Vintage Tickets - 1895 Omahogs Baseball - Value & Grading Advice Requested...
 

A friend of mine bought a bounded pack of 22 season tickets for the 1895 Omaha, NE Omahogs (see the pics below) recently from an estate sale for $400. The tickets are binded in a leather-like casing and appear to be a excellent condition. My friend does not know what he has here and is seeking information & advice from the message board in order to determine his next move.

Note: We are not a ticket collectors and know next to nothing about ticket grading, collecting, and market pricing. I think he has made out here, but I want to give him the best advice to move forward. His goal is to maximize resale value. His questions are...

1. Are these old baseball tickets rare? If so, in raw condition, what are they worth as single tickets or as a binded bunch?

2. Would you recommend he get these tickets graded by PSA? If so, should he detach each of the 22 tickets and submit as singles or leave everything together in the binding to submit as a pack of tickets? He wants to maximize resale value here.

3. Is there a real market for vintage tickets? If he wants to trade or resell, where should he go (other than Ebay)?

Thank you for your support. We look forward to getting your advice.

Meatloaf

Here is a link for information on the baseball club from 1895:
Link

http://media9.dropshots.com/photos/7...1/b_155121.jpg
http://media9.dropshots.com/photos/7...1/b_155130.jpg
http://media11.dropshots.com/photos/...1/b_155141.jpg
http://media10.dropshots.com/photos/...1/b_155155.jpg

First of all, I am not a ticket expert, maybe someone who is on here will chime in with regard to value.

But I can answer some other questions.

1. First of all, I would leave the booklet alone. I would not detach the tickets. It will hold more value as a complete booklet. If a buyer wants to detach the tickets themselves, let them make that decision.

2. I would not submit the booklet (or individual tickets) to a grading service. I don't think that there is a need for that at all and would not add to any re-sale value.

3. I don't know how rare they are, but I assume this is quite rare in this non-detached state.

4. I would consign them to a major auction house where they can confirm the items authenticity on their own.

You will get potential buyers from several different genres. First from baseball ticket collectors, second from Omaha Omahogs collectors, and also from minor league baseball collectors, etc., etc.

WOW

Being from Omaha I havn't seen any these before on the market. Any OmaHog baseball items a very hard to come across.

I will ask some of my friends in town and try to get you as much info as I can.

I would think the true value wuld be NOT parting something like that out and selling in a major sports auction. I'm sure you will get a lot of info and feedback on these from this board.

Ed (the owner of this booklet) called me yesterday...I told him NOT to tear those tickets out and I don't believe he will...that is one awesome ticket booklet.

Do not- repeat- do not tear this book apart and send the individual tickets to PSA. You're destroying a piece of history, and PSA knows nothing about them. What's the point of having them graded? It's a very nice piece, there are many advanced regional collectors who would love to have them, and they would keep them intact. Please don't destroy the book.

Thanks to all the advice so far. Ed listed them on Ebay as a booklet. PSA will only accept the tickets for grading as singles. So he has decided not to detach them. We will see where this goes. Ed is a great American and I hope he makes out on this. I really no zilch about tickets. I hope he finds the right market for them...I don't think ebay may be the answer. Meatloaf

"The first ticket in the booklet shows a little discoloration from being next to the cover for 116 years, but is still gradable. Many local and national authorities have looked at these tickets and mostly all of them suggest leaving them in the book, but that they could all be removed and graded."

Meatloaf, your buddy sure is fixated on the idea of having these graded. Better watch him!

Incidentally, I think the other guys on the board were right in advising him to go with a major auction house over listing the book on eBay. For one thing, you've got competition now:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from...All-Categories

Yes, you are 100% right! I think this is a test to see if anyone bites. However, it may cost him if they are worth more than $5k. Great advice here, TYVM. Meatloaf

Well, this is interesting..I wonder how many were found in this estate?

I wish I new! I wish it was me! Meatloaf