$100,000 Question
 

If you had $100,000 to spend on a card, what would you buy? The stipulations are that it has to be one and only one card, you could never sell or trade it, and you do not get to keep the change (so you couldn't buy a card for 20K and keep 80K).

Darby chocolate ty cobb complete box

Not sure I could ever spend that much on a card, but if I did it would likley be a Collins-McCarthy Babe Ruth, lower grade

E107 Wagner or Mathewson.


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Great card

sadly just not sure you could get it at this point at this price.

The best looking and highest graded 1933 Goudey Ruth.

T206 Cobb, green PSA 7. Like all these cards, can you find one to buy ?

"you could never sell or trade it" -- this, to me, is a key stipulation.

Personally, I believe the T204 Ramly Wajo, the D322 Tip Top Wagner, the 1907 Diestche Cobb fielding, and the 1925 Exhibits Gehrig are all very undervalued and poised to take off (the E90-1 Jackson would have made this list too, but that seems to be moving up lately). So, if I could sell or trade (i.e., invest), I would get the best looking/highest grade of one of these 4.

However, I cannot sell or trade, so its a keeper card. Under those circumstances, as a collector item, I personally would either buy (i) the best D322 Wagner I could, or (ii) the best T206 Plank. The Wagner because it is the closest thing there is to the T206 Wagner, which is the ultimate card. The Plank because its rare, awesome, and tied to the T206 Wagner (by set and perhaps reason for rarity).

I recently bought this D322 Wagner for $80k and bought this Plank for around $80k back in like 2018-19 (I expect its worth a lot more than $100k now)

A T210 Joe Jackson if one could be found for that price. I am lucky because I couldn't care less about owning most cards that cost over a few hundred dollars.

I have always wanted a 1914 or 15 Cracker Jack Shoeless Joe. Give me the highest grade $100K will buy me and let me enjoy it for the rest of my days.

No, not sure that I would spend anywhere near $100k on a single card. :-)

For me it would be a high-grade E121 Ruth. Great classic card, early photo in a Boston jersey, but on a Yankees card. And unlike the E135 you could get a really nice one for $100K :)

One of those wild T206 cards with the multi-strike (including Lash’s Bitters) backs.

Hubel Cobb postcard

Interesting that so far no one has said "The nicest 1952 Topps Mantle I could get for 100K."

Funnily enough as I entered the thread, that's exactly what I was going to ask for.

The Nicest 1952 Topps Mantle I could get for that price is what I would buy. I've always wanted to own one, I would never sell it.

Well, you did post on the pre-war side.

The nicest T204 card of WaJo that $100K would buy to upgrade this one in my collection:

I would go for the nicest T3 Cobb I could find.

Val, that Johnson might have the strongest image of all I have seen, most of which are very weak or slightly dark, it's a keeper!

Wow, awesome choices, and beautiful cards.

Scott, thanks for the kind words! I agree, it's a keeper!

Fun thread, some nice answers so far.

As mentioned above...


Pre-war: nicest and highest graded Goudey Ruth.

Post-war: nicest and highest graded 52 Topps Mantle.

The nicest T3 Ty Cobb I can find.

I'd try to find a '14 CJ Jackson for my $100k card.

On a budget of $100K and just to have until they pry it from my cold, dead fingers?

Prewar: Max Stein PC of Wagner. Just a unique image I've always liked.

https://rea-archive.us-east-1.linode...nus-wagner.jpg

Postwar: 1948 Leaf Rocky Graziano. For those who don't know, it was pulled from the issue and replaced but a few got out. I haven't seen one auctioned in some time.

https://rea-archive.us-east-1.linode...y-graziano.jpg

Memorabilia: Original Exhibit card artwork for the Cassius Clay card. It sold recently for $28,481.

https://auction.lelands.com/images_i...7_2_367390.jpg

Adam, doesnt the E300 Plows Wagner have the same image? Regardless, I agree it is a very cool and super rare image, although personally i would rather have the Plows over the Max Stein. And Happy New Year BTW

100,000
 

Nicest Bond Bread portrait or Leaf Jackie Robinson that I could find.

