ShareThisDear Babe: I recently came across 24 Homogenized Bond Bread cards. After some research, I'm still confused. These 24 cards are supposedly from a set of 44. They are in excellent condition and measure 2.25-x-3.5 with sharp corners and are blank on the back. I believe $180 was paid for them. -- Ray Bonanno, Montclair, N.J.
This is a tough set to put a value on because of its checkered history. It's a 48-card set with four of the cards being boxers. The original cards had rounded corners. However, in the 1980s there was a "warehouse'' find of sheets of the cards. These ended up being cut with square corners. The cards discovered had about half the players in the set. Obviously someone could cut round corners on the newer cards to make them look like originals. To complicate matters, the cards found in the warehouse were illegally reprinted and put into slabs from unknown grading companies.
The major grading companies won't touch the cards because of all this confusion. The Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards from the editors of Sports Collectors Digest lists Joe DiMaggio at $275, Pee Wee Reese at $125, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson at $90 and Yogi Berra and Gil Hodges at $75. Beckett has DiMaggio at $250, Berra at $200, Gil Hodges and Robinson at $80 and Reese at $60. Obviously the condition and the players in the group you saw will determine their value. If they are original Bond Bread cards with rounded corners that are in nice condition, Beckett has commons at just $2-$5, so $180 would be high if they are all commons. However, the Standard Catalog lists commons at $7.50-$10, so $180 would be a good deal.
You mentioned sharp corners. To me, that says square corners, which means the cards are part of the warehouse find, a legitimate reprint set or one of the illegal reprint sets. You'd have to determine what they really are, but no matter what, $180 sounds a little on the high side.
Dear Babe: I have some 1990 Pro Set football cards. -- John Kovacs, Nashua, N.H.
Most 1990 Pro Set cards list for under a dime. The only regular card of note is an Emmitt Smith rookie card (685), which lists for $5. There's also a Vince Lombardi Trophy hologram numbered out of 10,000 that still books at $60. If my memory serves me, this card brought pack searching into the modern era. The card apparently had a little metal in it, so overzealous speculators were scanning boxes with metal detectors, searching for one of the prize cards.
Dear Babe: I am inquiring about the value of a complete set of old golf clubs whose owner was a member of Eastlake Country Club, Atlanta during the Bobby Jones era. One of the clubs reads "Long Burke graduated irons REG.NO. 5082.'' They are stainless steel iron heads. One of the clubs says "Mashie Niblic'' as well as the number "7'' as it is a seven iron. The rest of the set has numbers and names as well. They appear to have alloy/metal shafts and taped grips. I can only describe the face as having two vertical lines two to three inches apart with diamond-shaped dimples within the lines for hitting surface. -- Dobby Dobbins, Atlanta.
"Burke also made deep grooved faces, some of which were outlawed. A 'Rotary Combo face' (two different patterns) Niblic can sell for $400-$600, a single combo $200-$400,'' said Leila Dunbar, a collectibles appraisal expert (leiladunbar@aol.com). "However, if they are regular faces, then the whole group is probably about $50.''
Based on your description, it sounds as if you have the $50 variety.
(Send card questions to Babe Waxpak, PO Box 492397, Redding, CA 96049-2397 or e-mail babewaxpak(at)charter.net. If possible, include card number, year and brand or a photocopy. Please do not send cards. For Babe Waxpak's blog, see www.scrippsnews.com/waxpak. Babe Waxpak is a feature of The Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)
