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I just picked up a copy of the 2005 SCD... someone was smoking something...

I didn't realize the 2005 book was released in mid-September, but I just bought a copy today and cannot believe some of the pricing changes...

OPC baseball was the first thing that stuck out... no more are the cards listed individually, you are now to refer to the standard issue Topps set and use a multiplier... so, for instance, 1967 OPC have a multiplier of 1x, so they are worth exactly the same as the US issue according to this. Ok, so this implies that Mickey Mantle in NM is worth $175 in Topps or OPC. Ok, so never mind that fact that there are 36 total OPC Mantle's graded versus 2,423 Topps, and 15 of the OPC's are NM or better, while 1,115 are NM or better on the Topps counterpart. Hmmm... that almost makes sense they are worth the same amount??? And never mind the fact that OPC produced around 90% fewer cards than Topps for most of the 60's and early-mid 70's.

Then I flipped to Venezuelans, which I collect... and wow... the market plummeted. The 68 Topps Venezuelans, which are in my opinion more scarce than the 1964 and 1966 sets, were reduced in price by 50-75% across the board. Of course, they must have been so readily available at the 2004 prices in NM condition that no one wanted them, thus were significantly overvalued. Bunch of crap, they barely even exist in VG-EX. The Nolan Ryan Venezuelan rookie suffered only the slightest drop, from $3,000 to $2,500 in NM. Who are they kidding, a NM Ryan Venezuelan would sell for over $10K at auction if one ever surfaced. They also nailed the 72 and 77 stickers, who cares that they are printed on paper as sturdy as filo dough, and that South American collectors adhered the majority of them into albums, so only a couple hundred survive today intact.

The prices for anything with Mantle on it dropped. That makes sense, as Mantle cards are one of the few standard issue stars that bring full SMR, sometimes over SMR prices with the majorty of auctions.

I cannot stand price guides that illustrate a complete lack of knowledge of what is actually going on in the market. This book is almost completely useless, aside from using it for identification of scarce issues.

Merry Christmas
-Josh

Comments

  • jrdolanjrdolan Posts: 2,549 ✭✭
    I would really like access to a market guide that has some slight relation to actual selling prices.

    SCD is so off the deep end that the ridiculous examples you cited don't even surprise me any more.

    Beckett's prices are designed to encourage the Beckett faithful put their hard-earned lawn-mowing income into new cards, inserts and parallels, and to promote the amusing concept that BGS cards are worth more than their PSA equivalents.

    SMR is so far removed from reality on many cards, and so slow to reflect market trends, that it should be called the Sort-of Market Report. But because it gives fair billing to vintage rather than 20 pages just for 2004 product, it is the most useful to me. The lesser of evils.
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,407 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I echo the sentiments about all the Krause publications...they are not as good as they could be. I think there should be more professions publications...I, personally, would be willing to pay more for them. In fact, on some areas, if they included pictures, recent ebay and auction ranges and more facts on the items, I would definitely pay a premium for that reference.
    Just my thoughts
    thanx and Merry Christmas
    Mike
    Mike
  • GolfcollectorGolfcollector Posts: 1,369 ✭✭✭
    SCD Price guide =

    Seriously Cant Decide

    Sucky Card Directory

    Super Card Discounters (for Mantles that is)

    Shouldda Collected Dat....

    I am sure there are others but I just got home from the Midnight church service.....

    Dave


    Dave Johnson- Big Red Country-Nebraska
    Collector of Vintage Golf cards! Let me know what you might have.
  • pandrewspandrews Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭


    << <i>... someone was smoking something... >>



    image
    ·p_A·
  • pcpc Posts: 743
    i believe the reason the OPC are just as valuable as the
    Topps is logical.Only 36 Canadians collected baseball cards
    in 1967.
    image
    Money is your ticket to freedom.
  • NickMNickM Posts: 4,895 ✭✭✭
    A761 - what do you know about the '72 Venezuelan stickers?
    I've picked up 3 off-grade ones, and only seen a few others in a lot of searching. I don't have a handle on what the market for these is like.

    Nick
    image
    Reap the whirlwind.

    Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
  • I stopped looking at "price guides" a long time ago. As a collector/consumer, I ignore beckett, scd and smr...
    They have relative little to do with what I collect and what I pay for it.

    I agree with the sentiments that they often seem so off base with reality... particularly in vintage graded cards. I have heard the arguments that say auction prices aren't consistient and over time... the card finds it's value...

    Even if they were completely accurate, I wouldn't have much use for them. The hypothesized value means little to me when I am chasing a card I want.






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