How reliable are the rarities listed in Lipset?

Hi folks,

I have the original 3 volumes of Lipset's "Encyclopedia of Baseball Cards" and I'm just wondering what you all think of the reliability of the "rarities" noted back then? I'm sure most of them have stood the test of time, but I wonder about some. For instance, in T-206, Kleinow (Boston) was noted as a rarity, commanding quite a high price. Today, I see many copies of this card offered, and it seems to sell at only a modest premium over commons.

In T-207, many dealers and collectors are today noting cards that are tough/rare, but which Lipset never mentioned in the early days.

Is Lipset's listing of rarities of value today, or is there a better indicator of what is rare? Your opinions are welcomed.

Cheers,

Blair

The t206 rarities is pretty accurate. Some of the lower tier ones are touch off. As for t207s, I believe it was Tim Newcome and Bill Cornell who did a great article on the set and the rarities. They showed that the supposed big 3 really are the 3 toughest cards in the set.

Jay

The Kleinow, Boston I believe is considered 9th or 10th if memory serves me right. they do not seem to be a problem to find but do have to pay a premium for them. I believe the Boston, NY catching may be as tough but does not seem to get much recognition. Otherwise the T206s seem to be in line.

Another card you are going to have to pay a big premium for is the Joe Doyle card with no team, for some reason people are paying stupid money to get even lowgrade versions of this card.

Lee

I think Lipset's info on the rarities in established sets is very reliable. For example, all the usual suspects in the E90-1 American Caramel set are pointed out and explained at length. I think several small adjustments could be made in that case, but all the important info is there. On the other hand, some info on sets like T215 and Orange Border still had some fleshing out left to do because there have been a number of significant finds since he wrote the encyclopedia in the 80's. So while not a perfect document, it's certainly a very valuable resource for collectors that is (imo) still unmatched in terms of quality and content.

How about T207? Lipset cites a wide variety of T207's that he considers to be "rarities":

Well known: Lowedermilk, Irving Lewis, Ward Miller, Saier, Ragan, Tyler, Works.

Other difficult cards:

Adams	Almeida	Bauman	Benz	Birmingham	Blackburne	Blanding	Bushleman	Butcher	*Collins
Cunningham	Donlin	Donnelly	Downey	Fournier	*Graham	Gregg	Hartley	*Henry	Herzog
Hoff	*Hooper	Hauser	Hyatt	Kelly	Kirke	Kuhn	Kutina	Lange	*Livingston
Mogridge	Moore	Moriarty	Nelson	Pelty	Peters	Phelan	*McKechnie	Miller	*Mitchell
Rath	Ryan	*Speaker	Sweeney	Weaver	White	Willie	Wilson	Woodburn	Zeider

(* - indicates difficult cards found only with common [Recruit and Napoleon] backs.)


Looking at Lipset's list, there's a fair number of cards that aren't familiar to me as rarities in the set, but I'm a t207 novice. Have things changed? How were they documented in Tim Newcomb's Old Cardboard article? I should do myself a favor and just buy the darn back issue, huh?

I'm surprised to see Livingston on that list. If you would have asked me, I would have listed it as one of the more commonly seen cards like Marquard and Bresnahan.

Jay

Just bumping this old thread because there's a copy of Lipset's Encyclopedia (all 3 volumes) for sale on ebay for $18.95, cheapest I've seen it. I don't have any affiliation with the seller or item, but it's really a must have for any prewar collector, so I thought someone on the board might want to buy it now for cheap.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Encyclopedia-of-Baseball-Cards-T206-Ty-Cobb-T205_W0QQitemZ230421919004QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Baseball?hash=item35a637751c

Just Bought it, Thanks for the heads up..Ben

Are T210s covered?

hey i have this somewhere, probably bought it in '02 or '03...if the "new" issue is $18.95, how much can i ask for my "vintage" copy? prolly fun to dig it up and read it again (the caramel stuff is prolly somewhat outdated tho).

TheBig6 wrote:Just Bought it, Thanks for the heads up..Ben

That's great, I think you'll really enjoy reading through it Jerry.

JohnV wrote:Are T210s covered?

Absolutely. There's a page long set description that goes into pretty good detail, as well as checklists of all 8 T210 series.