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My, oh my... Glad I'm not building a '61 set.

I'm kinda into the multi-player cards -- even the ones with guys who are not household names -- so I was watching this auction and thinking I could grab it in the $20-40 range at the end. WRONG.

If you're like me, you're reaching for the SMR and pop report right about now to look it up so I'll save you the trouble. $25 in 8 with a pop of 12, $125^ in 9 with a pop of 0, and 47 total graded (25 7's).

Link to the eBay auction

-jim

Comments

  • Wow !!! WHY ?
    Kellogg's Krazy
    1974 Topps
  • acowaacowa Posts: 945 ✭✭
    There are several cards that are extremely difficult to find in PSA 8 grade in that set. This wasn't one that popped out at me but there are many deep pocketed 1961 collectors that routinely pay $500+ for tough PSA 8's. It takes two to drive the price this high. I am glad Joe Tauriello of set builders was able to cash in.


    Regards,


    Alan
  • acowaacowa Posts: 945 ✭✭
    I examined the bids and you had 3 people at/over mid $300's. It looks like John Linnens won it and Tom Harbin came in a not so close third. Both of those guys visit the boards and/or are on the registry.

    Regards,


    Alan
  • Ouch!! I agree with JIm no way I am going to try that set! Glad to see Joe at Set-Builders got a nice payaday Though..
    Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain.
  • It looks like a battle of snipe bids. The two high bidders both bid at the same second - 4 seconds before the close of the auction.
    John Vineyard

  • BasiloneBasilone Posts: 2,492 ✭✭

    If the person ever decides to sell of the set in complete form...then the card will be factored into the SMR as only being a $25 SMR card.

    John
  • Actually, the last three bids are snipes (or at least last-second bids). But there was one early bid of $185 plus, which itself is unreal.

    Essentially, there were three people willing to pay any price for the card, and two (including the eventual winner) willing to put in $100+ early bids.

    -Jim

  • Well I know of at least one set I am not going after.image


    Ed
    email address: alohaet@hotmail.com


  • << <i>If the person ever decides to sell of the set in complete form...then the card will be factored into the SMR as only being a $25 SMR card. >>



    John,
    I couldn't agree more with the above statement... I know whan I look at a set purchase that is how I work up my bid...
    Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's about learning to dance in the rain.
  • mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    I think all the evidence from the last year or two pretty much shows that a seller will realize more money by breaking up and selling a set than by selling in complete form -- for exactly the reasons mentioned above (e.g. low pop commons will realize huge $$ individually, but not as part of a greater set)
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
  • acowaacowa Posts: 945 ✭✭
    <John,
    I couldn't agree more with the above statement... I know whan I look at a set purchase that is how I work up my bid... >


    The issue is that people buy the set at a spare no expense mentality and sell at a firesale (all at once) mentality. For the most part, you have to sell the cards the way you bought them...slowly & over time.


    Regards,



    Alan

  • BasiloneBasilone Posts: 2,492 ✭✭
    Or....buy at price points where one can actually afford to keep them once they complete a set!

    John
  • acowaacowa Posts: 945 ✭✭

    John,

    When you get down to the last 20 that you need...you'll pay almost any price!


    Regards,


    Alan
  • StumpStump Posts: 927
    Wow thats a heavy price but if you want the card go for it. I just bought a Clemente PSA 9 in 1961 on a buy it now for 799.00 I feel like I stole it now.

    Daveimage
    Visit my site @ www.djjscards.com
  • WabittwaxWabittwax Posts: 1,984 ✭✭✭
    I am the idiot building a 1987 Topps Tiffany set and when I find them on EBay, I refuse to pay too much for them. I'm probably one of the most frugal collector's out there. I recently added a PSA 9 Nolan Ryan to my set which I've seen many times sell for about $12-$15+shipping. I've waited about 9 months and finally picked it up for $6+shipping. I'm sure it sounds really stupid to some of you guys who drop $1000 on a card but if I overpay for a card, it drives me so crazy that it kinda ruins the set building experience for me. Unless it's a super rare card, I just wait for the right price.
  • The price is high, but not outrageous. I believe the last one to come up on Ebay went for over $300 about 6 months ago. That is a popular card, and there are no PSA 9's. It ranks up there with the 306 and 310 World Series cards, and the 523 Gibbons and 559 Gentile. All of these cards routinely go for over $300 and up to $600 when and if they ever become available.


