Card that has appreciated the most in value in last 20 years?

[barrysloate]

Thanks Kevin. I stand corrected.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Baseball Rarities

Hi Barry,

I have always been aware of the card since my involvement in the hobby (late 1970's), but the first example that I remember being sold was the one in the Copeland sale in 1991. The card was described as being in Excellent condition, but I think that it had a small amount of writing on the back. It sold for $18,700 at the time.

For comparison, in the same auction a complete 200 card set of M101-4 Sporting News cards in Near Mint sold for $9,900. A complete set of M101-5s Near Mint to Mint or better sold for $13,200. A 1916 D329 Weil Baking of Ruth in Near Mint sold for $3,850.

Here are some other results for cards that I consider some of the hobby's "elite" cards from the same era: a T206 Plank described as being in NM/MT for $26,400, an E107 Delhanty in EX/MT for $1,650, a E224 Texas Tommy of Joe Jackson in EX for $4,400, E270 Colgan's Tin Top Jackson in EX for $4,400, a T206 Cobb (bat off) with Uzit back in NM/MT for $6,050.

And lastly, since we were discussing 19th century cards in another thread, an N172 Anson in uniform in "almost NM" condition sold for $28,600 and a group of 8 N167 Old Judge cards including 5 HOFers in EX to NM sold for $26,400.

So at least as a reference point dating back 18 years ago, I think that it can certainly be said that the Baltimore News of Ruth was definitely considered to be part of the "upper-tier of premier cards in the hobby" (as Jim described it).

So if the Baltimore News Ruth sold for 18.7k, then it's not even in the top 500 cards that have appreciated most, as a percentage, over the last 20 years. It's still probably the #1 20th century card I would like to own but for this question's sake, it's not in the running for the card that has increased in value the most. It's probably something less than 20x more valuable today than it was then.

[Baseball Rarities]

Leon,

Agreed.

The E107 of Delahanty in EX/MT would be a good example of a card that has gone up a ton. The EX/MT sold in Copeland for $1,650. The most recent sale that I know of is a poor example in an SGC 10 for nearly $75,000 a couple of years ago.

[barrysloate]

In terms of multipliers, the Ruth is not number 1. But if you bought the Copeland example for $18,700, you would be a few hundred thousand dollars ahead. So that's not bad.