Thoughts on state of memorabilia market?
 

Wonder what people's experience has been so far this year in selling/buying memorabilia. I don't purchase memorabilia for flipping or investment purposes, but the price action this year on stuff has left my head spinning. One minute something is a $10,000 item; next minute it's $2,000. Clearly the investing "asset" vault crowd is much more into cards. Is this the time to get a nice deal on that piece you've been watching for a few years?

Sure, if the price is right. Hasn't that always been the case?

To me it seems that just like anything else quality items are going higher than ever. If I want it it’s going to go even higher. Bats, jerseys, advertising items, pins and photos seem to be doing just fine.

My areas of focus are somewhat particular:

- Integration - Jackie items have largely gone up, though not evenly. Cards (which I don't collect) seem to have blown up. Some pre-rookie items (especially UCLA tickets) have gone up dramatically, some have gone up nicely, but not dramatically (signed yearbooks) and some (UCLA programs) have seemingly not moved at all. It has been hard to find much in the way of rare items for other players from then, but the 1946 Puerto Rico contract for Larry Doby I bought sold for 4x what it sold for a number of years back

- Lineup cards - It seems like MLB selling lineup cards has brought a bit more attention to the niche, but it is definitely extremely niche, and the range of sale prices is enormous and random, based on who happens to come across it and find it interesting. The uniqueness of the items makes it different to really offer an firm market vaue.

- WWII baseball - There has definitely been some degree of uptick on these, but it is also quite niche, and so some items definitely slip through the cracks.

- Negro Leagues - It seems like almost nothing good is coming available outside of the items listed at Hakes (I believe still from the Merkin collection, though that may have wrapped up by now.)


For the most part, the limited market for the kinds of items I collect means that they aren't nearly as impacted by the changes in the market, since new collectors or investors are not targeting super-niche areas that require a more extensive knowledge of the history to really appreciate. (The exception is some of the Jackie items I have, but even there, cards have gone up far, far more than say, a 1946 Montreal Royals team signed baseball).

Memorabilia prices are all over the board. Some things seem to be going under the radar and others are a bloodbath at auction. There seems to be little rhyme or reason, and very random prices realized.

The Ad Signs in the recent SCP are no exception. A few steals and some high prices. It's impossible to compare Memorabilia to Cards, simply because the best memorabilia can be "once a decade" finds or even one of a kind pieces.

Cards on the other hand, no matter how desirable (52 Mantle, T206 Wagner, Goudey Ruth) are always sure to turn up again and again down the road.

$6900 for a PF Flyers sign is nuts but nice if you own one or two

What is a PF Flyers sign?

PF FLyer
 

My PF Flyer ad

This illustrates the randomness of prices realized, as mentioned earlier…

This one went crazy…

https://catalog.scpauctions.com/RARE...-LOT51790.aspx

This die-cut sold for well under market price…

https://catalog.scpauctions.com/C__1...-LOT51788.aspx

And this one went for just about the expected price…

https://catalog.scpauctions.com/1950...-LOT51786.aspx

I had no idea what those signs were thank you for posting examples.

My guess is it's all got to do with Mantle once again.

Mantle-mania strikes again!

He'd be 91 had he taken care of himself. Damn boozehound!

all great

The Jackie memorabilia has definitely blown up. This blotter

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...io%20etc_1.jpg

has gone up 20X since the movie 42 was released. I think it is a fallout of the rise in card prices. People want vintage Jackie stuff and they can't afford more and more of the cards, so they go for card-adjacent material. It is scattershot, though. I got this booklet-sized magazine for under $30 delivered:

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20Robinson.jpg

Ruth stuff is strong.

Good snapshots are strong.

Press photos are all over the place.

Team-issued photos of the top postwar stars have risen considerably but are still pretty good values. I was shocked at the two team-issued publicity photos of Jim Brown that sold in SCP last weekend. $2,510 for the 1958 and 1963 base shots that were used to make the team issues that year. Wilt Chamberlain is now a $250-$500 photo, yet I got a 1970 Alcindor for under $50.

https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...20Alcindor.jpg

Thoughts on state of memorabilia market?


Greg: I'd say strong...to quite strong.

Kevin: You gotta strike while the iron's hot. Now's the time.


-Meet the Parents

:p;)

I would agree that all PF Flyer signs are created equal. The addtion of Mantle on the ad has a strong impact and Bob's die cut with Mays is all the more rare in nice condition. The Mays image is easily damaged. And some of the ads just turn up more often.

Memorabilia
 

I have discussed this with several people in the past and what it comes down to is that memorabilia has a much smaller collector base. Because of the smaller collector base, prices fluctuate more drastically. For example, if an item sells for $10,000 in one auction, it may sell for only $2000 in a different auction because of the thinner collector base.

Also,condition in memorabilia is everything and it’s very subjective. You don’t have a grading company to commoditize memorabilia. Just my two cents.

The trick is to make those auction house reps drool :D

Sure, but they have all those auctions to fill so they drool a lot, or pretend to. Based on their databases and experience, they can predict a range for most upper end pieces, i.e. HOF awards and GU equipment, etc., but for many others they are guessing along with us. As a memorabilia dealer for many years, only lots of buying and selling and paying attention to the market gives you some feel for what might be truly special and what is not. When you do shoot the moon successfully, it's a great feeling, making up for all the times you're wrong. And of course, when a unique item does jumps off the table immediately, especially to another dealer, the tendency is to second-guess yourself for letting it go so low. Unlike cards or autographs, the 800 pound gorillas in the hobby that are pretty fungible and somewhat predictable, memorabilia is a tricky business.

+1 all the way, Bob. Memorabilia is such a crapshoot from both ends, one of the things that makes it so much more interesting, IMO. I would say, though, that in general, memorabilia has shared much of the recent appreciation (in both senses of the word) of cards.

That is awesome!

100% agree on your two points. First when selling any piece of Memorabilia getting not just as many eyes on it as possible but the right eyes on it is key. And second condition is extremly important. For most Memorabilia collectors including myself displaying items to share with Family and friends is part of the fun of collecting these items. I have a couple very rare items that although I enjoy I do not display due to condition issues. And because of that do not get as much enjoyment out of them. I have included an example.

I call it the "cringe test." If you look at something and the first thing that draws your attention is the flaw or flaws instead of the positive factors, I'll pass no matter how cool otherwise. Different with cards, where if you need to fill a hole, condition doesn't matter as much.

Very true for me as well. Condition is (almost) everything.