More 1955 Topps discussion . . .
detroitfan2
Posts: 3,335 ✭✭✭✭
Hi RepublicaninMass and all 1955 Topps Lovers,
I am new to these boards, and I may be doing 2 things which violate the acceptable code of conduct. PLEASE let me know if that's the case. These things are:
(1) Opening a new thread instead of responding to an existing thread (1955 Bowman VS 1955 Topps). That thread was getting a little long and was starting to talk about horizontal cards in general instead of 1955 in specific, thus I started this one.
(2) "Promoting" my own item for sale.
RepublicaninMass mentioned the ridiculous prices being realized for PSA 8 1955 Topps (how about the 9's?). I'm not an expert on PSA 8 quality material (not counting my 1977 Topps Tito Fuentes PSA 8). I have, however, been piecing together mid-grade PSA sets (4/5/6) from each of Topps offerings in the 1950's. My most disciplined pursuit was the attempt to complete a 1955 Topps set with all cards graded PSA 5 or 6. In doing so, I made a very good ebay friend who goes by the id of "bidjeddak". He is extremely knowledgable, especially with regard to 55 Topps. He had about the 15th rated set at one time, but he pulled it out. Why? Because he couldn't believe what people were paying for PSA 8's, so he sold his. He seemed to think it was a phase, and that maybe he could replenish his supply later. If not, "ain't nothing wrong with a 7."
That leads me to my 1955 set. It is 88% complete (25 cards short). My intention was to complete it and then sell it at that time, the theory being that because I'm a cheapskate and a fairly patient one at that, maybe there was some money to be made. In either case, all of the "profit" would be put right back into another pursuit.
Recently, I consigned a few items (not cards) to Leland's for their current auction. I mentioned my 1955 set, and they were willing (even a bit excited) to put it in their auction.
Here's the result:
Leland's Lot 1648
And here's the PSA set registry link:
Tom's 1955 Topps
So far, no bids, and I'm a little bummed. It is a downright STEAL at the minimum bid. There are 104 PSA 5's and 71 PSA 6's. The only major stars missing are Yogi and Willie Mays. The Ted Williams is a sweet PSA 6, and the Koufax and Clemente are beautiful PSA 5's. I have a spreadsheet which computes the set completion rate based on the value of the cards owned versus the value of the overall set (for example, if you only have the Clemente, you're about 20% of the way there value wise, but only .5% of the way there based on the number of cards). Believe it or not, the percentage is also 88% (just over).
What does everyone think? Are PSA 5's and 6's just not that desirable? Judging by the set registry, there aren't too many who collect that grade. I don't really get it, because in my opinion, if these cards were raw, they would be graded at least Nr Mint by most large dealers.
RepublicaninMass, I didn't look at your currrent set close enough (other than to see you're mostly better than 6's), but this could put you close to completion and leave you some duplicates to make back some dough.
Anyway, all feedback would be appreciated. Call me a moron, tell me the set is nice, laugh, just be honest. Thanks for reading.
I am new to these boards, and I may be doing 2 things which violate the acceptable code of conduct. PLEASE let me know if that's the case. These things are:
(1) Opening a new thread instead of responding to an existing thread (1955 Bowman VS 1955 Topps). That thread was getting a little long and was starting to talk about horizontal cards in general instead of 1955 in specific, thus I started this one.
(2) "Promoting" my own item for sale.
RepublicaninMass mentioned the ridiculous prices being realized for PSA 8 1955 Topps (how about the 9's?). I'm not an expert on PSA 8 quality material (not counting my 1977 Topps Tito Fuentes PSA 8). I have, however, been piecing together mid-grade PSA sets (4/5/6) from each of Topps offerings in the 1950's. My most disciplined pursuit was the attempt to complete a 1955 Topps set with all cards graded PSA 5 or 6. In doing so, I made a very good ebay friend who goes by the id of "bidjeddak". He is extremely knowledgable, especially with regard to 55 Topps. He had about the 15th rated set at one time, but he pulled it out. Why? Because he couldn't believe what people were paying for PSA 8's, so he sold his. He seemed to think it was a phase, and that maybe he could replenish his supply later. If not, "ain't nothing wrong with a 7."
