Topps 1968 3-D test wrapper... any advise?

[Stu]

Hello, everyone.
Could I ask for a bit of help? I'm new here, basically. My brother Rick and I want to sell this and are thinking of putting it on eBay, but we're puzzled at what opening bid we should ask for because there's so little information out there.
Googling we find that Legendary Auctions sold one in August 2002 for 1188 (with a buyer's premium) and another on 6/21/2007 for 2167 (again with a buyer's premium). The one that sold in 2002 had a 1/2 inch tear in the blank and the one that sold in 2007 had a 3/4 tear in the blank.
Ours has a triangular area missing from the blank. The two tears that took this part of the blank away are each one inch long. The scan here was done with a black sheet behind the wrapper:



The one that sold in 2002 is here:
http://legendaryauctions.com/LotDetail.aspx?lotid=26942

And the one that sold in 2007 is here:
http://www.legendaryauctions.com/Lot...px?lotid=74104

You can see that the 2002 wrapper has very vivid colors, that the 2007 wrapper is less vivid, and that ours is less vivid still. Do you think it faded over years? Or were several different color schemes printed, possibly?
What would you nice people suggest we start the bidding at? Or do you have any other sort of advice or opinion that might help point us in the right direction?
Any thoughts at all are greatly appreciated!
Thanks --
Stu (and Rick)

[ALR-bishop]

I have a set of the cards and was lucky to get a fully intact wrapper on ebay for well under $ 1000 a few years back. These wrappers are pretty scarce but the tear will likely be a detriment on price. If you plan to sell it on ebay you could start it at $ 1000 ( or list for that as buy it now) and be open to best offers, or you could put it up for a minimum of $ 500 and see what happens.


There are two other posters I know on this board who have the set and wrapper and may have other suggestions

[HRBAKER]

I have one of the cards but am a wrapper collector. From my vantage point this one would sell in the 500-1000 range on any given day. I think that most anyone looking to put $1000 or more into this wrapper wants a red, red one. To me the fading is much more of an issue than the piece missing. All in all, it's a great wrapper and probably on more than a few wantlists. You could start it @ $500 as suggested, maybe even place a reserve at what you think is fair.

[Stu]

Thank you very much for the information and for the advice, guys -- it really is appreciated!
We'll get something started on eBay here in a little bit, and we'll let you know what happens.
This really is an interesting issue, isn't it? So mysterious!

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by Stu

Thank you very much for the information and for the advice, guys -- it really is appreciated!
We'll get something started on eBay here in a little bit, and we'll let you know what happens.
This really is an interesting issue, isn't it? So mysterious!

Good luck Stu (and Rick)!

[sflayank]

youve had this wrapper on ebay for 2 years already with no buyers
in the condition its in $300 would be a miracle

[ALR-bishop]

Don't sugar coat it Larry

[Stu]

Originally Posted by sflayank

youve had this wrapper on ebay for 2 years already with no buyers
in the condition its in $300 would be a miracle

What on Earth are you talking about? Rick had it on eBay once or twice before, perhaps a few months ago. And you say we've "had this wrapper on ebay for 2 years already."
Where did you dream that up?