Ridiculous

[barrysloate]

Ego is absolutely part of the equation. Maybe the winning bidder believes this is the best Clemente rookie known. Maybe if he was told it was the fourth best he wouldn't even have placed a bid. Who knows. But one thing I believe is he really does think the card is worth that much money. I don't think just because people have a lot of money they are willing to make stupid purchases. Bill Gates can afford to pay $1000 for a hamburger but he never will because he knows no burger is worth that. So I bet the winning bidder will not only tell you he got a good deal but that it was undervalued. And maybe next time around someone will pay him 600K and he'll turn out to be right.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Ego is absolutely part of the equation. Maybe the winning bidder believes this is the best Clemente rookie known. Maybe if he was told it was the fourth best he wouldn't even have placed a bid. Who knows. But one thing I believe is he really does think the card is worth that much money. I don't think just because people have a lot of money they are willing to make stupid purchases. Bill Gates can afford to pay $1000 for a hamburger but he never will because he knows no burger is worth that. So I bet the winning bidder will not only tell you he got a good deal but that it was undervalued. And maybe next time around someone will pay him 600K and he'll turn out to be right.

The winning bidder for the Clemente posted his thoughts on the PSA board here: Link

Basically, copying his post, this is what he said:

"I also agree that in many cases a sweet 9 is just as appealing as a 10, visually very hard to see the difference...I would have bought a Clemente RC in a 9 if I ever had the chance at a nice one, but the only one I remember seeing for sale in the past 10 yrs had an iffy corner, so I had to make a decision...I typically wont replace 9s with 10s, for example I have a 54 Aaron 9 that actually belonged to Dmitri which he sold bc he was pissed it didnt get it a 10, it is a great looking card and every bit as nice to me as the 2 10s Ive seen. This was more a special situation of actually needing the card, not bumping up from a 9 to a 10. Though I admit on the Brock I have 2 9s and decided to buy the 10 and trade or sell the 9s to fill in other gaps in my collection."

[barrysloate]

Thanks Gary for the link, although I'm not sure I fully understand why he simply didn't wait for a reasonably nice 9 to come along, since it would have been acceptable to him and cost about 1/20th of the amount he paid for the 10.

Interesting what he said about Dmitiri Young being pissed because one of his 9's didn't get bumped to a 10. I can only imagine what was going on behind the scenes between Young and the graders with respect to his collection.

[Abravefan11]

Barry your post raises a couple of good questions I think.

Originally Posted by barrysloate

...although I'm not sure I fully understand why he simply didn't wait for a reasonably nice 9 to come along, since it would have been acceptable to him and cost about 1/20th of the amount he paid for the 10.

The buyer stated that he had been looking for a reasonable 9 for 10 years and passed on the only 9 he had seen because he felt the grade was suspect. Isn't that a good example of a high grade collector buying the card and not the holder? Isn't that the exact opposite of how many people claim high grade or registry collectors approach their purchases?

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Interesting what he said about Dmitiri Young being pissed because one of his 9's didn't get bumped to a 10. I can only imagine what was going on behind the scenes between Young and the graders with respect to his collection.

Supposing the story of Young being angry is true, doesn't that show the TPG company standing behind their grade in the face of great pressure from a wealthy force in the hobby? That's counter to what many people claim is often the case as well.

[drc]

I couldn't afford the shipping insurance on the Clemente, much less the card.