CJ 1915 prices taking off -- why?
 

Real surge lately at least for grades 6 and up, and mainly PSA...Just the usual couple guys in bidding war maybe for registry status, or something more? Last year, with CJ 14 prices surging, there was a theory that this would spark CJ 15 prices. But CJ 14 cooled but only now are CJ 15 soaring. I know these things come and go but anything I've missed?

well again psa dominates sgc, even prewar...i think you hit the nail on the head about being high grade and registry sets... so the surge is for high grade cards...

Big money seems to be flowing into high end, high grade cards. I don't think it's unique to 15 CJs, but I haven't been following them. The cards I do follow have all been going up and VCP records seem to be broken with each auction.

From what i see what isn't surging??????? :D

What other sets in particular are surging, and if so, only high grade or mid- and low- also?

Ruben, I can say unequivocally that 1939-46 Exhibit Gehringer's ARE NOT surging. :D
http://m.ebay.com/itm/1939-46-Charli...763?nav=SEARCH

Pretty sure that's it, unfortunately (for buyers.)

low end to mid grade of about 98% of the cards out there arent surging

I guess i should clarify that HOF/Popular ones in mid to high grade that are well centered and good eye appeal are bringing 30-40% premiums. In the past almost year at least the cards i like to buy have almost become out of reach in grades 7. :D
Only when i go to sell mine i don't get the premium lol

Enjoy :D

On those CJ 15s lately, I have seen plenty with crappy centering still "set records." For example, the Tinker SGC 80 last night, but also last week a bunch of PSA 7s and 6s and 6.5s.....

I don't know if any entire sets are surging, but I've noticed the high grade t206s, 52 topps (especially psa 8), any high grade mantles, big name rookies going up considerably. These are the auctions I keep an eye on and bid on occasionally.

As Ruben mentioned the centering premium appears to be increasing as well on these cards even if it hasn't been a factor in the surge in 15 CJs .

I agree with Jake most lower grade stuff, except for a few key cards, have remained relatively flat.

The hobby is just growing, and growing ever faster due to the internet--even the rarest of items will eventually appear there or in an auction if you look long enough, in contrast to the '90's, when oftentimes finding a rare card you were seeking meant going to an enormous number of shows, or happening upon one in SCD and calling to reserve it before someone else did! Part of that growth is attracting the big bucks guys--I'm afraid we will be following the same path as coins, where it appears that several of the choicest items have fetched $10 million plus in the last couple of years. Stay on the cutting edge in forging a collection that will see great appreciation in value, rather than on the trailing edge, where you've got to have a huge bank account to compete!

Happy collecting,

Larry

Buy low, sell high.:D

Unfortunately some members seem to buy high and sell low. It happens to me sometimes too. :(

And David, no, the later Exhibits don't seem to be surging at a whopping $19 but as mentioned, there are a few that are tougher to find and bring decent bucks.....along with a few super stars.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/311561545763

.

I picked up in a recent auction a nice SGC 88 '15 CJ Fred Clarke for around $1100, including the juice, which seemed if not a steal, considering it is one of
my favorite e-cards, then at least a bargain. Of course, the unanswered question is what would it have fetched in a PSA holder?

Just an update: Last night BST had a large number of CJ 15s in auction, most of them PSA 6 or 7 and a few 8s, some HOFers (Walsh, Clarke, Wagner 2.5, etc.) As far as I could see nearly all set records for the grade, some by quite a lot, others no. In just a few cases the very recent PWCCs prices were slightlhy higher. In any case, the "surge" seems to have continued or stayed at high level.

I thought the Cracker Jack sale prices last night were strong as well. I have been wanting a '15 Matty for a while now, and I was surprised to see the SGC 20 example in the BST auction last night go for $1,500 with the buyer's premium. If that is the going rate for low-grade '15 Mattys, that card may have permanently moved out of my price range.

I think the Wags 2.5 went for close to $3500 which is what 4s were going for...

