1950s Baseball Card Box

Among my non-sports card collecting colleagues, we have been circulating a box of cards with the idea "take-a-penny. leave-a-penny". As such, I started with 50 non-sports cards from the 1950s and another 50 from the 30s/40s and mailed the boxes out to whoever signed up from the non-sports board.

Although I could have easily gotten ripped off, I did not.

And the boxes turned out to be extremely popular among set collectors, and others who are not very selective regarding card grades. There are probably a dozen collectors on each list, and we are well past the midway point in our Round II circulation.

Do to this success, I tried the same approach with the Net54 post war group. I just yesterday got the circulating box back to conclude Round I, and the quality of its contents probably exceeds what I started with.

Do to this continued success I am tempted to extend a similar offer to the pre-war baseball card collecting community. Of course, a box of vg or so misc. pre-war baseball cards does not fit everyone's collecting objectives, but it could fit those of some. Clearly, it is unlikely that such a box will ever contain a n162 Anson, but if your aspirations do not include HOF only or PSA8 and better only, it could fit.

What do you think?

Gil

Love the idea Gil - this is what the hobby is all about. I had hoped the original net54 "take a penny" thread from '04 would have taken off a bit more, but people did get some nice cards out of it.

I think the "Trading Post" section of the BST would be a perfect place to host this exchange. I have a few cards I'd like to contribute to the project myself. Oh, and trader points would surely be handed out to those who participate.

Very cool idea Gil!

I'd love to participate in something like this, but I'm afraid I may not have anything of enough value to really be fair to everyone when the box would be passed to me. What are your thoughts on this? What level of cards are we talking about here? Would there be lower grade commons that I may be able to exchange to fill a type card hole in my collection so that I would still be fair to everyone else?

AndyH

The thinking with these boxes has been to put in cards with a total value higher than you have withdrawn.
Who would want to do that, you may say.

The answer lies in the perspective of the box originator who in this case, is not me.
The intent is not to generate a profit for the originator, but to let him off the hook as soon as practical. Remember he is fronting maybe 50 pre-war cards. As the box value increases he will be able to withdraw some of what the box owes him. Until the contents of the box are wholly owned by the participants.

As far as whether t206 (or other) beaters would apply to the box, I would guess: certainly
Not all exchanges will be one for one And so long as the values are appropriate, and the cards are pre-war, condition will not be an issue.

ItsOnlyGil wrote:The intent is not to generate a profit for the originator, but to let him off the hook as soon as practical. Remember he is fronting maybe 50 pre-war cards. As the box value increases he will be able to withdraw some of what the box owes him.

While I think that's a very creative idea, it's likely be more suited for 1950's cards (or later). It's going to be pretty tough to find someone who'd front 50 prewar cards. Even 10 prewar cards would be a lot for one person.

To make it more feasible for our interests, I suggest we go a few cards at a time. I have a card I'd like to put in the box. I'll scan it and post it here tonight. Anyone can claim it for their collection; the only condition is that they replace it with one of their own prewar cards for someone else to claim, hence keeping the ball rolling. For the sake of staying true to this forum's main focus, perhaps we should keep cards limited to 1920's and prior.

These are only my suggestions and the final call is up to Gil. I'd like to see us make this work though. Thoughts?

I'd rather not see a restriction of pre-20s. The focus of the board is supposed to be pre-ww2. We happen to talk mostly about pre 20s cards, but many of us also collect cards from the 30s and it's not fair to omit them. What might be best is get a few people that will offer up a card or two from different eras. If we do an online version, it might be best to have a minimum of 5 cards, that way, there will be a little something for everyone and it will keep the thread more active

Jay

sabrjay wrote:I'd rather not see a restriction of pre-20s. The focus of the board is supposed to be pre-ww2. We happen to talk mostly about pre 20s cards, but many of us also collect cards from the 30s and it's not fair to omit them. What might be best is get a few people that will offer up a card or two from different eras.

Fair enough Jay - I think you're right. I just wonder if the thread would keep going if someone put in 5 e90-1s and t206's and someone claimed them, replacing them with goudeys. Maybe one condition could be that if you claim a card from 1910-1920, then one of the cards you contribute should be from that era as well. That would still allow 30's cards to be included while at the same time keeping the box varied.

If we do an online version, it might be best to have a minimum of 5 cards, that way, there will be a little something for everyone and it will keep the thread more active.