That leads me to my 1955 set. It is 88% complete (25 cards short). My intention was to complete it and then sell it at that time, the theory being that because I'm a cheapskate and a fairly patient one at that, maybe there was some money to be made. In either case, all of the "profit" would be put right back into another pursuit.
Recently, I consigned a few items (not cards) to Leland's for their current auction. I mentioned my 1955 set, and they were willing (even a bit excited) to put it in their auction.
Here's the result:
Leland's Lot 1648
And here's the PSA set registry link:
Tom's 1955 Topps
So far, no bids, and I'm a little bummed. It is a downright STEAL at the minimum bid. There are 104 PSA 5's and 71 PSA 6's. The only major stars missing are Yogi and Willie Mays. The Ted Williams is a sweet PSA 6, and the Koufax and Clemente are beautiful PSA 5's. I have a spreadsheet which computes the set completion rate based on the value of the cards owned versus the value of the overall set (for example, if you only have the Clemente, you're about 20% of the way there value wise, but only .5% of the way there based on the number of cards). Believe it or not, the percentage is also 88% (just over).
What does everyone think? Are PSA 5's and 6's just not that desirable? Judging by the set registry, there aren't too many who collect that grade. I don't really get it, because in my opinion, if these cards were raw, they would be graded at least Nr Mint by most large dealers.
RepublicaninMass, I didn't look at your currrent set close enough (other than to see you're mostly better than 6's), but this could put you close to completion and leave you some duplicates to make back some dough.
Anyway, all feedback would be appreciated. Call me a moron, tell me the set is nice, laugh, just be honest. Thanks for reading.
0
Comments
Steve
bidjeddak". btw i too bought and sold with him. a very pleasant fellow.
Best of luck on this.
Dave
Now collecting:
Topps Heritage
1957 Topps BB Ex+-NM
All Yaz Items 7+
Various Red Sox
Did I leave anything out?
The average grade was around 6.5 and the set is ranked 24th alltime the name McCormack63.
The Clemente was a 7, as was the Koufax. I spent around 10 grand to get the whole thing completed.
Some cards I purchased graded and the rest I submitted. All of my transactions were done on ebay.
I decided to sell it since I am getting married early next year. I put the whole set up on ebay and at the
time I was ranked number 10. I had the auction run for one week without a reserve and the set sold
for around 13 grand. I made a profit of around 26%. Not too bad but I put alot of time into building
this set which was much fun. I noticed with the 55's that a 5 and a 6 are almost identical. Some of my
7's look better than a couple of the 8's that I had. Nevertheless you still have a week to go in yours and
Lelands does a real good job at getting top dollar. You may have been better off going the ebay route
only because it gets more exposure. Good Luck and I would figure the whole set to go for around 8-10 grand.
#2 I was scared to death that set has not even received one bid (just noticed it is your set)
#3 The 5-6 barely get the grading fees back for the commons 195 (common) cards X 9.99 (high estimate)only equals $1948 Psa 6's smr's at 750 and 5 smr at 2000
#4 it is missing a bunch of tough cards and some stars too. Not just Mays and Berra, but the podres is especially tough. Ed roebuck is another dodger, and that is his rookie. The consolo is tough, but not in that shape (5/6)What does smr on this set come too? My quick guesstimate is about $4800
I understand these cards go for SMR and above, but I am only coming up with about 5k for the set. How did McCormack63 say it would go for 10k?
I am not trying to be a jerk, but I did look this set over. Someone asked me to buy, and I am making my statement about what it is truly worth. Do I make a good assessment. Please let me know. I think complete set should go higher than SMR due to the difficulty . This one just doesnt do it for me. AT 3k yes, not too much over. Help and flaming appreciated!!!!
-Ted
im thinking mac meant a complete set in psa 6
hi numbered cards went for alot more then smr when i was active in the 55's. but your right this specific set would be hard pressed to get 10k.
