Post an auction price that you found shocking!

[raulus]

Before you say "everything in the last 3 years", please try to be specific. And remember, this is for posterity, so be honest. Also keep in mind that a price could be shocking for being too high or too low.

I'll get the party started with an auction that closed just this week. As a Mays guy, there's a lot to work with here. But in this case, I'll go with a 68T Mays PSA 10 (pic below), closed for $81k (with the juice). Given the pre-auction estimate from the auctioneer was $150k, I guess it's a small miracle it didn't go higher. Link here: https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-c...2-50791.s?ic16

Most of the analysis I've seen suggests that prices compared to pre-pandemic are up around 300%, which is a pretty serious jump. Admittedly, some are up more than others to get to that average.

Turning to this piece specifically, pre-pandemic this item would routinely sell between $5k-8k. If we call the average around $6.5, then that means this baby sold for about 12.5x the pre-pandi price, which is pretty rich.

I will grant you that this is a new cert, which means it must be better than those other garbage 10s from earlier grading periods. But even compared to earlier sales during the pandemic in July and November 2021 of $33k and $38k, this one blows those away by more than double. So when I saw this one shoot off to the stratosphere, I was shocked beyond all reckoning.

If it's my money, even as a hard core Mays guy, I can think of a lot of other pieces I would rather have for my $81K. I'll go so far as to suggest that I might even take a low grade 311 Mantle over this piece at $81K!

Given the current nuttiness of the market, I can't be the only one who has been shocked of late. What auction closing price left you completely flabbergasted, astounded, or dumbfounded?

[Casey2296]

I continue to be amazed at the prices paid for post war 10's, who's buying this stuff at those prices and is it all about the registry?

[CardPadre]

I’ve been watching Ruth 144s lately and these two really stood out to me. Crazy, the unjustified value the flip creates for two virtually identical condition cards (no issues on the backs).

[paul]

That Ruth comparison is shocking. Buy the holder, not the card, I guess.

[mrreality68]

I know portrait Wagner cards prices have been spiking last 6 months or so but this was beyond surprising to me

[BobbyStrawberry]

$4, 5, 6 mil for basketball cards during the pandemic that are not even old. I don't think those will maintain the prices

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

I continue to be amazed at the prices paid for post war 10's, who's buying this stuff at those prices and is it all about the registry?

As a registry hound myself, this doesn’t make sense as a registry play to me, unless someone just decided they weren’t going to wait any longer to get their 10. While getting that 10 is a big step, at the same time you don’t want to spend everything to get it, particularly if you should be able to land another one for less. And particularly if you can buy the holder (not the card) by getting a sketchy 10 for a lower price because everyone else is buying the card rather than the holder.

In this case, this a pop 13 card. Not pop 1 or 2. But 13!! So there’s quite a few to go around, and another is likely to come onto the market every year or two.

[BRoberts]

This Goudey yellow Ruth in an SGC 60/5 holder selling for $90,000 has stuck in my mind. The fact REA got this price and it wasn't even in one of their catalog auctions is impressive.

https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...e?itemid=75530

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

I continue to be amazed at the prices paid for post war 10's, who's buying this stuff at those prices and is it all about the registry?

Phil, I agree. This made no sense to me. There must be hundreds of thousands of 7th year Nolan Ryans out there. But I guess few with the vaunted 10, I guess justifying almost $50k?

[bnorth]

I am out camping and have no idea how to post a link with my phone. A PSA 6 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken. I figured it would get a couple hundred being a insanely rare version. It ended at a little over $2500 all in.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Phil, I agree. This made no sense to me. There must be hundreds of thousands of 7th year Nolan Ryans out there. But I guess few with the vaunted 10, I guess justifying almost $50k?

So for the price of a 1968 Mays 10 I could get a more than decent 1914 CJ Jackson?
Let's hope those guys stay in the post war 10 world.

[BioCRN]

Originally Posted by bnorth

A PSA 6 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken. I figured it would get a couple hundred being a insanely rare version. It ended at a little over $2500 all in.

As someone who had been holding onto 150-ish graded "junk wax" era slabs I had been looking to get rid of for many years, I can say with a huge amount of certainty that a lot of the collector rush during the pandemic was 80s/90s collectors returning to the hobby. I got rid of a bunch of stuff that would be lucky to turn 10-20% profit pre-pandemic for 100%+ profit on almost everything I sold.

Stuff I've had sitting around in boxes because it wasn't worth the trouble to shift wasn't just profitable, it was easy to find buyers.

It all got a bump...from big names like Griffey Jr and Jeter to smaller guys like Will Clark and Mark Grace.

Some stuff went absolutely crazy. 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken (all variations) and 1990 Donruss Juan Gonzalez (Reverse Negative) were fetching insane prices when they were just curiosities pre-pandemic. There's probably more than that, but I had some of those to get rid of and I was shocked at the prices they were fetching.

[JollyElm]

Ungraded (not my card) version of the tough error card...


Screen Shot 2023-05-14 at 1.27.19 PM.jpg


Holy heck!!!!!!!

[Tomi]

The 1958 Topps Frank Robinson PSA 10 that sold for $230,000 and then resold recently for less than $100,000.
https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=70382

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Ungraded (not my card) version of the tough error card...


Attachment 571176


Holy heck!!!!!!!

Those sold for $5-$20 for years. Then one guy went all in on pumping them up and it worked. It is a great example of how easy it is to jack up card prices.