How Important Is Provenance To You?

[Tsaiko]

It's been over 50 years since a relative handed down their baseball cards and other memoribilia to me. I've treasured these beautiful cards and memoribilia for the longest time and have finally decided to sell most of them. My family pleaded with me to sell them in the '60's, but the sentimental value far outweighed the monetary value, so I have held on to these for all this time. I had forgot that I had stashed the bulk of the cards in my childhood home. I have just found a treaure trove of cards while moving my mom into an assisted living situation.

Most of the cards that I have personally carried with me were sold recently. There were three offers made for almost the entire collection, and feeling like I was losing a part of me, I turned them all down. Eventually one of the bidders almost doubled their offer and I couldn't refuse. I've spent a lot of time researching each and every card (a lot of the info and related sites I have learned from this forum, so thanks), so I know I got a really good offer. After the deal was done, I asked the new owner why they offered so much and the answer was provenance. It was because they knew that these cards were never circulated or traded and that they knew the circumstances and the history of the original collector and that made my collection more desirable to them.

So I'm really curious to know if provenance is important to other collectors and if they would pay more for a card if they knew the exact, short, and possibly interesting history of a particular card. If the person who bought the collection is reading this, I didn't remember these other cards I had stashed, so when I said that was the whole collection I was not trying to be deceitful and will certaintly contact you before anything else gets offered.

So, provenance, important or you couldn't care less?

Thanks,

[ethicsprof]

The Lionel Carter and Nagy provenance have mattered a great deal in my type collecting. I have several of their E, T206, and T204 cards framed for my office.

best,
barry

[barrysloate]

There are so many trimmed and altered cards in the marketplace that collectors will always be willing to pay a premium for an original collection, especially one that has never been in the hobby before. That is true in all areas of collecting; fresh to the market is worth more than material that has been around.

[T206Collector]

I called Lionel Carter up on the phone after I got this one and talked to him about it. It really enhanced my appreciation for what I have.

From SGC Graded Cards

And with autographs, provenance is extremely valuable. That is why a signed T206 card from the Jeff Morey collection, like this Clarke below, will always be more valuable to me than one that was signed for a complete stranger.

From Autographed T206

[Leon]

For me the higher the grade of pre-war card the more important the provenance is. Ask any collector that has been collecting cards for 25-30 yrs and they will tell you that there is no way this many "minty" looking cards were around back in the day. Of course the argument about how the prices have brought them out comes up, and this and that, and....more excuses and theories. If your provenance leads you to "rawoysterman" on ebay, or Ohio in general, you might want to run the other way . For me, provenance on mid grade cards isn't all that important. Provenance on memorabilia and autographs is extremely important....all imho....regards

[scgaynor]

Provenance will mean more as the hobby matures. This is still a young hobby relative to other areas of collecting (coins, stamps, etc) where provenance actually means something. Right now provenance is more of a curiosity, but as technology gets better and items are easier to fake and alter, Provenance will be key.

Scott

[tbob]

I think cards with a provenance of Barker, Nagy and Carter do, and should, command a premium because they were pioneers in our hobby but I do not really recognize the provenance of any other cards I buy. I agree with Barry that it is nice to get cards which come from "finds" because the chances of alteration or tampering is negligible but it really doesn't matter to me otherwise where the cards came from.