How much would this card cost...

theBobs

5 years ago?

Basilone

Great question...Im sure less..alot less. I would be very intersted to hear from some of the 1954 players or graded set collectors who were buying PSA commons 5 years ago.

John

mikeschmidt

There were probably very very few buying PSA commons outside of the major 1950s and earlier sets. 1952 Topps has been heavy for quite some time -- 1953 Bowman Color didn't truly take off until 3 years ago, 1933 Goudey and 1915 Cracker Jack have been hot for some time -- but some sets that were graded really fueled the appetite for these sets more than anything else. I would imagine that there were probably less than five to ten people actively paying premiums for high-grade commons from the time. Too many opportunities for high-grade raw still existed in 1997 to pay huge premiums for low population commons.

All that being said -- don't you think that card is off/center from top to bottom? Or is it just me?

waitilltheytrytosell

Here is an interesting story from 2000 about the card and set. I wonder if the pop still shows the same cards as being tough. Unless somebody got one who had no clue what the card was worth, I don't think one has ever been sold for less than $2500.00.

http://www.psacard.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=2812&universeid=314&type=1

waitilltheytrytosell

Also, the card did not exist in a PSA 8 holder 5 years ago. The Spring 1999 Pop showed Zero. The Spring 2001 showed 3.

goodriddance189

Please bear with me if I sound like a moron, since I am new to the Registry, but how safe would it be to buy a low pop card like this? I've seen many collectors get burned buying low pop cards, only to have more show up graded at a later date and kill the rarity (and subsequently the price). I've noticed this mainly for 60's cards and early 70's, which might have a lot to do with it. But for low pop cards from the 50's, is what we're seeing now really a true indicator of how scarce a card is?

mikeschmidt

goodriddance:


Will populations increase? Yes. May there be a few more of these cards out there that will ultimately drive its value down? Yes. The population has tripled in less than two years (according to the pop. of 3 quoted by wtttts). However -- the common concensus is that certain sets have "dogs" that will continually be very tough to find. Ben Wade is the dog of the 1954 Topps set, in that respect. The 1954 Topps set has had nearly 30,000 cards graded -- with nearly 90 examples of Mr. Wade. One can expect that this card will continue to be very tough to find -- the balance is whether the toughness of finding the card is equal to people collecting and paying for this set in high grade. There are few individuals who routinely will pay thousands for common PSA 8 cards. As long as there are enough of them to support a price level -- then the card will continue to be worth a lot of money. Once you have a population in excess of the number of those collectors, however, the price levels drop dramatically. A good example of that might be the 1952 Topps Del Crandall PSA 8 card, for instance.