REA results
 

What did you folks think of the prices Jason got selling his signed card collection. Some IMO like the rookie Newhouser were insanely high as were most of the others. I was outbid on almost everything despite putting bids in quite a bit higher than I thought items would go for. Do you think it was just 2 or 3 bidders with very deep pockets or is this a trend that is still going up?

Jason May Collection
 

I think the prices were in the reasonable to strong category, for the dozen or two cards I was watching and/or bidding on. I couldn’t believe how cheap the signed T206 Crawford Batting card went — about $2,000 or $3,000 less than it’s prior sales; on the flip side tho, the Baker sold for $20,000+BP, which is about $12,000 more than Jason paid for it at auction a couple of years ago. He lost a couple grand on the Speaker, but made it up on the Cobb, basically.

Given that Jason was out on his collection, it does seem like many or at least several others were there to pick up the slack. I was happy to pull down the two signed CJs — paying about what Jason paid for his Wood a couple of years ago on eBay, but paying over what I thought was going to be needed to secure the Roush.

To me the scary thing is the sheer volume of epic signed pre-war cards for sale all at once. Those of us with limited pockets had to pick and choose. Typically, only one or two of these just might end up at auction in a year. There will be more money at the lower end for these one-offs; but the deep pockets will show up for the high end stuff, seemingly without regard for a larger volume.

So, to me, the deep pockets showed up, but it also signals a continued rising on prices.

I know Pat Neshek was looking at the auction/most likely was buying some signed cards. Competing monetarily with a pro ball player who made 8 mil last year can be a tall task, but is good for the seller:)

Rea
 

Thank you to everyone who bid. I was very happy with the results. I more than doubled what I had invested in the collection, so it's hard to complain about that. The Goudey commons sold for a lot less than I expected, but the big time cards more than made up for that. I paid $15,000 for my Ruth no. 181 2 years ago and it sold for $110K plus BP. The Hal Newhouser Leaf I paid $1,800 for and it sold for over $25K. There were several others where I made 3 to 10 times what I paid. The Ruth 181 more than doubled the previous record for highest signed baseball card.

A lot of people have asked, and I'm not done collecting by any means. I actually bought a very nice signed Babe Ruth baseball for a good price last night. I also kept my Jim Thorpe signed 33 Goudey Sport Kings and my Muhammad Ali signed 1960 Hemmet's Journal as well as a few other sentimental favorites. I plan to collect signed HOF rookie cards again, but I'm going to limit myself to truly elite players. I sold because I had an investment opportunity that was too good to pass up. I was able to cover that investment plus pay off all my debt with this auction, so I'm at peace with selling.

Jason

Congrats Jason, AWESOME result! :)

Signed 1933 Goudeys
 

Congrats to you Jason.

I was able to secure a few upgrades and a few new ones.

Scott.

Congrats Jason!!

That’s great! I was wondering why he didn’t make an appearance last night. I take some credit for delivering that to you from the consignor through REA a couple of years ago.

I’m glad you’re staying in the hobby — but I’m also glad you sold. Selfishly because I wanted those signed CJs, but also because a churn of cards into the hobby keeps it healthy! So thanks for that too!

Congrats Jason. This is great to hear. I'm glad it was as successful as it could be.

To take this thread in a different direction what are everyone’s feelings on the Dihigo and Luque signed postcard. I have always been very skeptical of this item. It has always struk me as an odd format for an item that would have had to be signed prior to Luque’s death in 1957.

I consigned the Dihigo, it was the only time I think I ever bought an item just to sell it. While I did make a decent profit, I was surprised how low it went compared to past Dihigo sales. Perhaps you knew something that other bidders did as well.

Jason,

Do you mind commenting on the Goudey commons? What are your thoughts on
prices with them? According to the PSA/DNA population report many signed commons only have a pop. of 1-2 cards. Some of those commons are extremely tough. A lot of those players died many years ago, which makes them almost if not impossible.

Commons
 

Most of the Goudey commons sold for fairly modest prices. The problem with the commons is that no matter how tough they are there are only a handful of people trying for the set. It’s a small enough number of collectors that one person (ie - me) shifting from a buyer to a seller significantly impacted the market. Not many people will pay a Mel Ott price for a Bill Cissell no matter how tough Cissell is. Some cards are just too rare for their own good and I think signed Goudeys fall into that category. Obviously the Hall of Fame players have a much broader market. The commons will probably continue to be suppressed until fresh faces start trying for the set, but with so few signed examples to go around it’s a daunting task that not many will want to take on. I anticipated I’d take a loss on some of the commons, but I did well enough on the stars that it wasn’t a big blow. Trying for the set was fun, but it I had been in this solely for profit I would have just collected the HOF players.

Jason