The nicest Cracker Jack Cobb I could get or a Cobb Rose Postcard

Great cards. Ryan, that Tip Top Wagner is awesome. I'd love a Collins McCarthy Ruth too in that price range. A few I haven't seen mentioned that I'd certainly consider:

A decent Billiken Oscar Charleston

A low grade Tomas Gutiérrez Oscar Charleston

A 1950 Toleteros Josh Gibson

Mascot Dog Food Mantle

That crazy nice PSA 9 Stahl Meyer Willie Mays that sold recently.

W600 Cobb without a second thought.

I would say a signed 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle or Jackie Robinson card.

My wife would say a card made out to her with the note, "Honey, enclosed is a token of my love and affection" that included a check for $100,000.

The highest graded T206 Plank I could find.

I don’t think $100k would get you anywhere near a W600 Cobb.

N172 Bill Collins, Lowell.

I'd look for a combo of "meaningful to me" and "great looking card" if it needed to be $100K without any option to sell in the future.

My #5 type collection still needs several obscure cards, yet TBD if any would run $100K if they turned up. Even the best known 1887 Old Judge "$10,000 Kelly" #5 card would've cost me ~$12K at the 2023 National.

High-grade 1914 Boston Garter Color (H813-2) of Johnny Evers or 1924 Willard's Sports Champions Babe Ruth (four PSA 7s to choose from) _could_ cost $100K in today's money, so let's say one of those.

True.

Current asking price by the new owner is $150k, unless you can get him to come down to $100k with your superior negotiating skills.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266604531775

Ashish (many know him by Jay) owns that card.

He frequently sets up at Chantilly, Philly, Dallas, and the National.

Small world, I just ended up on your website last night. Really great.

A 1910 Punch Pop Lloyd or T206 WaJo HAC Drum or BL460.

Thanks
Chad

t206 ty cobb with drum or uzit back maybe lenox

The prettiest signed 1933 Goudey Ruth I could get. And It would be raw and I would have it in my hand almost every day.

1951 Bowman Willie Mays-I think Mays is very undervalued and this his rookie card has great potential to catch up to similar high grade 51 Bowman Micks.

Plows Candy of Cobb in decent grade.

Duke cabinet Delahanty and maybe the Davis if I have enough money left

100k? Probably the nicest Goudey Ruth 144, or T205 Cobb, that 100k will buy...
an upgrade for this one..
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all great choices but becoming tougher in the new pricing currently going on.

For me the nicest e121 throwing pose ruth I could find and ideally it would be an ad back (but last 2 I saw sold for well over $100K)

At the $100k price point I'm collecting cars, not cards. I can't imagen ever spending anything close to $100k for a card. But that's just me.

Kalamazoo Bats Pittsburgh Alleghenys team card. I'd be leaving a lot of money on the table, but it's at the top of my wantlist

Assuming we have the rest of our collection, I think I'd be torn between a T206 Plank, T204 Johnson. and E92 Nadja Cobb. Both the Plank and Johnson while iconic cards I've wanted, just don't fit that great with my current collection. The Cobb on the other hand is definitely one of the biggest stumbling blocks I'm looking at for my Nadja set both in terms of price and rarity.

A reasonable position that even we crazy collectors cannot dispute, defy it though we may. A tougher question I think is when you have a beloved card (or comic or coin . . . ) that you bought for 10 thousand that then skyrockets to 100 grand. Logically, if 100K is too much to have in a collectible then it's too much whether you paid 100K or not. But I don't think our brains always work that way.

Great point Jim. Put differently, if one cannot fathom spending $100k on a card, then if/when a card one owns becomes worth $100k, they should sell; and expect there are a number of people out there in this boat given where prices have gone in the past few years

Ryan - I generally agree with this sentiment, although I would probably add a few caveats.

As a tax professional, my first and most obvious observation is that I'm always reticent to sell, just to hand over as much as half of the sales price to the tax man. To the average American, nothing seems to vex us more than paying taxes that could have been avoided by not selling.

