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I just reviewed the sold items list of 1989 Ken Griffey Jr psa 10 cards..
olb31
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there are literally 100 or more 1989 Upper Deck PSA 10 sales in the last three months. I call BS on this. They are selling for $450 plus. You can buy really nice psa 8's of Willie Mays , Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Pete Rose cards for much less than this. Heck a nicely centered 1964 Pete Rose PSA 7 can be had for around $500.
The only three that should have any value (at least based on the pop report) are the 1989 Bowman Tiffany, 1989 Fleer Glossy and the 1989 Donruss Baseball Best Maybe the Classic II since there are only 250 or so. There are 3701 PSA 10 Upper Deck cards. Only 1 Pete Rose card has been graded that many times (1964 - There NO tens, 34 9's and 20 8.5's).
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It is the most iconic card of the collecting boom. Also Griffey is a Hall of Famer where Pete Rose is not.
It's a card EVERYONE wanted and now that people that were kids growing up in that era can afford them, they are buying them. As stated above, THE most iconic card of the era. I would probably put the 84 Donruss Mattingly close behind. The 89 UD Griff in 10 is, in my opinion, overpriced, but the market sets the price and it is for sure bringing it. Never doubt the power of nostalgia.
I agree with this. Never saw Mays or Clemente play, and they didn't get talked about as often as Aaron did as HR king (at least where I lived in SoCal). While I appreciate their accomplishments, I am not really interested in their cards.
Could not disagree with the OP more. Look at the 2011 Update Trout. Sells for twice as much and there are a ton as well. If it is iconic everyone wants it. I have owned about 5 self subbed 9s. Will buy a 10 sometime in the near future.
Scarcity is not the sole determinant of value. The market will take many factors into account when determine what it's willing to pay for a card. There is no "should be worth" from a relative value perspective when it comes to most of this stuff.
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This isn't the first time you've called BS on something just because it wasn't the rarest option. Rarity does not equal value. I've got a bunch of unique items that aren't worth jack. It's supply AND demand.
Arthur
I think that unlike a number of other similar "iconic" cards (for instance the 84 Mattingly, the 86 Jordan, etc.) the potential supply of 89 Griffeys out there that are ungraded is huge. The stories about UD officials handing out boxes of Griffeys and of people involved with the company walking away with cases of them, if true, would supply an enormous amount of potential 10s. I think that the population will only grow, and grow significantly, over the next few years as the price goes up. It will be interesting to see if that dampens the price tag for a 10.
kevin
My valuation and market valuation of this card are worlds apart. With all the shenanigans at Upper Deck with this card and "printing money", I would only buy in at a significantly lower price point. It's become more infamous, than iconic, for me at least.
I liked this card in 1989. I still like it. Not for $450, though. At 3700 10s, I'll wait until this card floats back down to Earth. I'm in no hurry to get it.
Andy
Iconic card, probably has a higher market value than most people think it should. I paid $330 for mine a few years ago. Thought that was high when I bought it.
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It's better than the $2k it was 20 years ago!
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This card has been at the $400-$450 for since I bought mine 2.5 years ago, it has neither risen or dropped significantly in value. I don’t see it going down anytime soon. I am actually surprised it has not gone up more with how things are now in the hobby.
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
An uncut sheet of Griffeys has never surfaced, not even a photo of one. The stories of these being handed out by the box are as fictional as the purple hat Griffeys.
While I'm usually very skeptical about urban legends and things similar to this, and agree there is no smoking gun as far as a photo or physical sheet of nothing but Griffey, this is one of those situations that there is enough circumstantial evidence for me to lean towards it being more likely than not that the legend is fact. I'm not out to rehash everything and try to convince anyone otherwise, though. It's a great card, iconic as they say, and I own plenty of self pulled raw ones, maybe 5 or 6 or 8 copies still, most buried in boxes in the back of the closet, and that's good enough for me. I also have zero intention of acquiring an already graded 89 UD Griffey any time in the foreseeable future.
Arthur,
One of the reason I'm a doubting Thomas on this, goes back to the Jordan "high rise" a couple of years of ago. The rookie was selling for $40,000 up to $75,000 and the 1987 psa 10 was up to over $5,000, supposedly. The Jordan rookie raw is tough to find ( at least the real version). Upper deck Griffey's raw are everywhere. At the Chantilly show this past weekend, 2/3 of the dealers had raw Griffey upper deck rookies for sale. I think you can pick them up for $50 or so. And while Griffey was a fantastic player and very likeable person, that doesn't mean someone is just going to pay whatever just have a PSA 10 upper deck, To each there own, I guess.
