Opinion Poll - What would you do? And why?

threeofsix

I don't know if this scenario has come up recently in the sports card collecting universe, but I had it raised to me a few years back in the Non-sports card universe, so I thought I would put in a sports card setting, and get your opinions. (If this has occurred in the sports world - I apologize right up front for my ignorance!!!)

Thanks in advance to anyone that takes a second to respond.

Suppose one of the major card manufacturers offered a limited edition product, say 16,000 boxes of a baseball product. Each box contained an autograph and there were around 30 autographs in the set. Some of the autographs were limited, and most of the player in the set were semi-stars to stars (no duds). And the value of the autographs was about $2000.

Included in each of the packs is also a gold Yankees card <please substitute your favorite team, since this example may have just become unbearable for some>. The are GREAT looking cards and a REALLY nice subset of the base card set with each card showing some famous popular Yankee, either current or retired.

Printed on each of these "golden" cards is a letter of the alphabet. When the entire subset is collected, it spells out the phrase...New York Yankees.

But this is not just a subset, it is a redemption card set, and if you collect the entire card set spelling New York Yankees and send it to the card company they will redeem it for the entire $2000 autograph set.

As would be with all redemption card sets, there is one rare card, the "A" card. This "A" card has none other than Mickey Mantle on the card <again substitute your favorite player!!!!>. Without the Mantle, the card set spells New York Ynkees. (not a great subset!!!) And of course, there are only 25 of such A cards.

The company will NOT send the redemption card back to you, and does not issue them in any other form. The contest is currently running, but ends in 3 months, so after that it cannot be redeemed.

You happen to be a Mantle collector (or at least know that there are others out there that are!) So...the question.....

Do you redeem it ? Or keep it knowing you have a limited edition set with maybe only 1 or 2 others in existence after all have been redeemed? Why?

AlanAllen

Keep it. I've kept a bunch of unredeemed Marcus Allen cards, even ones without pictures on them .

Joe

34GoudeyCollector

Drop back to the 35 and punt. In reality, I would sell it in on everyone's favorite auction website.

WinPitcher

Three i have a comprehension problem so you lost me after the 3rd sentence, sorry.

koby

You really have to love Mickey Mantle or whoever your nonsport equivalent is. The prize is definitely the autograph set and I would imagine the autograph set has higher resale value than a single redemption card.

On the other hand, who knows what the future might hold? There are only 25 Mantle cards in your example. The majority of the peopel who pull the Mantle card will cash in for the netire set. How many Mantle prize cards are left? 10? 5? 3? I imagine there are many more autograph sets. Maybe the redemption card will be the more valuable down the road....but I doubt it.

If you plan to sell in the next few years, send the Mantle card in and get the autograph set.

jimtb

I think it would depend upon what you collect. If I'm a Mantle collector, I'm keeping the card. I would think think that the card would sell for a ton. You have Yankee fans, Mantle fans, and collectors trying to spell out the name, all bidding on that card. This is assuming that your example would be the set.
Great question.
Jim

shouldabeena10

I did this with the McDonalds Boardwalk winning game piece.

I've always loved the boardwalk, and I really didn't want the Million dollars... so I just keep the winning game piece on my desk as a collectible item.

Mike

Vargha

Mike -- I did the same thing.

threeofsix

Thanks for the answers so far...very enlightening!!

WinPitcher - sorry, I lost you <clearly my fault!!!>! Abridged version: Would you redeem a rare card for a $2000 autograph set, or keep it since the card itself becomes "rare" once the redemption contest ends?

Koby & jimtb - I agree the player's importance to you weighs in.

Shoulda & Vargha - I have Boardwalk as well, but the redemption point was moot.... I never found a Park Place!

mudflap02

I would definitely keep the redemption card. Look at it this way- could you put together an autograph set without having the redemption card? The answer is yes, but maybe with a tough one here or there. If you had the complete auto. set, could you find a redemption card? Probably not. I would hang onto it because later on, if you regret it, you could still put together the auto set if you wanted to. If you redeemed the "mantle", and it later became a "holy grail" type of card, you would end up kicking yourself for the rest of your life.

Here's 10 cents my 2 cents is free.

-Jeff

Would also like to know what set you are talking about- just curious.

threeofsix

There is always much discussion on the board around modern versus vintage collecting. I often wondered (only to myself until now) whether or not there was a scenario that would make MOST collectors want a modern "rare" card, so-much-so that they were willing to sacrifice even a clear $2000 profit.

I may be mistaken, but haven't there been some rare redemption cards in the early sports cards world? Some of those redemption cards were returned with holes in them (if I'm not mistaken), making them still be able to be collected.

So the fact that the redemption card in my example was not returned makes it a more interesting example. You know up-front, that the card will eventually be a 1 of 2 or 5 or 10.

Hmmmm...very interesting to read responses....

mudflap02 - Thankfully, this was not a scenario I was confronted with, but rather it happened to a friend of mine. He pulled a redemption card for the 1999 Star Trek Original Series Autograph set. The rare "I" card. He asked my opinion. I told him to send it in (since he was interested in getting all of the autographs.)

But if it had been mine.......hmmmmm.....

MorrellMan

3of6 - keep the redemption set - there are precious few rarities in the current collectible market and your scenerio describes how one would be created to a T. The LaJoie Goudey card was a redemption card, it's probably the second most valuable card in the hobby. If the redemption was worth a million, it'd be a different story, I'd say go for the short term return; but, for 2 grand, by my way of thinking - I wouldn't even think of sending in the set.

Bearsnum34

there is no doubt one only needs to look at the prices "low pop" cards command on the open market. Also, is the set that spells out NY Yankees going to be desired by collectors? Thats the real question. If using your example the repemption set is basically worthless without the Mantle card and you have it, would the value of the card be worth more than the other cards combined that spell out the rest of the name? If not, and you need to purchase them and it will cost you less than 2K..buy the others and lock up the NY Yankees set and reopen in 20 years.. rememeber, low pop high demand cards carry enormous premiums...it makes me think this is a clear no brainer...

Wabittwax

With the absolute beating that insert cards get after a couple years on the open market, you should be able to complete the auto'd set for pennies on the dollar if you are patient. The Mantle card would probably be worth more. But then again, will modern collectors in 10 years even remember the contest? To them, it may just be another Mantle card, meaning nothing to them. Only people who remember the contest will know the rarity of the Mantle. Look at 1993 Finest Refractors. Most people think "geez, more crappy refractors on the market". Only people that remember the craze of them, hold any true value to them.

threeofsix

wabbitrax - agreed as far as the "insert" set is concerned. That is why I tried to use Mantle as an example...a player that one might feel worthy of collecting outside of just the "insert" card role. With non-sport cards many of the cards hold a lot of their same collector value (not $ value) years later. I mean to say if you collected "Alias" cards for a couple of years...and stopped...maybe 5 years from now, you'd go back and finish the sets you missed, just because you still like Alias. Autograph cards may still have their value (since the market was never really FLOODED with them)...and the thought of a "rare" insert, because of the character involved, may still be worth a premium to you. I think this is also true to some extent as you point out in the sports market (refractor example), but the flood of cards and manufacturers makes it less likely (I mean it seems with modern sport card collecting...even a dedicated collector feels the frustration after a while).