Hobby Myths Most Accept as True

[FUBAR]

Not really a card, but how about Babe Ruth's "called shot" recently immortalized in Mcfarlane figurines....

[onlychild]

From the alteration side:


Cards are micro-trimmed with lasers.
Cards can be stretched.
Cards are rebacked (they are typically refronted or spliced together)

[matty39]

that Ferguson Bakery BF2s were distributed by Ferguson Bakery. The large "prize pennants" were given away as premiums by Ferguson, but there is no proof that the smaller pennants were from Ferguson.

[Browncow75]

Myth - you have to spend tens of thousands of $ to have a respectable collection in the vintage community. Maybe just my opinion, but I dont think you do!

[asoriano]

Colgan's "Proofs"

[bcornell]

Originally Posted by FUBAR

Not really a card, but how about Babe Ruth's "called shot" recently immortalized in Mcfarlane figurines....

There was recently a New Yorker article profiling retiring Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens. How old is Stevens? Old enough that he was in attendance at that Cubs-Yankees WS game in 1932. He said he saw Ruth gesture to the outfield, but then misremembered where the ball was hit. Oops.

Here's the article online: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...fa_fact_toobin.


Bill

[mintacular]

Myth: Cards are worth Beckett book $'s...

[bcornell]

Originally Posted by mintacular

Myth: Cards are worth Beckett book $'s...

That's an easy one... any time someone quotes you 'book price', tell them "then go buy it from Beckett or SCD". I learned that line from SB1...


Bill

[batsballsbases]

Myth: Coaches Corner has the fairest prices on Mother Theresa Autographs No Really.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by bcornell

That's an easy one... any time someone quotes you 'book price', tell them "then go buy it from Beckett or SCD". I learned that line from SB1...


Bill

Bill, this is not directed at you (I don't know you), but that line has been for years my surefire dickhead detector.

If I reasonably try to talk to a seller about a card, and I put forward some indication of what similar cards have sold for elsewhere in recent times, I expect to be treated with some respect and I expect a dialogue. All too often, I get this dickhead response inviting me to go buy it from someone else...and I gladly oblige every time. Not only on that item, but on every item in the future (ie. I never do any business with anyone who feeds me that stupid line).

Now, if someone wanted to have a discussion about how they felt certain price guides were not accurate, but they had some more accurate info on recent sales, I'd be very happy to discuss that. It is the dismissiveness of saying "go buy it from X" to a prospective customer that is utterly idiotic from a person who is actually trying to sell something.

Cheers,
Blair

[bcornell]

No offense taken, Blair. I thought that snarky line was one possible reply to being quoted book prices, which are often wildly wrong. However, those prices are sometimes a starting point in a face-to-face negotiation between a buyer & seller at the National.


Bill

[Rich Klein]

Was also a favorite of mine back in the 1980's when the mid-60's tough hi numbers were priced way too low.

This would be the typical conversation:

Collector: How much do you want for the 1967 Shaw/Sutherland Card

Me: $20 (or whatever seemingly insane price I wanted)

Collector: But Beckett says it's only $7

Me: Here is the phone # to the Dallas Office, buy it from them

Collector: But the book says this.

Me: How long have you been looking for that card to finish your set

Collector: 3 years

Me: Don't you think there is a reason you have not been able to find that card then at that price

Collector: Yeah; but I still want it only for $7

Repeat conversation about 10x a show

Rich

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by bcornell

No offense taken, Blair. I thought that snarky line was one possible reply to being quoted book prices, which are often wildly wrong. However, those prices are sometimes a starting point in a face-to-face negotiation between a buyer & seller at the National.


Bill

As far as buying at shows, I have always taken the position that I decide what I want to pay. If a seller wants to bargain, that's fine, but I've always understood that it's my ultimate power to say "no, thanks" and walk to the next table.

As for the sellers who rely too much on "book" values, I've always gotten a kick out of sellers who:

#1. Don't put prices on their cards
#2. Can't tell you what the price is without consulting the Great Oracle of Beckett
#3. Pay little attention to the condition when they assign a price.

One show I attended in a local mall a few years back had one of these moments. I saw a beat-up '51 Bowman high number. It was a common but the paper had darkened, the corners were missing and several creases were evident even inside the top loader. Asking what he wanted for it, the seller took out his Beckett, looked at the listings for a minute and said, "twenty."

I thanked him for his time, but then he started saying, "But look right here!" (pointing at the guide) "This here is a $30 card!" So I took the guide, opened it to the section that explained condition...showed him that a card that rated Fair/Poor should only command about 15-25% of the value at most...but he wasn't quite so eager to follow The Book at that point.

But...I know that goes both ways. Most of the 54 guys who also sell are sure to have plenty of stories where somebody brought in a childhood collection that had been thoroughly thrashed and had calculated the Hi Beckett value of every single card before walking into the store to sell them.

[benchod]

Myths I remember from the 1970's and '80s were the supposed scarcity of the 1967 Topps Brooks Robinson and 1970 Topps Bench

[bbcard1]

Kids have been priced out of the card market. It just failed to hold the interest of kids...many kids have more disposable income than many adults. The internet and PS and cel phones did more to take them out of the market...even in the 1980s, they didn't really want cheap cards once you got past the insanity where you could almost not open a pack and immediately sell the cards for at least a modest profit.