Baltimore News in REA
 

There appears to be a Baltimore News card in the images running on the REA homepage for the forthcoming auction (corner visible next to the T206 Wagner). Is it Ruth? Is that already public knowledge?

Grabbed the image

If it is this image, my interpretation is that it is part of the home page scroll showing cards they have sold in the past. I didn't take this to mean these specific cards would be in an upcoming auction.

Past sale.

An SGC 3 is about to be placed on Collectable for a market cap of about $6mm.

If I read the description correctly it will be housed in the Babe Ruth museum in Baltimore after it is distributed to the partial owners.

https://app.collectable.com/assets/b...news-sgc-3-161

The $6MM is not really a market cap, as I read it, it is the float, since the owner will retain a <not defined> number of shares in the card, and "may release more shares at a later date". Will they disclose the total shares that exist in the card including those privately held? If not, how can the value of a single share be estimated by a buyer? I'm totally new to this concept, if you couldn't tell. Since they are the ones using the IPO analogy, I assume that these are reasonable questions to be asked.

from the link...

•
This asset was recently purchased by a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous for an undisclosed sum; however, sources have confirmed it represents the most expensive purchase in sports card history, surpassing the $5.2M sums recently paid for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 9 and a LeBron James rookie card.
•
For 23 years the card has been showcased at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, MD. In 2010, The Baltimore Sun published an article in search of the rightful owner as he was unable to be located. Shortly after the article was published, Glenn Davis quickly emerged as the son of Richard Davis, the owner who had recently died. Richard’s father Archibald Davis acquired the card as a young boy when he was selling newspapers. The card came inserted in the Baltimore News where Archibald kept one.
•
The card will be displayed at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, MD, where shareholders can go and visit their asset in person!
•
In partnership with the private owner, Collectable will issue a limited number of shares to the public at IPO. The owner may release more shares to the public, similar to a secondary offering, at a later date.

I Believe that Your Very Wise to ask before Buying iN!

I'm awaiting for these & Other details to follow on the IPO Card of Ruth...

Wow it says this Baltimore Ruth set the record for the highest paid sports card of all time exceeding $5.2 million!

Cool story and a worthy record holder. I saw this card at the babe ruth museum while at dental school in baltimore. It's a must see if in town. Also the bar the babes dad owned/worked at is in the neighborhood...the harbor inn I think. They used to have a barnstorming photo of babe and lou behind the bar in a frame. I always wondered if it were real?

Here's how the offering is described. I highlighted in red the portion of interest.

IN BRIEF
Deemed one of “the single most important and miraculous baseball card(s) in the world” and “perhaps the most significant card in the sports card universe,” Collectable is humbled to present one of the greatest historical artifacts in collectibles, period, a 1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth - his first card and minor league baseball card. One of only 10 cards known to exist, this particular copy has been displayed at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, MD for the past 23 years and will continue to reside there so shareholders can go and see it. This card was recently graded a 3 by SGC, and recently set a record for the most expensive sports card ever sold, surpassing the $5.2M price for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle and a 2003 Exquisite LeBron James rookie card. A true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to own a piece of sports history.
THE ATHLETE
Babe Ruth, nicknamed “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat”, is considered baseball’s first great slugger and the most celebrated athlete of his time. He won 7 World Series championships and was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball’s All-Century Team, and All-Time Team. His career spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935, beginning as a star left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Yet he achieved his greatest fame as a slugging outfielder for the New York Yankees. Ruth established many MLB batting (and some pitching) records, including career home runs (714), runs batted in (RBIs) (2,213), bases on balls (2,062), slugging percentage (.690), and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.164). Ruth is regarded as one of the greatest sports heroes in American culture.