Personally I think the thread would be more active if there was no minimum. Many would be willing to put in a card or two, but if 5 is the requirement, then I could see people shying away. Something along these lines used to work pretty well in OBC, a card traders group I used to belong to. Lets see what Gil and others think.

You mentioned what I forgot to, you have to replace with cards from the same era.

The 5 card minimum wasn't a thought that a person had to put at least 5 cards in, the 5 card minimum would be a good starting point for this project. The starting group doesn't have to be all from one person. This can be a group effort to put together the starting group

Jay

The box from Gil arrives.
You open it.
You see raw cards in toploaders, slabbed cards - all pre-war
You take them out.
Flip through them, pausing on the occasional HOFer (maybe).
Is this a rookie
You spread them out on the table and wallow in them
For a long time.
Realizing that you can have one or more of them at your choosing, depending on your traders.
But you don't have to make up your mind right away.
You can hold on to them for a little while, but remember the next guy on the list
You make your choices Put in the replacements and begin to look at lots as sources of more trade material.

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This is not pie-in-the-sky dreaming which I bring to your table. I have been doing these boxes for quite a while now. And my partner in one of these boxes recently included the following statement in an e-mail:
" I have lots more 1933 Goudey dupes. Heck, I could come close to doing a T206 box, but that starts getting risky/pricey. What do you think? "
He has lots of credibility in my eyes since he is a partner in one box and a participant in the others.

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I certainly have no objection to the alternate proposals of Ben and Jay, and I think that they are a good idea, however, may be too focused on individual exchanges. But I do not consider either approach as excluding the other. And I note that the box alternative can not be counted out just yet.

OK that clears a few things up for me Gil. I'd be willing to give it a shot, with everything conducted exactly in the way you've proposed.

I would be interested in participating, should be fun.

WOW This seems really fun! I had a few questions:

Will there be a mailing list we can sign up for?

The title says 1950's cards but You guys have said pre wwII cards only. Can we use 1950's cards?

It's going to strictly pre-ww2 cards with the stipulation that your have replace what you take a card from the same era. i.e. t-card for t-card, e-card for e-card, 30s card for 30s card, etc.

Jay

Let me get this straight, Hypothetical situation, Say theres a VG E90-1 Common in the box worth say 70.00, That I want. I can't replace that E90-1 with enough VG Goudey commons to better the box value wise? Or visa versa.

"The title says 1950's cards but You guys have said pre wwII cards only. Can we use 1950's cards?"

If you want to do this with 50s baseball cards, there is a seperate box circulating for that. The same applies to 50s Non-Sport and 30s Non-Sport. Please e-mail identify7@peoplepc for info on those. Thank you, Gil

Regarding the (yet to exist) Pre-War box:
The intent is to accomodate the participant's interests. As such, any trade of pre-war cards is acceptable, recognizing the general guideline of maintaining the values in the box.
Each collector is likely to prefer something different. Therefore, I consider it difficult to determine what cards are best.

The test will be in the box. Specifically, if the Round 2 box arrives, and the card which you contributed for Round 1, is still in it, perhaps it is time to reconsider how well others view your honest attempt. And if you let it go another Round, and it again comes back, please remove it - it is obviously underappreciated by all who do not possess your discriminating eye for beauty.

It often helps to put your name on the toploader, because we all forget. And many months transpire between arrivals of the box.

Gil

ItsOnlyGil wrote:The test will be in the box. Specifically, if the Round 2 box arrives, and the card which you contributed for Round 1, is still in it, perhaps it is time to reconsider how well others view your honest attempt. And if you let it go another Round, and it again comes back, please remove it - it is obviously underappreciated by all who do not possess your discriminating eye for beauty.

It often helps to put your name on the toploader, because we all forget. And many months transpire between arrivals of the box.

These are excellent ideas Gil.

Although swapping 30s cards for an e-card is acceptable under Gil's terms, chances are, they are going to end up remaining in the box.

I've been in the hobby for almost 30 years. I can safely say that that people that prefer 30s cards also like pre-20s cards, but people that have pre-20s cards as their preference often don't care for 30s cards. It's proably safe to say that the board is dominated by people that prefer pre-20s cards and don't have a lot interest in 30s cards, as evidenced by the posts. Hence, they would most likely be sitting in the box a long time.

It also comes down to a rarity issue. If you have a box of cards, most people are going to be inclinded to take the tough to find card (i.e. a caramel card) over a Goudey or Play Ball, or even a t206.

I'm game for how ever this is set up, but this is how I see it shaking out as it currently stands.

Jay