Quote:
Originally Posted by SMPEP
... to provide an illustration of why this is so dumb ... Let's look at this Huggins & Scott auction:
http://www.hugginsandscott.com/cgi-b...l?itemid=65097
Right now you can get a Yount AND Brett uncut rookie sheet for $475 (plus all the other cards). These are PSA 10s if you cut them out correctly (as many folks have done - including the only PSA 10 for the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle).
BUT the REAL value ... is the complete uncut sheet. Anyone can find a high grade card of any Topps player to buy ... How many uncut sheets are left out there?
There is ONE uncut 1952 Topps Mantle sheet out there. There are 2,000+ graded 1952 Topps Mickey Mantles (by PSA alone).
Does being #1 in the registry means so much to these folks?
Wow.
Patrick |
I thought there were three 10s of the 52 Mick, and closer to 1200 total graded by PSA. Will have to check the numbers, maybe I'm wrong.
Just because something is rare, like a 52 sheet with the Mantle on it, doesn't necessarily mean that it is desired by as many collectors as the card. I admire sheets for their aesthetic appeal, and they are cool pieces framed. Point is, people collect what they like. If that's a sheet, great. If it's a single, cool. But demand plays a great deal in value, too, and there are far more card collectors than sheet collectors out there. And then the relationship between attractive examples of an in-demand card results in the prices we are seeing. As opposed to an item that may be very rare, but is not the object of as much desire and competition. Of course, then you get cards like a Frederick Foto Ruth that is both wanted by many AND exceedingly rare.
What a man spends his money on is his business. I certainly wouldn't let other people's expenditures influence me selling pieces I like, as was intimated in an earlier post.
I personally see no reason to spend 20k on a Yount 10 when I can have one for several hundred that looks the same to me. But if some guy with the money feels he wants or needs that "10" for whatever reason, hey, it's his money. Now if we are talking about an overgraded 10 that is not GEM MT, then I personally think it's asinine and will happily debate that with the buyer of any overgraded card if it is put in my face expecting adoration-- but in the end if someone is happy and not looking to debate card versus holder, let'em be happy. But when it comes up for auction, this guy won't be bidding.
With respect to the assertion that a card from the 70s is not "worth" $860, the simple fact is that someone paid that amount for a Yount 9, and an accurately graded 9 will fetch the same or more these days. So whether all of us would buy it or not is irrelevant, since the fact is that it is indeed "worth" that.
Overall, I think no two collectors hold the same exact cards on their personal pedestal, so it should come as no surprise that some people spend on something another might never be inclined to look at, let alone buy. It's a big hobby and there are so many different types of collectors. If everyone collected and valued the exact same items, it would be rather boring. In fact, many of my favorite cards today are cards other collectors put me on to. Similarly, we may highly value and spend on cards today that we might not like so much in the future. Today's registry collector spending money on PSA 10 commons might turn around and call that insanity tomorrow. Today's guy who loathes set building and commons might find himself loving it in ten years. It's a big collecting world out there. There will always be other guys who like what another likes, and guys who prefer other stuff. I do think, both consciously and subconsciously, many collectors want as many others as possible out there to desire what they desire, and that plays into much of the discourse on forums like this.
When it comes to statements like, "BUT the REAL value ... is the complete uncut sheet," we can all make our compelling cases for what we think is the most desirable and therefore valuable item out there-- but it's all in the eye of the beholder, and what he wants for his collection.