THE OFFERING
•
One of only 10 Baltimore News Ruth cards to exist, this card is considered by most to be one of, if not the holy grail, in the entire sports collectibles universe.
•
Described as a “find of a lifetime” and “one of the great rarities in the hobby” by PSA. Robert Edwards Auctions deemed “the single most important and miraculous baseball card(s) in the world.”
•
To date, there are 10 copies on the PSA and SGC population report combined, 3 graded by PSA and now 7 by SGC. For context, the famous T206 Honus Wagner has an estimated 57 copies that we know of in existence and a speculated 60 to 200 ever issued.
•
This card predates the Major League rookie card for Babe Ruth (M101-4 and M101-5) by 2 years. While extremely valuable and coveted, those Ruth rookie cards are far more available and accessible than the hallowed 1914 Baltimore News edition.
•
This asset was recently purchased by a private collector who wishes to remain anonymous for an undisclosed sum; however, sources have confirmed it represents the most expensive purchase in sports card history, surpassing the $5.2M sums recently paid for a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA 9 and a LeBron James rookie card.
•
For 23 years the card has been showcased at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, MD. In 2010, The Baltimore Sun published an article in search of the rightful owner as he was unable to be located. Shortly after the article was published, Glenn Davis quickly emerged as the son of Richard Davis, the owner who had recently died. Richard’s father Archibald Davis acquired the card as a young boy when he was selling newspapers. The card came inserted in the Baltimore News where Archibald kept one.
•
The card will be displayed at the Babe Ruth Museum in Baltimore, MD, where shareholders can go and visit their asset in person!
•
In partnership with the private owner, Collectable will issue a limited number of shares to the public at IPO. The owner may release more shares to the public, similar to a secondary offering, at a later date.
•
Sports Collectors Daily spotlighted the 1914 Baltimore News set and the Ruth card in 2019. To learn more about the asset, click HERE!


SHARE PRICE
$3.00
INVESTED
Retained Equity
99.0%
Invested
0.0%
INVESTORS
0
FINANCIALS
Price per share
$3.00
Number of shares available
-
Market cap

I am new to Collectible so I might be misunderstanding something, but it seems to say that the owner is retaining 99% interest, and the 1% they are selling will be sold at $3 per share. If the initial valuation is $6M, that means there will be 20,000 shares that will be sold.

Here's what concerns me. At $3 per share, I can easily foresee an instance where the shares will be valued less on what the card is reasonably worth but more on the appeal of being able to say that one is a partial owner of a Baltimore News Ruth, arguably the most valuable sports card in existence. An IPO of the Boston Celtics some years ago comes to mind as an example of such a mindset. At such a low share valuation, who cares if in order to own a few shares one had to pay $4 per share, or even $5, $6 or $7? In the scheme of things it is still chump change. So let's imagine others feel the same way and the share price rises to, say, $5.

What has just happened? Presto, the value of a BN Ruth has just increased by $4M from $6M to $10M. What's then to stop the owner who retained 99% interest through an alternate entity to offer $15M for the card, which for the 20,000 shares outstanding equates to $7.50 per share? Collectable giddily says the offer has been accepted, as they pat themselves on the back for generating a return of 150% on the initial $3 per share "investment". The original owner through his alternate entity then writes a $15M check to Collectible, of which $14,850,000 less Collectible's underwriting fee will be returned to the original owner as payment for their 99% interest.

Under this scenario, for a net $90K ($150K less the $60K from the original offering) plus the underwriting fee, the original owner once again has (though this time through their alternate entity) 100% ownership, only now of a $15M card. Neat, isn't it?

In outlining all this I want again to stress that I am new to how Collectable works, and it is possible there is more to it than I described. And too even if there isn't I am in no way suggesting the original card owner or Collectible is thinking along these lines. But if the events I laid out are allowed to take place, then this is yet another example of how in a unregulated industry such as sports collectibles there is tremendous economic incentive for schemes such as this to take place.

PT Barnum Must Be Smiling on this Idea....


My Opinion AVOID

This Reminds Me of Razzes on Facebook for Slabbed Cards...In theory they know most people cant afford this card so they lure them in with the chance theory be a part of the action maybe you could really own the card or a piece of its major gain..... WRONG

Those are pretty sharp corners for a PSA 4. Never get cheated.

I think this an interesting offering by Collectable. I've "invested" on 6 of their cards over the last 6 months. Kind of fun to see. You have to really be careful on the valuations like any other investment.

This one is interesting exactly because of the valuation. If you evaluate this like a stock - this is priced for perfection. In other words - the only way you will make money on this if someone comes around and offers $8 million+ or something crazy for the card. I, for one, don't see that happening.

