Minor League regionals drying up?

I collect mostly PCL issues, but do occasionally pick up other minor league types. I go through the dailly search routine each day on Ebay and it seems to me that minor league regional issues, especially post WWII, are starting to be come harder and harder to find. There have a few things here and there lately, but overall the volume of scarce regional material seems way down to me. Any thoughts on this from others on the board?

Minor league cards tend to be collected by serious, hard core collectors that are in the hobby for the long haul. If prices are slipping or the market is soft, they will just sit on the cards rather than sell them. This is most likely what you are seeing right now.

Jay

That reasoning makes sense to me Jay and would explain a lot. Pre-war regionals have always been scarce, but it was the lack of post war material that caught my attention.

I think Jay's explanation is a logical one. Postwar regionals aren't my collecting focus, but the guys who collect this stuff do tend to be hobby vets/hardcore collectors who know better than to sell low right now.

Related question: I picked up a regional issue a few years ago, it was described as a "Globe Printing" card from the late 40's/early 50's (may have been 1950). It's a b&w card with a blank back. Does anyone have info on this set? I can post a scan later on this afternoon.

Globe printing is responsible for a number of minor league sets. They are listed in the minor league section of SCD and were sometimes sponsored by local retailers who names would appear on the cards. Mostly early 50s I think, but this is just going on memory. They don't come up as often as I would like.

dstudeba wrote:They don't come up as often as I would like.

It would be pretty easy to snag mine from me in a trade.

Postwar card collecting is confusing. Lots of types have always been hard to find. However, the prices don't support the scarcity of the issue. A few years ago Richard Lloyd started paying top dollar for hard to get issues. That seemed to push prices up, but there are still lots of issues that are pretty good deals. '52 Laval Dairy cards aren't exactly common, but they've sold for under $20 recently. Rhett Yeakley had a group of '49 Vis-Ed dials for sale as low as $60 each. I looked for one for a few years before getting my type, and was surprised his weren't snapped up quicker.

As for supply, is seems like there is a better than average selection on eBay now. There are a number of '52 Num Nums w/ coupons, '56 Carling Black Label Indians, and Peters Meat Twins cards available, plus the standard easy stuff, like Sohio Gas, Bond Bread, and Remar Bread. A '61 Phillies Cigar Mantle just sold for $6+ (small tear up top, but still a steal), and a '55 R452 Carnival Candy Cigarette card went for a buck (how many of those have you seen). And for the real tough stuff, Macrae just listed around six '47 Morley Studio cards (don't know if he has any left.)

That being said, there is the other end of the spectrum. Some types get descent money, like '67 Chevron Vancouver Mounties, Esskay Hot Dogs, and Morley Studios. Still, many postwar types can be all over the board. I'll never understand the prices, but I'll keep enjoying the cards...

Some postwar minor league issues have always been hard to find. Anyone ever seen one of these?



I agree with Jay that these types of issues get gobbled up by hardcore local collectors and aren't likely to see the light of day anytime soon.

I've thought about collecting the Globe Printing Sioux City issue...I'd love to be able to complete that set.

Dan is that the correct link?

Jay

Heh! I should have hit the preview button before sending that. For some reason Photobucket alternates between having to manually (right click) copy a photo and automatically copying the photo with one click.

yeah, I wish they would go back to auto copy. Makes things a whole lot easier

Jay