I'm still chipping away at this tough set, I am keeping my price at or below $10 a card, and limiting the budget month to month so I don't go broke doing this. It helps that I'm not going after graded cards and there seems to not be a ton of other collectors out there vying for these particular peculiarities.
Really the only measure right now is glued backs / major paper loss. rounded corners are just fine, as these cards traveled a long way to get here. These cards have pushed me up over 200 for the set!
I almost passed on Nelson Mathews there, as there is a helpful "CF" written on the front, but I figured I won't find the same card any cheaper in that condition any time soon. I don't know how much upgrading I'll do on this set, it will depend on how close I can get to completing the set as is.
I think the Tris Speaker trivia art on the back of Nelson's card is my favorite of this bunch too - another reason I'm glad I decided to add it. Mathews is not related to Ed Mathews, but Nelson's son T.J. Mathews was a middle reliever for 8 seasons in the 90s / 00s for Oakland and Saint Louis. FUN FACT.
The same eBay seller that has the 1964 Topps cards has a whole host of other random Venezuelan items like coins and paper money... and tobacco cards! This is one of several for sale from the same set, originally printed in 1943. This was the most interesting image of the group (in my highly subjective opinion).
Any relation to José Briceño from the Rockies? The last names follow the mother's maiden name, rather than the fathers in most cases in Latin American countries, so this is probably not his great grandfather... who knows? Regardless, it was a fun little bonus to add to the collection!
Do you collect any cards from other countries (beyond the occasional O-Pee-Chee from Canada?)?
Thanks for reading!