But I have focused more on the commons,where 7s until very recently went for,say,$350 but now go for $500-800.

Cracker JAcks have a lot going for them...and I think they are just getting their due respect. An iconic brand forever uttered/consumed at every baseball game ever played.

This set has it all...most of the stars of the day...great poses...striking red background...specially sized...rare enough to be a challenge...rare variations...single year scarcities...and even back variation between 14-15'.

The set has attracted collectors as of lately and the prices seem to reflect it.



I wish I had more of them!

Holy cow! Add this to the list.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1915-Cracker...UAAOSwXshWthRq

And that's a sweet Cobb you have there Pete!

Hey Dean, good to hear from you as always.

I don't think that one actually sold as the seller relisted it a few times after his Feb 17th "sale" that you posted. It might be that he marks some things as sold to build a fake price history on Ebay rather than letting listings end. That same card, with the same seller, also ended unsold on 2/28, 3/6, and 3/13.

+1

thanks guys...mine is cut from an advertising sheet...the price was right at the time!!!!

Ahh , I see what you mean. Nothing surprises me anymore. Hope all is well with you Bryan.

A lot of 1915 CJs PSA 8s in coming AH biggies, so will be interesting to see if trend continues......

From what I have seen the last few years with prices of all alternative investment products, there is a quasi-set order in which these products rise in value. In pre-war ball cards and other valuable sets we all know there is a finite amount of investment grade cards. If one set dries up, then the market will turn to the next set. I have watched T206, 1952 Topps, 1933 Goudey etc.. and there seems to be a pattern at which they have all attracted not just collectors but investment buyers. Cracker Jack cards fall into that category as well. In my humble opinion it was only a matter of time before the 1915 CJ cards took off. The same can be said for 1934 Goudey and T205 cards.

The trick as an investor is to treat it like real estate. You have to buy short and hedge on the fact that whatever is hot now will cool and your bought area will take off. The risk is: 1 How long before the movement? (Time is money) 2. Will the market move in your direction? 3. Will the market completely cool and you be left with property in a bad market? 4. It is a bubble and the cost of getting in to high? Even with all those risks, playing the Collectors market is far more fun than property or the stock market. Property is subject or fluctuations in taxation that can't be predicted over a long term. The stock market may not have tax issues like property, but its own risks warrant an entire library of books to property describe. In the collectors market you can simply put your assets in a box and forget about them for 25 years if you want


With that being said, anything is better than sticking your cash in the bank and collecting 1.5%.

Sorry for the long post.

Good test of trend increasing, or leveling, tonight in massive auction of PSA 8s (and 8.5s) at Memory Lane....Stay tuned...Prices for many already above where they were not long ago but who knows, they may stay right there...

Re: CJ 1915 prices taking off
 

Greg, this definitely puts a hole in you theory. Maybe it was just an anomaly,
but a 1915 Cracker Jack set just sold for a rather low $26K. Not sure how to
explain this one...

https://goldinauctions.com/mobile/lo...id=20044&seo=1

I'm thinking the Goldin Auction was an anomaly. All the cards have back damage which kept the price down. The cards that were graded were all SGC 10 or Authentic.

Agreed in addition to the dubious auctioneer.

Yes, a very weak set plus SGC much less than PSA on these...

Interesting results last night on those dozens of PSA 8s...In general, in sustained the surge in much higher prices for such that have developed over the past six months--but I would stay indicated that surge may be stalling now. I base that on prices for some of the 8s not being much more than the much easier to find PSA 7s in the past few months. Of course, they varied a good deal and people--in general, not always--seemed to be rewarding low pop and centering. Cards that went for "only" about 700 tended to be a bit more common and being off-center. The HOFers all went north of $2000 and usually quite a bit more (with Tinker triple that).

It's also possible that there were too many similar ones offered at the same time so essentially you could get bargains (they would go for much more if sold without so much competition).