A current Maury Wills tribute post from my buddy Chad received me considering my very own Maury collection was a bit poor, so I headed to eBay anticipating to seize some low priced classic cardboard. Scrolling the listings, one particularly caught my eye, practically to the purpose of obsession.
It was, no less than for my part, that uncommon fashionable card that nearly completely captures an “old-timey” look. I used to be instantly in love.
The Wills card was a part of a “Portraits” insert set from 2005 Donruss Studio, roughly a successor to the 1991 Leaf Studio set I cherished a lot again in school. Assume Steve Lake with a bird. (You may learn extra about Donruss/Leaf Studio on the whole here or here, or rather more concerning the 2005 providing particularly here.)
General, the insert set featured 100 (then) current stars and retired greats. As a fan of the 1960 and 1961 Fleer units, I notably appreciated a number of the much less commonplace player-team pairings. Only a few of the examples included Lou Brock on the Cubs, Tom Seaver on the White Sox, and Fergie Jenkins on the Rangers.
Including to the intrigue of the set, the precise Maury Wills card I used to be taking a look at was serial numbered to 30, but was listed at $2.39. Verify that. It was truly $2.39 or finest provide. Seriously?! You’re telling me I might choose up not solely my “oldest trying” however rarest Maury Wills card for lower than the worth of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese?
Nonetheless, quite than hit “Purchase It Now” immediately, I did one thing dumb sensible. I questioned if the identical card is perhaps even cheaper from a special vendor. How such a factor would even be doable is a thriller to me, however evidently there was one thing about this card—was it carcinogenic?—that made it value manner lower than I’d usually assume.
Because it turned out, nope, this was a few good a deal as I’d discover, that’s if I needed this precise card. However what if I needed the picture of Maury in colour? Or the border a special colour? And even decrease serial numbering? A cursory scroll revealed no less than a dozen variations with pricing as little as a pair bucks and as excessive as $40. Simply what number of of these items have been there?
Turning to Buying and selling Card Database, as one does in these conditions, I quickly had my reply. There have been evidently 56 different ones, because of 4 totally different border colours (blue, pink, sepia, white) and your alternative of a colour vs. black/white participant picture.
“However that’s solely 8 totally different playing cards,” you say, recalling your highschool combinatorics. Aha, however did I inform you but that there have been seven totally different backs! (Due to course there have been seven totally different backs!)
Just like the T206 set, the assorted backs doubled as promoting for the principle model’s totally different product traces. Within the photograph above, Estrellas, Diamond Kings, and Throwback Threads perform as modern-day analogs of Piedmont, Candy Caporal, and Polar Bear.
* * * * *
Have been you to move to eBay or Buying and selling Card Database to get a way of what’s on the market for a participant you acquire, I believe you’ll initially discover the assorted parallels and their corresponding serial numbering fairly dizzying. Admittedly, my first look on the Maury Wills playing cards obtainable led me to imagine serial numbering was someplace between haphazard and drunken.
It seems I used to be fallacious. As soon as I organized the obtainable data right into a chart and sorted in a wise manner, no scarcity of patterns emerged. (Click on graphic to enlarge, no less than on some browsers.)
For instance, inside a given model, the next guidelines have been evident for serial numbering:
- Pink was 5 greater than Blue
- Blue was 10 greater than Sepia
- For Pink, Blue, and Sepia, the Coloration portraits have been 5 greater than Black/White
- For White, the Coloration portraits have been double Black/White
Moreover, there have been patterns throughout the seven manufacturers.
- For Pink, Blue, and Sepia, every parallel had 5 extra playing cards than the subsequent rarest model.
- For White, every parallel had 10 extra Coloration playing cards and 5 extra Black/White playing cards than the subsequent rarest model.
About the one mini-mystery remaining was the connection, inside a model, between the White serial numbering and that of the opposite border colours.
Nonetheless, this was nothing that eighth grade algebra couldn’t clear up. Letting N characterize the serial numbering of a model’s Pink Coloration parallel, the serial numbering for White was merely 2N – 50. And for these searching for a “grand unified idea” tying all 56 parallels collectively, right here you’re!
dID i dO gOoD?
I discussed earlier my shock that the Wills card numbered to 30 was solely a pair bucks. On one hand that appears terrifically underpriced. However, the cardboard’s rarity could fall right into a class that impacts pricing quite minimally.
On available, there have been solely 30 of that particular Wills card. However, one might make a case that there have been practically 2000 of them.
True, the assorted border colours, picture remedy, and again commercials generated 56 variations of various shortage, starting from SN5 to SN70. However, except the assorted distinctions are thought to be important to collectors, impression on worth could be quite negligible. The varied copyright line variants of 1989 Donruss are a great instance of this. Is there actually anybody on the market amassing a grasp set of greater than 2500 playing cards?
Finally, I imagine there are three elements that hold the pricing of the decrease numbered Maury Wills parallels quite reasonably priced.
Who cares?
Collectors love variations, however they don’t love all variations equally. A unique pose, an autograph, or one thing tremendous shiny…these are likely to get collectors excited. One thing dumb on the again of the cardboard such because the variety of asterisks on the again or Model X vs Model Y (tobacco collectors excluded right here) simply don’t do it for many of us.
Acquire all of them?
Nevertheless inane a variation could also be, our collector DNA nonetheless compels us to need it for our set. Nonetheless, if there are too many (Billy Ripken collectors excluded right here) or the entire set feels unattainable, why hassle! Within the case of 2005 Donruss Studio, if you understand you’ll by no means acquire all 56 parallels, do you actually care whether or not your Pink bordered Black/White one says Zenith or Diamond Kings on the again?
Difficult
Although I’ve made some sense of the numbering with my charts and formulation, these inserts are nonetheless too sophisticated to take severely. Even past the nonsense round Manufacturers, even the fronts are complicated to collectors.
Have been you to see a Studio Portrait at a card present, good probability you’d do not know if it was Blue vs White…or Sepia vs Pink. Keep in mind “the dress” that used to flood our social media feeds? Studio Portraits are its cardboard equal.
Take the 2 playing cards above, for instance. What colours do you suppose they’re? When you guessed Blue and Pink, you simply went 0 for two! The truth is, they’re White (?!) and Sepia. (Not less than I believe they’re.) Personally, I’ve to see all 4 colours aspect by aspect to inform the distinction.
As you may think about, the colour similarities throughout the assorted parallels have led to quite a few incorrect eBay listings for these playing cards and presumably some unintended duplicates hitting collector mailboxes.
My Plan
If I assumed it have been possible and reasonably priced, I actually may attempt to “acquire all of them,” if for nothing else the sheer lunacy of such a pursuit! As a substitute, I’ll be largely content material to construct a mini-set of entrance variations, no matter backs.
In fact, eight is hardly a great quantity for a binder web page (1989 Bowman collectors excluded right here). Luckily, I simply picked up a very nice ninth card to occupy the hallowed heart slot on my web page.
The set itself didn’t embrace autographs, however this magnificence was signed in individual by Maury for the vendor at his church in Sedona. If this isn’t the right card, I don’t know what’s.
In fact, what you actually wish to know is the serial numbering! Oddly sufficient, it has none.
As a substitute, proper the place you’d count on to see the gold numerals, there may be as an alternative the phrase “SAMPLE” embossed in capital letters.
Pattern?! Pattern?!?!?! Good lord, did the junk wax period haven’t any bounds? So now I suppose there are 57 totally different playing cards of Maury Wills? Or is it 112? Let the pandemonium ensue!
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