1934,1935,1936 Diamond MatchbooksDuring much of the Great Depression, matchbook collecting swept the country ! Sports matchbooks started appearing in the 1930s, most issued by Diamond Match Company of New York. Over the next few years, several series were issued with similar designs; b/w photo of the player on front with short write-up and stats on back. The player's name and team was also printed on the 'saddle'.
Please consider the following info as approximate. 1935's issue was tiny with only 24 total covers (8 red,8 blue,8 green). A third series was later released with 200 or more different covers (players/colors). 1930's matchbook covers appear to be huge bargains for collectors as their current values are fractions of the value of Goudey and other baseball cards from the same era.
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1935-1936 Diamond Matchbook Checklist and Prices
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1970/1972/1973 Topps Candy Lids |
Hartland Baseball Statues & Figurines
Hartland produced it's first baseball statue back in the early 60's.
SCD calls the 1960's Mickey Mantle Hartland Statue the single most
popular plastic sports statue ever produced !
In 1988 Hartland released 25th Anniversary Editions, nearly
identical to the original.
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Hartland Baseball Statues & Figurines checklist and prices
Hartland later joined with Krause Publications, to create the SCD Authentic series - the original 18 in different poses. Hartland Figurines are amazingly beautiful and exquisitely detailed with painted pinstripes and wood grained bats.
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Cabinet Card Were oversized trading cards featuring paintings issued mostly 1910-1915.
Card Show is a gathering of dealers & collectors looking to buy/sell/trade sports cards and memorabilia.
Card Stock is the material a card is printed on. Usually paper-based, today companies play with the card stock and sometimes it appears to be wood or leather or see-thru acrylic ...
Cello Pack is a card pack whose wrapper is see-thru plastic. Usually the top & bottom cards are seen. Unopened cello packs showing major stars and rookies sell for heavy premiums.
Centering is the balance of the borders: top/bottom & left/right. On perfectly-centered cards, top/bottom borders match as do the left/right borders. Centering is presented as a set of numbers & directions and often included with the grade. Perfectly-centered is "50/50 t/b" AND "50/50 l/r". As centering gets worse, one number increases and the other decreases. For example: 90/10 t/b is considered extremely off-center top to bottom. The numbers add up to 100 (50/50, 60/40, 90/10 ...).
Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) A document used to verify legitimacy of a collectible. NOTE: Keep in mind that COA's are easier to fake then autographs.
Common A card of a non-star player is considered a "Common" as opposed to cards of a star players or specialty/subset cards such as league leaders, teams cards, World Series cards...
Condition (Grade) Centering, corner wear, photo clarity, edges, creases, print flaws ... all combine to determine a card's condition or grade. Along with rarity/scarcity it is the major factor in a card's value.
Crease Defect usually caused by bending the card. Hard to see, or not, a crease lowers the card's grade (VG or lower) and greatly diminishes it's value.