The "official" N172 Old Judge thread

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Posted By: Ben

Well, I think we're about due for one of these. Over the past several years, N172's have exploded in popularity and for good reason; any set that old, that large, and that complex deserves highlighted interest and appreciation. Things dont seem to be slowing down either- with poor condition commons selling regularily for $100+ on ebay and anything rare going through the roof, the potential growth in popularity for this set is HUGE. I know for a fact that a large percentage of net 54 members are avid collectors of this set as well. So, with hopes of stimulating some interesting discussion, let me start things off with a few questions for you all.


1. How do you collect Old Judges? By player? team? HOFers only? by subset? (ie. Brown's Champs, script series, managers, etc). Or, do you collect simply according to what your budget permits? I tend to lean towards the latter- with emphasis on good photo quality. I also love the managers for some reason...I guess because some of the poses are just that cool.

2. What's the one Old Judge that you'd most like to have but has eluded you thus far? Ok, let's exclude the Anson in uniform card 'cause almost everyone would probably put this one at the top. For me, I'd love to own the Mutrie manager card with him leaning up against the fence, wearing a big hat and a long coat. I'd also love one of those "mini" photo variations but hey- they're probably too tough and expensive for me. Love the Williamson w/mascot and Williamson w/top hat poses as well.

3. Post a picture of your favorite or rarest OJ that you own. Here's mine:





Let the discussion begin!

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Posted By: jay behrens

I used to collect just the Minneapolis and St Paul players and have considered doing it again. I have 2. My favorite OJ I ever owned was the Ewing w/mascot. Always wanted a Delahanty, but was never able to find one at a reasonable price.

Jay

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Posted By: john(z28jd)

My old judge collection jumps all over the place from collecting a certain player,to a certain team,to a player from each team,to guys who should be in the hall of fame,to cool poses,to one of each player.

It basically means that i could buy any non-portrait(because i dont like portrait cards) reasonably priced old judge out there.

I was going to start a thread looking for a scan of some old judge cards people could post but why not do it here.If anyone has the Patrick Pettee london Old Judge,or the Mike Griffin(batting or arms crossed) cards,please post a scan.

Now,i only have one good old judge scan of a card i own,so this isnt my favorite or rarest card but its a card

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Posted By: J Levine

I now own nearly 30 Old Judges and love the set. I collect just the Philadelphia National Leauge Team. This is tough because some of the HOFers are very difficult and the Phillies team has some of the most popular pose variations incl. a player with a dog (name escapes me now) and Irwin doffing his cap. I would love to own either of those cards but I really want a Delahanty picturing him with the Phillies.

-Joshua

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Posted By: Halleygator

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Here's one that I bought from an old man in Las Vegas last week. He said that some guy traded it to him for a Donruss Coke set.

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Posted By: Halleygator

Here is my favorite ... because he was SO HARD to find after he made the Hall of Fame:

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Posted By: Trevor Hocking

Well as most people know this is my favorite set bar none. The N172 set has intrigued me for years. I had always had a few of them for fun then I started to collect the Des Moines players only as my Father was born and raised there. Now I have taken on the never ending task of the player only set. This process has slowed down a little as I get closer to only needing the tougher cards. I only collect cards with original backs, no trimming, and the best photo quality I can find. I do have to admit that I have been getting priced out of the market as of late.

Favorite card? Whitney and Dog
Favorite player? Connie Mack (He's the only player NORMAL people know)
Favorite subset? Outdoor poses (Not really a subset but looks cool when laid out together)
Favorite teams? Des Moines, Maroons, and Brooklyn

There's so many great thing about this set for me list, this is why I collect it all!!

I do own a few tough cards:
Cushman (Toledo) 5-6 known according to Lew
McPhee
A few spotted ties
Greer Mini Photo
About 5 Maroons
and a bunch that I prefer not to mention. I'll save those for the book!!!

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Posted By: J Levine

Halley is killing me!
I will trade you a '91 Fleer set for it!

-Joshua

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Posted By: Julie

I guess i still love my Hoys and Radbournes best( 3 each). And the beautiful Chicago Kelly portrait (how can you NOT like portraits?): the one that sold in RE auctions, in the dark shirt.. I have 22, 18 of which are HOFers.

Although I have a Mayo Delahanty (with just the tinyest crease...), I'd love one of those. And a Wright. And N173s--I can't afford them.

