1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth in Heritage

[Lorewalker]

Originally Posted by raulus

If I’m reading it right, I think it sold…

Final price: $4.026M with the juice.

That is correct. Someone probably should have let this one marinate a bit longer before offering it back up for sale.

It is odd that we never learned the identity of the buyer of this card in REA. I was stunned to see it show up again as soon as it did.

[Lucas00]

I don't want to harp on this, but if that was my lot I wouldn't want it to say Oct 24th-26th. I understand you should know when what you're bidding on ends but man that is confusing. Heritage has always been so confusing to navigate and tell what's going on for me. Probably because I'm on mobile 99% of the time, and compared to simple sites like lotg, rea etc where i can fly around, it's overwhelming. If I could give them a piece of constructive criticism it would be to streamline their website more for mobile viewers.

[NYYFan63]

I was curious what the card ended at and on the Heritage app it shows the auction ends tonight?




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[oldjudge]

So in Dec 2023 the card sold for $7.2 million or more (if the buyer did not have a reseller certificate taxes could have brought that total to as high as $8 million. Yesterday the card sold for $4 million and the seller probably realized something less. That indicates that the seller probably lost somewhere between $3 million and $4 million. Ouch!
One has to wonder if the REA hammer price was primarily the result of two determined bidders and with one gone the third high bidder was no where's close. I also continue to wonder why HA's estimate was less than what the lot realized in REA. I have always thought that their estimates were on the aggressive side so this one really stood out to me.
Congratulations to the buyer--I think you got a great deal.

[calvindog]

The arc of the income disparity in this country is long, but it bends toward justice. We can all exhale now.

[benjulmag]

The market rendered its opinion about this particular example two years ago, which IMO is not long enough for new potential bidders to enter the market. And, as Jay points out, at this price level the market could be very thin, so the loss of one bidder could have a disproportionate impact on price.

While I have always regarded the BN Ruth as one of the truly great baseball cards extant, I never liked much this particular example. It is tired looking without bold colors and doesn't pop as other examples can. Despite being rarer than the T206 Wagner, it doesn't have the recognition of that card. At the end of the day, taking the "grade" out of it, the price it went for might not be too different than what a poor eye-appeal T206 Wagner would sell for.

Having said all that, congrats to the buyer, as I do think from an investment perspective the upside potential greatly outweighs the downside.

[brunswickreeves]

The true winner is the House (auction house that is). They provide great service no doubt, and earn a lot for it, especially multi-million dollar sales.

[MACollector]

And so ends the long saga of this card’s value being inflated by being fractionalized. Someone clearly sold a sliver of this card and bid up the prices of that sliver to buy it back and make it look like it was worth a lot more than it was. I think only 1% of it was actually sold to the public when it was on that now defunct platform so the value was easy to manipulate.

[Brent G.]

Maybe it goes for $12 million in a PSA 2 slab.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Heritage can bid on its own, right? Perhaps they bought it back for the owner if he didn't want to let it go at that price. Cross it, get an MBA sticker, and try again.

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

...and with one gone the third high bidder was no where's close.

I've tried to explain this concept to people and I usually get puzzled stares.

[mrreality68]

Wow what a blood bath on that card and always amazing how the T206 Wagner never lose on them but only 11 or so of these and this happens
A little surprised considering HA allows reserves and it is used so often.
On a card like this I would think they would protect themselves at least to minimize some down side potential

[gunboat82]

I’m not usually one for conspiracies, but when I see seven-figure cards like this I just assume that the auction house and/or consignor would intervene (whether directly or through an intermediary) to prevent the whale from taking a seven-figure loss. What are the odds that this card actually changes hands at this hammer price?

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

1)One has to wonder if the REA hammer price was primarily the result of two determined bidders and with one gone the third high bidder was no where's close.
2)Congratulations to the buyer--I think you got a great deal.

+1 on both of these.

[Rhotchkiss]

Earlier in thread, right after Jay claimed the card would go for $12.5mm, I called that it would go below the estimate. But man, I did not think it would go for basically half of what it sold for last year. The seller must be apoplectic. Poor dude.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by MACollector

And so ends the long saga of this card’s value being inflated by being fractionalized. Someone clearly sold a sliver of this card and bid up the prices of that sliver to buy it back and make it look like it was worth a lot more than it was. I think only 1% of it was actually sold to the public when it was on that now defunct platform so the value was easy to manipulate.

This

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Earlier in thread, right after Jay claimed the card would go for $12.5mm, I called that it would go below the estimate. But man, I did not think it would go for basically half of what it sold for last year. The seller must be apoplectic. Poor dude.

LOL, I missed by that much

[4815162342]

https://www.cllct.com/sports-collect...-for-4-million

“A collector on Friday took what is believed to be the biggest loss in card collecting history when their Babe Ruth card sold for $3.2 million less than what it was bought for in December 2023.

…

On Friday, 690 days after buying it, the collector sold it for $4.02 million at Heritage — a loss of $4,609 every day they held it.”

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by gunboat82

What are the odds that this card actually changes hands at this hammer price?

Slim and none!!

[calvindog]

If you want to know how or why a card like this sells for what it does, just find out who the consigner is.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards

I've tried to explain this concept to people and I usually get puzzled stares.

Usually this is an argument against selling through an auction process, at least for items with really thin demand, so I’m a little surprised that you would lean into it. But maybe the majority of the items in your auctions don’t fall into this category?