Engel has catalogued twenty cards in this set, which he rates an R4 (fewer than 10 known copies of each card in existence), so its possible there are more. As you can see, I have eight of them, including some HOFers like Shigeru Chiba and Fujio Fujimura.
One thing I like about the set is that though crude the artwork is far superior to the photography in contemporary Calbee sets. You've got players in a variety of poses, doing a variety of things against a variety of backgrounds. Quite refreshing compared to the monotony of all photos on modern Calbee cards being more or less carbon copies of each other.
The people who made this set were doing so in a Japan that was economically devastated, suffering from widespread malnutrition and whose cities had just been reduced to rubble by a massive bomber campaign just two years earlier. If they could make an interesting set in those conditions, Calbee today really has no excuses.
Anyway, the reason I haven't added many vintage menko to my collection these days is simply that the explosion in prices in the US card market has spread to Japan and I've been priced out of the market on most of the stuff that comes up on Yahoo Auctions for the past 18 months or so. Its been frustrating because there has been a lot of stuff come up for sale that I would have been able to snap up back in 2020, but which these days easily sell for 5 times more than what they used to, sometimes more. These ones somehow slipped through the cracks and didn't get much attention, so I was able to pay 2020 prices for them. This might be the last addition to my menko collection for a while, barring either a complete collapse in the market or me winning a lottery (which is a particular long shot since I don't buy lottery tickets).
Also, since I mentioned Engel's guide I should mention that he recently put out a 3rd edition which I recently purchased. If you collect vintage Japanese cards I'd say it is worth picking up the new edition, he's added a fair number of new cards to it (and if you don't have the old edition you absolutely should get it).
These are nice. I especially like the one on the middle right that looks like Indiana Jones running from that giant rock, except that this time it's a baseball.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that card prices have gotten insane - sorry it's spread to your side of the pond. I just bought my first (American) card in months because I can't keep up with these prices. Glad you could find some nice menkos without breaking the bank.
That one with the giant baseball in the background is my favorite of the bunch.
DeleteI do miss being able to afford vintage cards. This purchase (which cost me about 3,000 Yen) was a rare reminder of what that used to feel like.
At least you hadn't stopped looking, otherwise someone else might've lucked into this deal.
ReplyDeleteVery true, sometimes it pays to still keep an eye on things!
DeleteOh dang, yeah I am definitely a fan of this style of Menko. Congrats. I haven’t purchased the latest edition of the Engel, but will do soon for sure! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteIts funny how you note the price/value going up on these. I think they are very very cheap because Im used to paying car$$ for many cards ie N162 N172 N173 Old Judge and T204 T214 T217 E99 E100 E103 kind of $$ for last 40 yrs... ie if you had MLB USA cards c1949 with R4 kind pop numbers under 10 of ea. known... the cards would easily be $1,000++ ea for commons $5K+ for HOFers.. I can find these KKK cards for $5-$10 still, I dont concentrate on these KKK cards, I have only 4 of these w/ 1 you dont have, the Kiyohara card. PS there are 20+ diff known in this series now... 1160 Hatsuo Kiyohara, 1467 Takehiko Bessho, 1937 Seizo Furukawa , 1937 Masayasu Kaneda, 3056 Juzo Sanada, 3056 Henry “Bozo” Wakabayashi, 3264 Takao Misonoo, 4018 Noboru Aota, 4018 Shigeru Chiba, 4077 Shosei Go, 5138 Michinori Tsubouchi, 5281 Kiyoshi Sugiura, 5281 Tetsuharu Kawakami, 6142 Hideo Shimizu, 6442 Fumio Fujimura, 6442 Hiroshi Oshita, 7371 Masumi Isekawa, 8240 Giichiro Shiraki, 9931 Kazuto Tsuruoka, unk.# Shigeaki Kuroo.... aloha
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yeah, compared to what cards in the US go for these are still ridiculously affordable even with the recent run up in prices. It just seems expensive to me since they were going for even cheaper than this a couple of years ago....
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