't finished that set a second time.