Thanks for all of your feedback so far. I'm having a blast with these threads.
In response to the following:
>>#4 it is missing a bunch of tough cards and some stars too. Not just Mays and Berra, but the podres is especially tough. Ed roebuck is another dodger, and that is his rookie. The consolo is tough, but not in that shape (5/6)What does smr on this set come too? My quick guesstimate is about $4800
Total SMR according to my calculation for the cards in this partial set is $5719. Also, my only disagreement with RepublicaninMass's comments (thanks for responding) is that it's really not missing a "bunch" of tough cards. Out of the 25 cards which SMR (PSA 6) at $45 or more, this set has 23 of them (only missing Yogi and Willie). I do have to agree that Podres is a bugger to get for a cheapskate like me.
I was hoping to clear closer to SMR, but i may learn a valuable lesson.
Thanks again everyone!
Also, please keep the feedback coming.
-Tom
I can never understand why someone would ever choose sell through Leland or Mastro.
Ebay is no risk (if you set a reserve), smaller fees, and almost instant payment after auction ends.
Seller's fee (for my items anyway) is 5%, not too much worse than eBay, even better if you figure in PayPal and things like that.
That being said, as ebay becomes more and more popular, it will be interesting how cards (especially graded ones) sell in the major auction houses (given the 17.5% buyer's premium) vs. eBay.
-detroitfan2
<< <i>...That being said, as ebay becomes more and more popular, it will be interesting how cards (especially graded ones) sell in the major auction houses (given the 17.5% buyer's premium) vs. eBay.
-detroitfan2 >>
I, for one, definately priced that in, and a bit more when looking at leland's.
One, I find it refreshing that Leland's provided a writeup that lacks the obnoxious puffery of the Mastro lots.
Second, I've seen raw sets that are EX sell for 3Kish on eBay, so I'd expect this to go for more, maybe in the 5 to 6K range with the premium factored in. Actually I'd be very interested to see what the hammer brings.
Thanks for saying that Steve, that's an interesting perspective. As the lot owner, I was thinking that maybe the description didn't "sell" it quite enough, but maybe the set registry does that.
>>Second, I've seen raw sets that are EX sell for 3Kish on eBay, so I'd expect this to go for more, maybe in the 5 to 6K range with the premium factored in. Actually I'd be very interested to see what the hammer brings.
This is an observation that you would think would be true but doesn't seem to be for some reason, and it's what puzzles me about PSA 4/5/6 cards. I am convinced that if you had a set of cards (say 1955 Topps) that was entirely graded PSA 5 and sold it on ebay, you would get about the same price that you would get if you broke all of the cards out of the PSA holders except for the top 10 most valuable cards.
The phenomenon is even more puzzling with 1952 Topps. I've been buying PSA 3/4/5 cards as well as raw cards (in VG condition at best). I have more than a handful of PSA 4's which I paid under $10 for. Occassionally, you can win a PSA 5 for $9.99 on ebay. Yet, if you spend $5 on a raw common, it's going to be garbage a lot of times. I really don't think many people understand how nice a PSA 4 to 6 card really is. Of course, this means they really really don't understand how nice a PSA 7 and higher card is.
I'm not saying this because it's my set for sale, it's just my opinion. I really think that PSA 5 cards are a good value. For example, I'm 20% complete with a 1953 Bowman Color set, 80% of the cards are 5's, the other 20% are 6's. Based on the Beckett Vintage pricing (I know that's a bad word in these threads), I'm on pace to spend $3728 for the set at the rate I'm spending. I know that I have many of the lower pop cards to go, but with patience I'm convinced I can complete this set for under $5000. That's about 30% of it's high book value of $16000. I'm getting addicted to this set, which is part of the reason for selling the 55's.
Man, I love this stuff . . .
Text I really think that PSA 5 cards are a good value.
you are correct especially those that have honest wear and present well
this killebrew card for example looks nicer then some psa 7's that i have. must have some hidden flaw that only those with xray vision are blessed with.
the bottom left corner looks much better then this scan shows.
-Tom