I'm with Doug. I think some of the urban legends probably exaggerate it a lot but I do think there's some truth to it. I know they were replacing damaged Griffeys so they must have had a mighty haul somewhere in which to choose from. Here's the thing though: this card seems like it's been a $400 card for as long as I can remember. The pop grows by leaps and bounds and the price point stays the same. This is the type of card that people buy multiple of. Not because they thik it's a great investment but because it's the definition of iconic. I can't say I see too much growth long term but I also have to admit that I can't say I see it dropping in price much either.
As collectors, we take a lot of things for granted. When something is readily available for a long time we tend to believe it will just be that way forever. Then, one day, out of nowhere, the supply drops out of nowhere. The '89 UD wax boces have been readily available for $125-150 for what seems like ages. One day, that ain't gonna be the case.
Arthur
The card was never more than $60 back "when I was growing up". Why would we pay $300 - $500 for it NOW. Not one person I know is willing to pay MORE now than they did in the HEIGHT of the 80's/90's card market, and they sure aren't paying 7x-8x premium for the "Gem Mint" or "Pristine" one that just like the one that says "Mint". Scanning the list at PSA, a large number of 10's have been sold by sellers well-known for shennanigans. Wonder how many of those 10's were once 9's?
I actively collect Kirby Puckett. I have collections of Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, Roberto Clemente, Dwight Gooden, Tom Seaver, Errict Rhett and Evan Longoria.
You collect Michael Jordan and don't think anyone is paying more than 90's height prices? Especially for gems? Have you seen the Jordan 90's insert card market?
I am with you 100%, I would rather have the past stars than the Griffey Rookie for that amount of money. As many have suggested, demand dictates what is purchased and for what price. I feel that the vintage stars in the condition you indicated will hold their value in the future better than the Griffey. I also grew up watching Rose, Aaron, Mays, Reggie, Yaz, etc. excel on the field.
this is the card i bought for $350 two years ago because i had waned one as a kid and could not get it (was $50 ungraded). This card means a lot to a lot of people and i dont think its value will ever significantly fall.
Jordan transcends typical card collecting, and basketball has international appeal that baseball doesn't. Those Jordan insert cards were also not produced in the millions. And again, you mentioned them being graded "gem mint". What do the "9's" sell for? Similar prices as back then.
I actively collect Kirby Puckett. I have collections of Michael Jordan, Emmitt Smith, Roberto Clemente, Dwight Gooden, Tom Seaver, Errict Rhett and Evan Longoria.
You just flopped positions again lol. I won't bother pointing out that your Jordan insert 9 argument doesn't hold water or that you could do the same with rare Griffey inserts that sell for much more than they did at peak 90s. Cool post though.
I just completed a PSA 10 1989 Griffey RC Regular Issue Run - including the tiffany/glossy. I find myself pulling those cards out most often to enjoy. I don't even collect baseball anymore and I will keep my Griffeys.
Check out the book , "Card Sharks: How Upper Deck Turned a Child's Hobby into a High-Stakes, Billion-Dollar Business". Lots great info about a different time in the baseball card business.
In 1989, you could purchase pre-collated 800 count bricks of Upper Deck sets from them. That is, 800 count of card 1, 800 count of card 2, etc. in that order. There were a couple body-builders who were friends with Canseco and McGwire who were big into this in SoCal back in the day. Would appear at shows with just UD and bash-brothers stuff. Lots of characters back then.
An update for everyone. In July, the 1989 Donruss #33 Griffey Jr was selling as high as $450, which I called BS on. Looks like I was right. These cards are falling faster than a boulder dropped off Mt Everest. Now they are selling for around $250. So in just 6 short months they fallen around $200, 40% of their July value. The PSA Pete Rose that I started this thread off with has not fallen. I hope you weren't one of those guys who took the bait.
From what I can see, your OP was about the upper deck Griffey, not the Donruss. And for the record, the UD is now over $500 in PSA 10.
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Yeah, the Donruss never passed $400. Seemed like they had a little run where they were selling consistently in the $350 range but otherwise, as long as you were patient, you could always pick one up for under $300.
Arthur
I want to buy a 1989 donruss baseball best in psa 10 but I am waiting for them to come down to maybe 350 or 300 before I buy one. I just think that 500 is to much. what is the print run on the baseball best are they really that hard to find in a psa 10.
(407) 10's graded so far it looks like.
For some history, I bought mine 2.5 years ago for about $75 and the 10 pop was 359 (11.8% graded were a 10) total graded was 2,994.
Here is the current pop data.. 48 of the last 178 have graded a 10. That is a much higher % than the 11.8% before that.
This set was issued in factory set form and sold by the big mass retailers so there has to be fairly sizable print numbers...
Nic
Guides Authored - Graded Card Scanning Guide PDF | History of the PSA Label PDF
maybe in another year the price for one of these will come down.