I guess my favorite is still the first OJ card I ever got: the Hoy with the picket fence and the path wandering away into the distance. Also the Radbourne portrait with the light partly illuminating his pale-colored eyes, and his wispy moustache standing out from his face.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

OJ cards are great. You look at a card or a pile of them and it makes you wonder:

why some cards are more narrow than others,
why some cards are shorter than others,
why the image on some cards are larger,

why, why, why....

The OJ pictured has a line across the bottom. I was just wondering if a lot of the OJs from way back when had this line and if the cutters used it as a mark that told them to cut the card at the line. The line is part of the image and not something that was added. I've seen lots of OJs that are cut at about where that line is and this would answer why some OJs are shorter than others. Ok, maybe I need to get a life...

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

Where does one begin? I just love this set!

I have about 100 Old Judges. I started into them as part of my Hall of Famer collection, but after reading Nemec's books on 19th century baseball, I fell in love with the era - the game itself, the stars and semi-stars, the characters, the politics, the whole ball of wax.

I try to get the commmons of some of those I've read about such as famous firsts (Paul Hines - Triple Crown, Grin Bradley - no hitter) and records (John Coleman - most pitching losses in one season).

Among my favorites are the Weyhings (John and Gus). In trying to get the Library of Congress to correct their erroneous identification of John as Gus, I needed to locate and enlist the aid of a Weyhing family member. My contact with nephew Ed Weyhing has turned into a friendship and I share as many pictures and anectodes as I can with him to pass on to the Weyhing clan. He has some vivid memories of visiting "Uncle Gus" and it's great to be able to talk to someone who actually knew the player whose picture you've collected.

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Posted By: Julie

Look at the lines in my batwinged Galvin. This is ALL CARD, surrounded by Mylar.

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Posted By: jay behrens

That O'Rourke card must be a fake. There is no string holding the ball in the air. :-p

I just realized that as much as I love Ewing/mascot card, the card picturing the dead/sleeping Minneapolis player has become my new favorite.

Jay

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Posted By: HalleyGator

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: dan mckee

Here are the ones from my type collection:

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Posted By: Julie

Never saw that one before--good thing I don't want ALL of Ewing's cards; my house probably isn't big enough, and I couldn't afford the N167.

I know a whole bunch of you love the ewing w mascot (and I have one, because of the expression of Ewing's face), but does anyone feel like i do about mascots--that they're sort of like--very young human property? They sort of give me the creeps.

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Posted By: Paul

Trevor or Hal, won't one of you please sell or trade me your McPhee!!!!!!

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Posted By: HalleyGator

You can definitely have my McPhee card the minute they remove him from the Hall of Fame.

Hey ... anything can happen!

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: Nate

This is actually my very first post. Regarding the infinite collectibility of the 1887 Old Judge N172 set, I've never been able to completely afford the caliber of HOFers that I would like to obtain.
I guess you would classify my method of collecting 19th Century as "type-collecting." However, in response to my two favorite Old Judge's, I would have to say my two King Kellys take the cake. One is a fielding pose where he is catching a pop-up, and the other is the very recognizable batting pose with his bat extended out to a 45 degree angle ( I think it's 45 degree angle, not very good at math!).
Well, anyways, those are my two favorite N172s, but most of my interests lie elsewhere. Aside from being an avid collector of 19th Century, I collect anything King Kelly-related in particular- gradually building up my King Kelly collection to respectable heights. Sorry that I don't have any pictures or anything visually stimulating like that. Good luck and happy collecting!

Nate

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Posted By: Joe_G.

Great Thread!

As everyone is likely aware, I most enjoy my Detroit Old Judges. I'm going after the 28 sequential 1887 "0" numbered cards (9 players) with great interest also in the four additional players added in 1888. Last count shows 23 Detroits for me.

My favorite card(s) would have to be Deacon White (nice pose) along with the other 1888 cards of Lady Baldwin & Charlie Getzein.

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Posted By: Duner

I always wanted to own an old judge. when i saw the condition of this one i had to purchase it. unfortunately I bought it before BVG lost its credibility.

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Posted By: jay behrens

You can always crack it out adn submit it to SGC or another company.

Jay

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Didn't Beckett create a second tier grading company to do shop a home tv junk with lower standards and bizarre labeling (e.g., :this card is at least a 5.0" rather than actually grading it)? As I recall, BVG if anything was labeled too strict by most folks.

Speaking of grading flameouts, whatever happened to SCD? I never see their cards or even their ads anymore.

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Posted By: jay behrens

SCD closed out it grading services. I think Mr Lemke came here and mentioned it in a post.

Jay