Babe Ruth Back to Earth?

[Cmvorce]

Did you guys see that earlier today a PSA 1 1933 Goudey Ruth #144 closed at $4851 (and a PSA 1 #181 closed at $5150) on eBay.

Less than a month ago a PSA 1 #141 closed at $7325 and I didn’t see any SGC or PSA 1 Ruth’s close for less than $6500 in that timeframe on eBay.

I know it’s just two sales but maybe the Ruths are starting to come back to earth? $5000 for a PSA 1 sounds like a bargain after all this.

[tkd]

The PSA 1 #144 that sold for $7325 did have nice eye appeal in my opinion. It seems Goudey Ruth's with great eye appeal that are centered keep breaking records every time lately. Some of the lesser appealing for the grade bounce around in price and sometimes go a bit lower than expected. Too early for me to think Ruth prices are dropping. Although they most likely will slow down or come down at some point. My experience with Ruth cards is they usually are among the first to go up and last to go down.

[chadeast]

Originally Posted by tkd

The PSA 1 #144 that sold for $7325 did have nice eye appeal in my opinion. It seems Goudey Ruth's with great eye appeal that are centered keep breaking records every time lately. Some of the lesser appealing for the grade bounce around in price and sometimes go a bit lower than expected. Too early for me to think Ruth prices are dropping. Although they most likely will slow down or come down at some point. My experience with Ruth cards is they usually are among the first to go up and last to go down.

Agreed. As someone who's been bidding on and not winning #144's for the past 4 months, I can say that it's all about eye appeal with this card. The grade on the holder is just a starting point in determining the price. Centering, color, image sharpness, corners, all of those things that equal eye appeal are king. I think prices may be leveling off (I hope!) but I haven't seen a noticeable decline.

EDIT: and of course prices for 1's are going to be all over the place, as 1's tend to be. Some are disasters, and some look great!

[itjclarke]

Also seems the "Babe Ruths" of some other sports are cooling off. Those 1986 Fleer Jordan PSA 10 are on their way down from their peak, with a couple sub $500K sales, after having approached $1M earlier this year. Also been watching some of the Pele rookies, and seems the most recent week's sales were soft compared to prior weeks'/months'.

Small sampling, but it's gotta slow down at some point. Or at least some things have to slow down.

[pokerplyr80]

Just had to look those two 1s up out of curiosity. Both were pretty rough, even for the grade of 1. Look at the last two really nice red 4s that sold. Premium eye appeal is driving the highest sales for specific grades. Just like that psa 3 52 Mantle.

A few Ruths end tomorrow which should give a decent idea of where the market is at. That psa 2 144 that looks like a 7 will break some records for sure.