Card Values Being Updated
Update 10/2021: I'm on my last grouping, the Prototype and Promotional cards. This one will take a bit since the group of 48 is variably priced based on production numbers and where they were distributed. Updated pricing is in YELLOW.
I started collecting Conlon Cards back in 1991 when the first Megacards set came out. That's 30 years and counting. In that time, I've managed to assemble about 99% of all the baseball cards using Charles Conlon's photos. This endeavor has cost me somewhere around $2500.
That said, we all know (or should) that the huge (1980s-90s) increase in production numbers from other card production companies printing seasonal cards - like Topps, Fleer, Dunruss, Score, and Upper Deck - depressed the value of all cards in the 80s and 90s. Unfortunately, the Conlon cards were also printed in that time-frame.
It's important to note, however, that the Conlon cards (besides showcasing golden age players photographed by Charles Conlon rather than current players) were published by much smaller printing houses in much smaller numbers. Conlon sets were printed in numbers no greater than 200,000 per run, and some as low as 10,000 per run. These cards are far more rare than the number of seasonal cards printed 1980 through the strike of 1994-95 AND cover players from the Golden Age of baseball.
As time has gone on, I've noticed a number of the cards I bought for reasonable prices 10-20 years ago are now more expensive, and some are VERY hard to find. A collector today, for example, would have to pay about $3 for some common cards. A 100 card set would thus cost $300. compared to buying the whole set at the time for $100.
Bottom line is there simply aren't as many Conlon Cards in-the-wild any more, and that has driven the pricing up - especially for the smaller print runs.
What should also increase the value of these cards is the unfortunate event that the original negatives are now in the hands of a private (anonymous) collector. This means there is now little-to-no chance that these photographs will ever be used in a baseball card format ever again.
To keep my Blog-Page up to date, I'm adjusting the card-and-set prices more closely to what I feel the current market supports. This will give you a better idea of what the set will cost you, and what it might be worth when you complete it.
These cards ARE unique; photos specifically by Charles Conlon (1904-1942), and historic Bios by the Sporting News historian, Paul MacFarlane. These cards are both historical and classic - documenting players from the golden age of baseball. In my opinion, they provide so much more value than any set designed around a single season.
I expect, once I have completed this pricing review, that a complete (or near complete) set of cards will have a value of near $4000. I also believe that this collection will increase in value over time, as more and more collectors realize exactly how lucky we are that these cards were ever produced in the first place.