Second, for many of these cards, they mean a lot more to us than just cold, hard cash. While in theory everything has a price, often it's difficult to part with something that is so meaningful to us. Although economists would prefer that we all be cold calculating machines, we humans are too full of emotion to ever really allow that to happen. Along these lines, I would further posit that when it comes to our "forever" personal collection, the price would need to be astronomical before we are willing to sell. $100k is good money and nothing to sneeze at, but for some impossible to find pieces that I've been approached about selling, I've seriously responded that it would take $10M for me to sell, even though they would probably only fetch a small fraction of that amount if I were to sell at auction today.

Finally, there's also the element of expecting that it's just going to keep going up. While it's often illogical to expect that cardboard that is at a multiple of its previous all-time high could really go up much higher, deep down to some extent, we're inveterate gamblers. And that can cause us to want to keep riding the hot hand, expecting that this is just the beginning, with another 10x leg up being right around the corner, so selling now would be folly.

Bottom line is that it's easy to declare our economic principles, but when it comes to something we cherish like these cards, it can be a lot harder to actually take the brave leap of actually selling.

I have one card that has probably done that. And I am happy to hang onto it. But I can't fathom spending 100k on a card!
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Easy choice for me. It would be the nicest 1952 Mantle I could find. Knowing full well that my son as a Yankee fan and a Mantle fan would cherish it long after I’m gone.

Pick the best player you want to Collect/invest in. Then get the nicest condition card of him from a known series. You will have a low floor and a high ceiling which basically eliminates some financial risk. One good saying I heard not too long ago is pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered. Many cards mentioned about are great examples and don’t be afraid to go after a special card. It might be expensive now but years from now it most likely will look like a steal. Nice high end items normally hold their value through any kind of market and will always appeal to folks that seem to always have money to spend.

The best 1915 CJ Jackson I could find.

1915 Red Sox team postcard with Ruth. I hope to own one someday...

a few other tidbits...

Someone always wants the best of something. So, if you can attain the best (or it's one of the best), of a desirable item it should do well long-term.

Aesthetics matter to collectors and not as much to registry folks (isn't it all about the number?). And of course there are registry guys that do want the best looking examples. But, I don't think registries, so far, take into account particular visual characteristics. I would guess that the majority of the highest grade pre-war cards don't look as nice as ones with lower technical grades.

It can't be said enough; rarity doesn't equate to value. It's all about "demand".

To the topic, another 100k card would be a nicer T205 Cobby.....
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$100,000 Question
 

I was miraculously able to obtain a pennies-on-the-dollar alternate version of my $100k dream card, previously owned by someone in this group. So hooray and you can keep the change!

And if you have a wrapper, I highly recommend making a pack for display. Once you start folding the wrapper around a card, it really hits that you’re seeing something fantastically similar to what you would have found back in 1933.


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...424cd2192d.jpg

I know whose card Charlie Brown would buy, although I don't know if Chuck has a hundred grand in his piggy bank.

100k
 

I’d probably try to get something like this.

Hubel Cobb postcard

E94 Cobb and Wagner, plus Wolverine Cobb should pretty much burn through that budget.

T206 Plank, since right now, I'm one of the many stuck at 520 on the set.

Also, if possible to also add the '33 Goudey Lajoie and get both for $100K, I'd do it.

Steve

I have a handful on my list. In no particular order, any card below in the nicest condition possible at the $100K level which is perfectly centered would suffice!

T205 Ty Cobb
1914 Cracker Jack Ty Cobb
1915 Cracker Jack Joe Jackson
1933 Goudey Babe Ruth #53 yellow

You might get a corner off of one for that much.

I would go for the best Joe Jackson card I could find.
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WaJo
 

I'd be all in on the nicest WaJo T206 portrait I could get for 100K. Not sure what that would be these days, maybe a 6 or 7? I'd be going for the prettiest front, particularly the registration and resolution of WaJo himself, and wouldn't care at all about rare backs. For that money, I would expect good centering and sharp corners. This is a great fantasy thread!