E98s: difficulty of cards, colors, and set as a whole

[calvindog]

One would have to be truly demented to try to collect all cards in all colors.

[cfc1909]

not an expert on these but I chose red for my type because I thought it was the most difficult color

[Rob D.]

I can speak only to Lajoie in the E98 set. The blue background was by far the toughest for me to find -- as evidenced by its condition compared to my other three. During my search for the blue I exchanged e-mails with a number of veteran collectors of caramel cards, and each could remember seeing very few over the years.

I'm wondering whether a more appropriate angle would be designating which player/color combos are toughest rather than just the background itself. But again, I defer to the experts on this set, of which I certainly am not.

[E93]

My subjective instinct was to say that red is the toughest color. In the end, I think the colors in E98 are probably pretty evenly distributed and it is just that some appear more frequently than others at any given time.

The list above of the tough ones coincides with my experience. I don't know if Mack is the toughest of all, or just seems that way because he is in more demand than the tough commons.
JimB

[tbob]

I've found red to be the toughest color but I have seen more reds bouncing around lately. I've put the set together 4 times card by card and sold them off to buy other cards but I have kept my last set and am very close to an all red subset. The red Lajoie is really tough for some reason and that is still the one card I regret selling and one I need.
As far as order of scarcity, a few more Vaughns and Coombs have appeared lately but I think those are still the two toughest commons, followed by Dahlen and Kling. Chase is not easy but I think he has been hoarded and his availability is influenced more by this fact (popularity) than true scarcity.
As far as the Hall of Famers go, Walsh and Mack are the toughest by far. Wagners are being hoarded (again because of popularity) but Ed and Connie are very hard to find. Interestingly, most Walshs which appear have red backgrounds, directly contrary to the color scarcity tables. The orange Walsh is the toughest to find for some reason. As far as Mack goes, the pose and popularity make this card overpriced (IMO) and tough. I have been searching for a red Mack for some time but usually I only find blues and greens and those in lower grade.
A master set of E98s is doable. Obviously there are 4 Cobbs, 4 Wagners, 4 Youngs, 4 Macks, 4 Lajoies, 4 Vaughns, 4 Coombs', etc. but it is doable if you have the money and don't mind upgrading along the way, unlike the master set of E94s which has cards which rarely if ever surface in particular colors.

[caramelcard]

I collected E98s for a long time and have had over 150 of them with 111 different player/color backgrounds. With 9 left to go I stopped because I needed 2 wagners, 2 cobbs, 2 youngs, a lajoie, and a mack among them and I was interested in so many other sets.

After studying the set for some time, I don't really think any color is that much harder than another and all the players are readily available if you're even a tad bit patient.

But, based on the data that I have from the cards I accumulated, I can say:

I had less green background cards than others.

Cobb and Wagner are the easiest cards to find. (This is probably because collectors or even casual owners of these cards are not likely to misplace or throw away a cobb or wagner card). Cy Young (or irv) is third easiest in my opinion.

Players like Vaughn, Coombs, Dahlen, and Bridwell were tougher the find for the opposite reason.

Mack and Matty are tough because they're popular poses and well sought after.

Walsh is fairly tough to find and I'm not sure why. I did manage to find all four of them.

A master set is possible, but it takes a bit of cash and some staying power. You have to be one that's willing to settle for several cards in less than good condition.

Overall, it's a fun set and collecting all 4 of the colors brings you back closer to the mystery of why the set is anonymous.

Were different colors thrown into different products?

Were different colors thrown into the same product in different cities?

Does the Old Put brand prove that it was a tobacco issue or was it simply stamped on a stack of cards by a cigar retailer and handed out to good customers?

Why is it called E98 when the only iota of evidence that we have supports a T designation?

Anyways, I'll stop rambling. It's a great set and good luck with it.

Rob

[Tim Kindler]

E98s are an awesome set to collect. I love the vibrant colors and the great sepia tone like images of the players. I echo the thoughts of other experienced/advanced collectors on this site like Rob A. and Bob M. in that a Master Set is possible, yet difficult and tough on the wallet. I have owned as many as 55, almost 2 complete sets, at one time, but am currently down to just a handful. Like many others, I started with great intentions to build a master set, yet for whatever reason, money-patience-boredom, I gave up. Maybe I'll try again someday, maybe not.

Oddly enough, in my experience I found that RED background cards were the easiest for me to find and purchase. My collection was pretty well balanced with the number of Red, Blue, and Orange background cards. It was the GREEN background that I owned the fewest of by far.
To me, Mack and Walsh are the hardest Hall of Famers to find. In the commons I found that Vaughn and Coombs are tough (Although like Bob, I have seen more of these for sale lately). The Tenney always seems to be tough and a McLean in Vg or above is extremely hard to find in my opinion.

As for the Old Put Stamp Back, I wish I knew the story behind those. I have tried to do research on Old Put Cigars and always seem to run into dead ends with no real results. I do agree with the theory that they were probably stamped by a person at their business for advertising purposes and didn't come from a factory stamped. The only problem that I see that throws a wrench into this theory is that all but 1(Leon owns a Blue Clarke, and I believe I read that someone else has seen another Blue backed player with the stamp too. Can anyone confirm that sighting?) of the E98s with an Old Put Stamp have the RED background. Could it be possible that a store owner had a stack of all but 1 or a few E98s that ONLY had a RED BACKGROUND? And NO duplicates for that matter, because of the Old Puts known, there is supposedly only 1 known of each! Who really knows for sure?

***What I would like to know about OLD PUT backed E98s is an accurate registry/inventory of all that exist. On the SGC registry there is a place for Old Puts. It has 1 card a CHANCE. Does someone on the board own that card? Does anyone on the board own an E98 with an Old Put stamp that they are willing to post/ confirm (player and background color please). I do know that Leon owns a Blue Clarke and the Red Bresnahan. (Leon, if you are ever interested in selling, let me know.) I own the WAGNER SGC 20, the COLLINS PSA 2, the BROWN SGC 30, the YOUNG SGC 30, the MCGRAW SGC 30, and the COBB SGC 40 (Recently purchased through REA, hence the selling of much of my current E98 set on the BST!) Years back, I saw a Meyers Old Put back for sale in a Festberg auction. If anyone has one, let's see if we can get an accurate checklist of all the Old Puts that exist!

Interesting and entertaining thread!

[phlflyer1]

Originally Posted by caramelcard

Why is it called E98 when the only iota of evidence that we have supports a T designation?
Rob

Hey Rob,

To me, I would still classify it as an "E" set just based upon its back similarity to other "E" sets such as E93 and the fact that some E98s can be found with what appears to be some type of caramel or candy staining.

You and I have talked about this in the past and I like your suggestion that the Old Put stamp was possibly added later by some retailer and the cards handed out as a promotion. Its definitely possible that the cards were produced anonymously and sold to both candy and tobacco retailers to distribute as they saw fit.

Since I haven't posted anything on the new board as of yet, I thought I'd add a scan to the thread as well