What creates this price difference?

[hcv123]

The last 8 sale was a well centered "new grade" and sold for $5564. The REA example that did $5k is close, but not as nice - so no surprise at $5K there.

The 2 sales prior to that were older grades and O/C similar to the $3K example at REA. Those 2 sold for $3960 and $3840 respectively. This leads me to believe that the one that sold for $3K sold considerably under market.

Why.....as mentioned earlier in the thread the market is very inefficient. There is no shortage of 1957 Frank Robinson rookies (high supply), where exceptional examples (think well centered high grade) have a better chance of seeing enough competition to maintain price levels, anything less just will not always see the demand. When cards like that are sold in an auction setting (to the highest bidder), they will certainly not be setting records, in fact with a card like that, the consignor could likely have gotten more selling to a reputable dealer in person.

imho, it is the low supply, high demand cards that do best at auction. "Average" high supply cards usually do not.