Memorabilia vs Cards and trends...

[Mark]

The only memorabilia that I follow closely is pre-war, pro-model bats. It seems to me that high end bats of the big pre-war players, Ruth, Jackson, Gehrig, Cobb, and Wagner, are commanding very strong prices---well into 6 figures. These are legendary players, and I suspect that people who don't collect bats as a hobby-obsession want to own these bats. I have heard people say that demand for bats of less well-known hall of famers is languishing, but the prices of some these bats has been rising. High grade bats of players like Same Rice have been exceeding estimates. In 2019, Goldin sold a PSA 9 Eddie Collins bat for $36K--surpassing the $28 K that Heritage got for a t206 Eddie Collins PSA 9. Even some non-hall of famers’ bats have done well. 3 years ago, there was a Heinie Zimmerman bat that sold for $3750 and a Wildfire Schulte model that went for $13K. That sounds like healthy demand! Still, a t206 PSA 10 of a common player might sell for $50K. Why don’t pre-war bats sell for more? As others have said, it is probably because there are very few pre-war bats to be had, and so there aren’t many of us trying to have them. It’s hard to build a hobby community when only a handful of people can build collections.

I am wondering about post-war, modern bat collecting. It was my impression that values have been going up, but not exponentially. Is the market for Arron and Mays bats flat? Or is it just that they haven’t been going through the roof in the manner of baseball cards?

I think that cards have an allure because nearly every boy collected them, they come in sets that can, in principle, be readily completed, and because it’s easy to get started collecting them because they are plentiful. Almost anyone can get a 1968 Topps Aaron. If you have some money, you can pursue better and better versions and rarer cards. But with bats, I would guess that there are only a few dozen Aaron or Mays bats to be had, and it’s not cheap or easy to begin collecting those bats.

[hcv123]

Some of these points have already been mentioned

1) Basic supply and demand and I would sadly have to argue that there are is a lot greater demand for the "hot" rookie cards of the games greats than let's say a game used bat form any of them - in part that begs the question why? Onto #2


2) The 3rd party grading companies (love them or hate them) and the ease of finding up to date pricing (think Ebay history, PSA database, VCP, etc) in addition to the fact that there are ongoing regular sales of most of these cards make it easy for less experienced collectors to enter this market. That I'm aware of there is no "one stop" source for a history of memorabilia sales? Bottom line information is alot easier to find for cards than for memorabilia creating a much easier entry into the market.


3) A lot of collectors I would argue are drawn in some way because they were exposed to baseball cards in some way as a kid so they come back looking to build on a piece of their childhood.

That's all I've got for now.

[Snapolit1]

Memorabilia is undervalued as compared to cards, and I see the prices as largely flat the last 2-3 years. Last night I was watching Heritage for the Gehrig Luckiest Man ticket stub that was on the block. I've seen a few of these the past few years and then all went around 30k, which is what last nights did. There are 7 or 8 of them graded. (Maybe another 7 or 8 ungraded?) From one of the most historic sporting events in American history. Yet some Jeter or Trout mass produced card will sell 4x that. Is very odd to me. Yet, there is nothing intrinsically cool about a ticket stub. In fact it's pretty damm boring. So I get that part of it. I don't collect bats, balls and gloves but to my mind there are literally thousands of them for sale every month. Some truly amazing pieces but many pretty pedestrian.

Fact that certain pieces of memorabilia are scarce or one of a kind likely ends up cutting against them at the end of day for creating a vibrant market.

[TaxMechanick]

I agree with Butch7999 on this one! It depends on what area of sports memorabilia.

On the memorabilia side, I collect mostly 19th century and turn-century say pre-1912 display memorabilia (baseball, boxing, other sports, and even Political Campaign and Americana), more focused on what would be referred to as "smalls" (or relatively smalls).

I have picked up numerous pieces of extreme or otherwise rare and interesting items in recent years at relatively flat prices or even 50% of or less, to say 75% or so of what items were selling for say 10-12+ years ago. The reason, there are just less collectors that care about this kind of material. As others have said, or perhaps inferred, more folks are focused on cards, and it is more about the commodity and perceived investment, rather then a love of the history of the game or sport or history.

Also as many have said over and over again, you should buy and enjoy what you like, which is what I do. Although, I certainly do understand the heard mentality more typical to collecting cards, that it feels good in seeing consensus approval (pat on the back), and perhaps monetary consistency and even appreciation. There is a certain non-comfort to knowing what you have has none or little by way of comps to suggest any kind of firm values. The flip side of that is that there is a comfort in at least you believing that what you are purchasing is at good value, and furthermore believing that if it is of that value to you, it must be of similar or more value to someone else, at least at some point.

I do agree, the passing of time may bring more collectors and resulting appreciation in popularity and love for the artifact and recognizing its value... or perhaps not, as appreciation may continue to be relegated to a small pocket of collectors. Either way, enjoy what you have, and in your search of it.

Of additional note, as I have said above, many of the items I have are extremely or otherwise rare, and perhaps one-of-a-kind items in some instances. Accordingly, who is to adequately say what value it is, as it changes hands so infrequently, or not at all for a long period of time. When I purchase it, it is worth it to me what I pay for it. To someone else... who knows what it is worth, at any given time? I could go on and on, but I'll stop here.

Other areas of memorabilia have a more defined history of comp values, which can be tracked over time... i.e. autographed items, game used items either coupled with or not coupled with autograph, tickets & stubs, etc.

Thanks for listening, and all please stay safe and well.

Glenn Mechanick

[1880nonsports]

A post!!! You must be working in the house :-)

[TaxMechanick]

Yes indeed Henry; I have been working from home since mid March, and going strong!

Best as Always,
Glenn

[GaryPassamonte]

Hi Glenn. It's been awhile.
I think in many instances, an item's extreme rarity crushes its demand. Some things are virtually not obtainable and because of this they become less desirable. Kind of distorted economics for a nonessential commodity.

[TaxMechanick]

Hey Gary,

It is great hearing from you! It looks like I will not be seeing you in AC, unless, perhaps (postponed from July/August to) December show pans out.

Yup, I certainly agree. Even on the card front, sometimes I hear (i.e. Leon has said to me) that "it is too rare for its own good"!... the story of my life!

Best,
Glenn