    Ole Doctor Buck of the Popes of Hell

  • RedHeart54RedHeart54 Posts: 2,279 ✭✭✭


    << <i> I'm sure it sounds really stupid to some of you guys who drop $1000 on a card but if I overpay for a card, it drives me so crazy that it kinda ruins the set building experience for me. Unless it's a super rare card, I just wait for the right price. >>



    That's not stupid. On the other hand, aren't '87 Topps Tiffanys rather hard to come by in graded form (except for the stars)? The way I see it is this: the cards themselves aren't scarce in raw form- and as a result, may not be scarce in mint condition. Who, though, is going to send them in? For you to take the chance on buying a bunch of commons, go through the time and expense of submitting them, AND take the chance that they'll end up in the grade you want seems a tedious and expensive way to complete a set. Sure, it may be the ONLY way you'll complete the set (unless those commons get popular all of a sudden because there's all of a sudden a bunch of '87 Tiffany PSA set collectors who make it worthwhile for those with vast quantities of commons to submit them. This scenerio is unlikely in this case.) I'm essentially in your boat with a set I'm "collecting". I say "collecting" because so few of the cards have been submitted and I usually pay through the nose to get anything in PSA 9.

    I meant to start a thread about this very topic: 1) who is collecting a PSA set which has so few submitted in any grade? and 2) do you pay what it takes to get the card because you know very few will be submitted any time in the near to distant future?
  • mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    <<I meant to start a thread about this very topic: 1) who is collecting a PSA set which has so few submitted in any grade? and 2) do you pay what it takes to get the card because you know very few will be submitted any time in the near to distant future>>


    Well -- as it relates to my Mike Schmidt Master Player Set -- I would say this: I try to get most of the oddball cards graded myself -- but I often will pay premiums for already-graded examples. With many of the oddballs -- it can be very difficult and time consuming to find an example in MINT or better condition. For example, if I can find a 1988 Flear Team Leaders card in PSA 10 grade, I will pay much more than it is worth. Absent finding one already graded -- I have to find either raw examples, or purchase multiple unopened sets, which bring about a series of costs for me. It is a labour of love more than anything -- but I still think that a large percentage of the oddballs in the set I end up grading myself.
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
  • dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    I just listed 16 - 1961 Topps PSA 8 and one PSA 9 card on eBay (all Cubs of course). I hope I have half the luck that Joe did with that one card. That's amazing!
  • Dude, you always seem to have an endless supply of PSA graded Cubs cards for sale. Are you from the Windy City?
  • dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    kverd5432 -- Well, I wouldn't call Rosharon, Texas a city since it's a one traffic light town, but we do get a stiff wind off the Gulf most of the year.

    I do sell a lot of Cubs cards, in fact, I'll be selling about 300 different pre-1970 PSA graded cards going as far back as the T205 era over the next two weeks. The Cubs have a world-wide following and there's not a better place to see a game than Wrigley Field. No baseball collection is complete without Cubs players!

    Chicago is definitely my kind of town. I went to the National last year in Chi-Town and had a great time and hope to go back for the 2005 National. I know a lot of dealers don't like going there because their hair pieces keep on getting blown off.
  • unishipuniship Posts: 496 ✭✭
    I sold a 1961 HIGH END PSA 9 Billy Williams Rookie for a paltry $450 about 18 months ago - the card should of been a 10 but it had about 3 incredibly small yellow print dots on the blue sleeve on Billy's arm - oh the horror, but I digress. Now commons in PSA 8 are going for more. Go figure!
  • Dan, I live in downtown Chicago, and you are most correct - there's not a better place to see a game than Wrigley Field (and I'm saying that as a Sox fan). On any given day, I can hop on the "El" and get to either Wrigley or Comiskey (I refuse to call it U.S. Cellular Field, a.k.a The Cell, a.k.a The Joan) in a few minutes.

    Combine the great baseball with at least two major shows a year at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, and you have a card-collector's paradise . . . if you can handle the snow and cold.

    image
    POTD = 09/03/2003
  • <I meant to start a thread about this very topic: 1) who is collecting a PSA set which has so few submitted in any grade? and 2) do you pay what it takes to get the card because you know very few will be submitted any time in the near to distant future? >

    Besides multi-player cards, I find myself strangely drawn to obscure vintage sets. Among others, I have been working on a 1950 Callahan HOF set for the better part of ten years, and have just recently decided to build a 1960 Leaf set.

    I very specifically try not to pay unreal prices for cards... for me, part the the fun building the sets is finding the cards raw and having them graded, and trying to turn other collectors onto the set. In terms of the Callahan set, to date about 1300 total cards have been graded in the set -- I have personally submitted or caused to be submitted about 40 percent of those cards for grading. Not only have I gotten to meet and talk with a lot of other collectors about the set, doing this has also given me the opportunity to learn a lot about the set and its history, variations, etc. I am looking forward to this experience with the 1960 Leaf issue.

