1971 Topps Super Clemente PSA 10

[raulus]

Originally Posted by hcv123

Easy answer - I didn't place a single bid on it. I do the registry - my way.

Thanks for sharing, Howard. Always interesting to learn more about how different collectors approach their collection.

I share your bemusement with PSA's system for building out the player master set checklists. And as you noted, it's particularly confounding how a single larger item can turn into as many as a half dozen different items depending on how it gets sliced and diced. PSA does have published guidelines, but then seem to take disparate approaches when it comes to variations and their willingness to make things optional or not. And then when those disparate approaches vary from player set to player set, it drives us all a little more batty. Luckily, I have had some success with getting them to add or delete pieces, but it tends to be hit or miss for sure.

Unfortunately, when it comes to my own Mays set registry, I lack the imagination, not to mention the deep understanding of some of the nontraditional items necessary to really attempt to do the set registry in any special fashion. So I'm resigned to basically spending vast sums in a neverending chase to find the highest graded items that money can buy. Although truth be told, the price on this Clemente item would be more than I would be willing to pay for a similarly situated Mays item. So even some of us set registry lemmings like myself have some limits, although obviously not so much in this case - assuming it was one of my fellow set registry collectors who picked it up.

Maybe someday I'll get to the point where I'm more nuanced in my approach, but for now at least, about the best I can do is be constantly on the lookout for unique pieces that I haven't seen before, and rely on others like you who are able to help me to discover those rare and wonderous pieces.

[Empty77]

I can acknowledge I bowed out well before it reached new car prices (any new car, not just the nice ones... actually, even most half-decent used cars for that matter). Other gem pop 1s in the past half decade have generally sold at 1/20th to 1/40th that price, and for issues much scarcer in real terms, as others have noted. Including several others since that one. So I agree this one outlier is really hard to fathom.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Empty77

I can acknowledge I bowed out well before it reached new car prices (any new car, not just the nice ones... actually, even most half-decent used cars for that matter). Other gem pop 1s in the past half decade have generally sold at 1/20th to 1/40th that price, and for issues much scarcer in real terms, as others have noted. Including several others since that one. So I agree this one outlier is really hard to fathom.

Pop 1 Clemente's or Pop 1 of mediocre players?

[Empty77]

Clementes. Some stamp subsets, team photocard-type stuff, exhibits. Stuff like that that are a bit even odder-baller than the Supers. There aren't an overwhelming number of examples obviously since there aren't that many issues in the list that are exactly pop 1 10s as opposed to pop 2, or alternatively pop 1 9s (w/ no 10s). But in May MLI itself sold the gem pop 1 '64 baz stamp for $3k. Maybe not as sexy or interesting as a big Super card, but it's a pretty wide range between two secondary issues that aren't otherwise that difficult to achieve. But I don't have near the experience as others on this forum to know that part for sure.

Maybe weirder than the Super sale is the MLI May sales also of a '58 ylw Clemente for $113k and wht for $90k, both just 9s, for which there are about 2 dozen copies total and have had fairly stable value of I think $8k-20k for a long while. Maybe those were particular pretty copies? IDK. Many of the '58 9s seem a little ugly for the grade.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Empty77

Maybe weirder than the Super sale is the MLI May sales also of a '58 ylw Clemente for $113k and wht for $90k, both just 9s, for which there are about 2 dozen copies total and have had fairly stable value of I think $8k-20k for a long while. Maybe those were particular pretty copies? IDK. Many of the '58 9s seem a little ugly for the grade.

I agree that the Clemente 1958Ts in PSA 9 from Memory Lane's May auction seem to be particularly strong prices given the pop counts for those items being at or near double digits each. I'm not sure that they would count as particularly pretty versions, especially the yellow team letters copy. Add to it that they both appear to be early graded examples, which is usually code for generously graded, which is further code for over-graded.

At the same time, when you're talking about basically the highest graded level for mainline cards (ignoring the 2 copies at PSA 10 out there), even for 4th year cards, between Q2 of 2021 and Q2 of 2022 it seems like the sky is the limit. While the frenzy has abated a little bit since then, I bet that these items would still be very strong if they came back onto the market tomorrow. There's certainly no indication that they're going to come right back up for sale again, but if they did I wouldn't be surprised if they both reached $75K+, and they might even challenge $100K+ again.