Opinions on Mastro's 1965 graded set auction

Basilone

What do you guys think of the results of the 1965 graded set in recent Mastro auction. The set sold for $24,031 (w/ buyers prem.) with a stated SMR of at least $27k. So the high bidder paid approx 90% of SMR of the set.

For those just tuning in....Wayne originally sold his set to Mastro for 100% of SMR. Mastro upgraded his personal set with the 8's, 9's and the rare 10's. He then sold the set with his old cards (and maybe some others).

Mastro should be happy that he is selling the set so he doesnt have to worry about commission. If it were me as a private collector selling the set, I would be disappointed. The high bid was $20,897 so after the 10% commission to Mastro....the seller would of only pocketed $18,808 which would of been 69.66% of the modest $27k SMR....which is horrible (in my opinion)

Also..a question for Wayne...do you know if Mastro took the POP 1 Checklist error that you had in your original set or did he not know you had it and included it the set that he auctioned off?

What do you guys think?

John

Wayne8348

When I sold the set it went for $28,700. Mastronet pulled between $4000 to $5000 worth of cards (assuming about $400 apiece for the psa 10's) out of the set to upgrade his set. I'm sure he would have liked more but I would think that he broke even verses buying the cards individually and saved a whole lot of time in doing so. And that's even assuming that you can find those low pop's anywhere at all. I think this auction pretty well shows that the sales price I had with Mastro was fair both ways. Whenever you pull the low pop's out of the set you can't expect it to bring the same ratio of smr as a set with the low pop's.

John, I don't believe I ever talked to Louis about the 1/1 checklist error card. I hope he switched it out. It was just a fluke that I got it. I just bought it off ebay not realizing that it was the error card - dumb luck huh?

I think that what we are seeing is that there is a market for complete vintage sets for 90% to 110% of smr. Some of the newer sets may not bring quite as much but there is a demand amongst collectors to buy complete graded vintage sets. I think that Davalillo was right when he said that anyone considering selling a set should post it here first. You never know - you may get lucky and sell it. Worst case is it gives everyone something to argue about.

One more thing - the 1970 kellogg's crowd makes the 65 topps crowd seem like a utopian society. No offense intended to anyone, but that was one heck of a great group of people. It really made collecting fun. I've started a 67 topps set now - is it time for a 67 club?

wayne

zardoz51

Historically, every attempt at a Utopian Society has failed miserably.

Signed

An Anonymous Kellogg's Type Person

qualitycards

There are many '65 PSA collectors (I am one!) but few who would consider purchasing the entire 598 card set already slabbed and ready to go. So do to this, card prices are typically lower for the entire set then if sold in lots or individually.
As John pointed out the set sold w/ buyers premium for $24,000.00. Few can afford to bid in this type of marketplace, and some of the heavy hitters in the '65 world, will not bid since their set is in a degree of completion.
There is no doubt, that if these cards were offered individually, the total would surely exceed the $24,000.00 - I myself would bid on the 100 cards I need, plus many 9's to upgrade, while the complete set had no interest with me. Zeder has proved this while liquadating his set 1 by 1.
I also think Wayne did very well (as we talked on the phone prior to his sale to Mastro) and it was a Win-Win-Win situation. Wayne rec'd a fair price, the money quickly and avoided running 598 seperate auctions, Mr. Mastro got to upgrade his set to an unatainable level and the auction buyer got a great complete set and a % of smr....jay

toppsgun

He would have done much better had he broken it up. Joel's '67 set on Superior is evidence (perhaps limited) of that statement. I think Wayne's direct sale to Maestro was tainted by the latter's obsession to seek the highest grade possible for his #1 set. It is a practice of mine (albeit on a much smaller scale) to buy a collection or set, merge it with an existing collection or set, skim off the top quality stuff and sell the lower quality stuff. I've done that several times to sets from 1959-1968. I've basically upgraded my sets for free or very close to it before I became immersed in the grading game. But such a strategy should work fairly well in the graded arena, too.

If I calculated the numbers correctly and analyzed Wayne's comments, Maestro upgraded his set for $4,669. If he only pulled "$4,000 to $5,000 worth of cards" maybe he didn't do all that well.

I don't know what to make of the 1962 set (96%) complete that sold for something like 125% of SMR (Superior auction). That just boggles my mind. The demand for that set is low to begin with and some of the cards don't yet exist in high graded form. I consider that an extreme overpayment, but then, I'm not the proud owner.

I guess it just proves how illiquid and volatile a market such as vintage baseball cards can be. If an insane buyer or a distressed seller ever surface, the prices realized can vary greatly, one way or the other.