The card is on display at the babe ruth museum. One would think that as an owner of the card you should receive some % of the the admission to the museum as a dividend. That could be interesting.

But this one is a hard pass for me. I think it is for people who want to say they own the Ruth rookie card only. The structure of the deal is too strange for me.

This.

They could say it, but they would be VERY dopey, IMHO;)

Things that make you go HMMM.
 

I have been keeping an eye on the platform. They are supposedly under the authority of the SEC - I have not researched or confirmed this. I haven't "invested" in anything yet, but was intrigued by the Ruth. Agree that only 1% being offered seems a bit weird.

https://collectable.com/disclaimer/

According to Collectable, you are buying ownership interest (membership interest) in an LLC, but not in the underlying asset itself. Anyone considering investing in this should read the page linked above thoroughly.

__________________________________________________ _______

<b>Investors are able to acquire membership interests in only a series of a Collectable Entity, a Delaware series limited liability company (the “Company”), via the Collectable platform and app (the “Collectable Platform” or “Platform”). The use of the word “Share” or ”Stock” in any Communication refers to membership interests (an “Interest” or “Interests”) in a series of a Collectable Entity (a “Series”). </b>

The Company is structured as a Delaware series limited liability company that issues different Series of Interests specific to one or more collectible underlying assets (“Underlying Assets”). Each Series of interests is not a separate legal entity, but is intended to segregate assets, liabilities, profits and taxes pertaining to the Underlying Asset from each other Series of Interests (which may own other assets).

<b>Each Offering entitles a person to acquire an ownership Interest in a Series of the Company and not, for the avoidance of doubt, in </b> (i) the Company, (ii) any other Series of the Company other than the Series of Interests subject to the Offering at that time, (iii) Collectable Sports Assets LLC. (the “Manager” and the “Asset Manager”), (iv) the Collectable Platform or (v)<b> any Underlying Asset held by each Series of the Company.</b>



<b>Risks relating to the structure, operation and performance of the Company</b>

An investment in an Offering constitutes only an investment in that Series and not in the Company or directly in any Underlying Asset.
__________________________________________________ _________


Here is some good advice from Collectable.

"Prospective investors are not to construe the contents of the Communication as legal, business or tax advice. Each prospective investor should consult its own advisors as to legal, business, tax and related matters concerning the subject matter of the Communication and any applicable Offering."

They are under the jurisdiction of the SEC. It really is an interesting process. You become like a "partner" in the card. You have to give over just about every piece of information about yourself when you sign up which is interesting. Like I said I've invested in a few pieces. Made about $80 on my $500 or so invested so far. The buy/sell feature is interesting...after 90 days or so after the IPO you can buy and sell your shares.

One thing I've found interesting is people throw money at almost EVERY ipo. I consider it dumb money. Some of the IPOs are way overvalued at launch. Some are fairly valued. Its a fun process IMO. Will be interesting to see where it goes.....

I don't tend to own much, except stocks, that I can't have and touch. And no respectable shark would do a deal for under 10%. To each their own. I think it's interesting just not for me. So for those reasons, I am out. :)

With SEC regulation it, hopefully, has to meet certain financial criteria.
But good luck to the company in their endeavor. It certainly adds another dimension to collecting.


.

I, for one, can't wait for this hyper-financialization of cards to take full hold. I'm talking low-MER, index-based products that track the market perfectly. Think of all the time I'll save: no more searching e-bay, card shows and other obscure corners of the internet...just debit my bank account monthly (gotta dollar-cost average) and send me a quarterly statement.

I finally won't have to worry about my poor tastes and purchases underperforming everyone else in the hobby. ;)

Leon, I think the correct quote is, "I don't get out of bed in the morning for anything less than 10%."

;)

Kim Kardashian gave people a chance to own a piece of her ass by offering two-percent of it to the public. Each share was worth $14 US and I bought five-hundred of them. It was great telling people that a piece of her ass belonged to me. Anyhow, when she started getting fatter, I decided to sell my shares to somebody else and I made $235 US profit! Thanks Collectable! All jokes aside, the idea that someone can own a "share" of a card is something that never appealed to me. I'm hoping the market will return to normal someday and then we can all start buying CARDS again!

How much do you think Baltimore Ruth psa 4 would sell for?