    Of course, if a Mint Gehringer Dark cap suddenly becomes available I may throw caution to the wind and bid like a demon to get it.
  • mikeschmidtmikeschmidt Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭
    <<Not only have I gotten to meet and talk with a lot of other collectors about the set, doing this has also given me the opportunity to learn a lot about the set and its history, variations, etc. I am looking forward to this experience with the 1960 Leaf issue>>

    Jim -- I am proud to own a few high-grade Phillies cards from the 1960 Leaf set -- I think it is an amazing set and very much underappreciated. (Was it that set that was packaged with marbles....?)

    At any rate -- if you want to talk about a killer challenge, you should speak to Levi Bleam about the 1960 Leaf Big Head subset/test issue. Very cool and interesting cards that serve as a foil to the regular leaf set from the same year.
    I am actively buying MIKE SCHMIDT gem mint baseball cards. Also looking for any 19th century cabinets of Philadephia Nationals. Please PM with additional details.
  • dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    DrNguyenVanFalk,

    You are absolutely right! It's a great town. There's a lot of superb restaurants there too. The Chop House is one of my favorites.
  • I believe the Chop House is THE best restraunt anywhere. I make it a point to go there every time I'm in Chicago.

    Wayne
    1955 Bowman Football
  • Dan,
    You have a couple of interesting PSA 8's, the 512 and 533 that should draw about $100 between them. the others are high pop, and i doubt wil reach SMR image

    the PSA 9 #214 may do quite well. Certainly over $150 and maybe over $200. i don't see any $500 cards there though.

    Uniship: $450 for the Williams PSA 9 is actually a pretty good price. With a pop of 27, that is one of the highest pop PSA 9's in the set. A 10 would have been sweet, however!
    Ole Doctor Buck of the Popes of Hell

  • dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    Buckwheat -- I consider you the resident '61 guru, so I truly appreciate your input. Thanks!
  • dudedude Posts: 1,454 ✭✭
    Wayne -- You are absolutely correct - it is superb! We'll have to make a point of going there for the 2005 Nat in Chicago.
  • acowaacowa Posts: 945 ✭✭
    Here's a real shocker!

    Link to another A's Big Armor

    image


    I already have my $600 bid in...I just can't lose this card twice in one year!


    Regards,


    Alan
  • VirtualizardVirtualizard Posts: 1,936 ✭✭
    Thanks Alan. I just placed my $700 snipe order! image

    Just kidding. Good luck on this card.

    JEB.
  • nortynorty Posts: 201
    Considering what I got on the last one, I should be able to go at least $500 on this one. That is how it works isn't it? I mean you do get the same amount each time right?
    Joe Tauriello
    Setbuilders Sports Cards
    Ebay: set-builders & set-builders2
  • jackstrawjackstraw Posts: 3,773 ✭✭✭
    i believe c-town is called the "windy city" because of the long winded polatitions not the wind? someone please clarify this for me.
    MO gibsons steak house is the best place to eat in chicago .
    Collector Focus

    ON ITS WAY TO NEWPORT BEACH, CA 92658
  • Jackstraw,

    I would be willing to bet that you have never tried Chop House.

    Wayne
    1955 Bowman Football
  • crazysccrazysc Posts: 291
    I love the Chop House in Chicago - one of the top 5 steakhouses in the US IMHO, but I'm looking forward to dining at the new Fogo De Chao that just opened in Chicago. First time there's been one outside of the south - I think they're only in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janiero.
    Why do I get the feeling, that some cards are worth money, while others are not?
  • No need to go to Chicago.

    The best steaks you'll ever have and you can have them at your doorstep tomorrow.
  • Wow.

    It's not $565 like the first one, but it might as well be...


    Link to second auction

    -Jim
  • Hey, that's a 37% reduction in price. Note that there were 4 bidders over $250 for a card with an SMR of $25.
    Ole Doctor Buck of the Popes of Hell

  • DavalilloDavalillo Posts: 1,846 ✭✭
    Rob,

    Look at the New Additions to SMR thread on the community message board. I was trying to make the point that the smr was becoming less relevant all the time and I cited some 1961 commons that go consistently for multiples of smr and that there were enough transactions in them that they should be adjusting prices for these cards. I also said you were the expert--maybe you could comment.

    Thanks,

    Davalillo(JIM)
  • Hi Jim,

    I'll go look at it and respond there.

    Rob
    Ole Doctor Buck of the Popes of Hell

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