The Price of Vintage Baseball Books

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Posted By: Glenn

Barry,

I suppose there is no easy, quick explanation. It's an attempt to hit the home run, make the quick, big profit. Though I hate to use Ebay as a reference, you see it there every day. Sellers put up items for outrageous prices (maybe not 7-10x) and, occassionally, someone comes along and pays the price. Why? I don't know. I guess because they can.

You know there are people with money who simply spend it because they can. There are buyers out there who can drop a few thousand without blinking an eye and will buy something that catches the eye. When you react to such an ad as to which you refer, you are reacting from the perspective of a dealer/collector, someone who knows the hobby and knows sports books and publications. There are people out there who buy without that perspective; but they do have the money.

I know that doesn't address your specific question and I certainly don't have an answer. As you well know, there are people who move in and out of the market (not the hobby) and spend oodles of money and drive up prices on select items, then, seemingly disappear. Speaking of books, the Sol White History is a good example. Jerry sold a copy several years ago for about 24K. A few years later, the exact same copy sold in auction for less than 40% of the previous price. And, it did not sell to the previous underbidder. My point is that there were two people who were willing to pay a very, very high price for an item at that time and in that rather small auction. So, yes, there are people out there who will pay extremely high prices at any given time.

REA has a 1860 Base Ball Player's Pocket Companion in auction. It will be interesting to watch. Previously, he sold the 1859 for $12K and 1861 for $10K. Mastro sold the 1859 for $22K. This one was on ebay for $8500 and did not sell. The seller tried Make An Offer and turned down $5K, asking $6500. Fair price, I thought. I will be watching this one.