The thrill of the chase?
Love of the Game
Posts: 250 ✭✭
As some of you know, I'm just a few cards short of going 100% complete on my 1953 Topps set. One of the cards I need is #101 Ted Wilks. It's not a very special card, nothing short printed or tough about it. I see it on Ebay at least once a week, and this week there are PSA-7 and PSA-6 copies available.
The PSA-7 copy went off about two minutes ago. I'd been watching it all afternoon, and with a minute left, the bid price was $68. I really want to get this set complete, so despite SMR being only $60 for the card, I decided I'd go as high as $90 for it.
With thirty seconds left, I decided I didn't want to lose the auction for $91, so I put in a bid for $96.50. I hit "submit" with about 20 seconds left, and was told that I had underbid - the new bid price was $229. Two hundred and twenty-nine dollars! For a PSA-7 common!
That's more money than I paid for any other card in the set except Willie Mays.
I let the auction end, and here it is:
Ridiculous!
A PSA-7 Ted Wilks is, apparently, a hot commodity.
-Al
The PSA-7 copy went off about two minutes ago. I'd been watching it all afternoon, and with a minute left, the bid price was $68. I really want to get this set complete, so despite SMR being only $60 for the card, I decided I'd go as high as $90 for it.
With thirty seconds left, I decided I didn't want to lose the auction for $91, so I put in a bid for $96.50. I hit "submit" with about 20 seconds left, and was told that I had underbid - the new bid price was $229. Two hundred and twenty-nine dollars! For a PSA-7 common!
That's more money than I paid for any other card in the set except Willie Mays.
I let the auction end, and here it is:
Ridiculous!
A PSA-7 Ted Wilks is, apparently, a hot commodity.
-Al
0
Comments
Even more ridiculous!
<< <i>That's more money than I paid for any other card in the set except Willie Mays. >>
What about the mantle?
I paid $200 for the Mantle.
It's a very nice Mantle, a couple of tiny creases, two rounded corners, and two TRIMMED corners. Why someone would trim two corners, I'll never know. I bought it raw on Ebay - took a chance, got a real one.
Someday I'll buy a 4 or a 5. Today, I'm happy with my 0.
-Al
It is a nice card.
"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
I should have clarified - I don't see it holdered every week. I have pretty decent luck buying raw from the scan and submitting it myself. I'm collecting in 6 or better, so that's pretty easy to do.
So I guess my point was that this card doesn't seem as tough as, say, the Sid Hudson or the Dixie Howell, which seem to be hard to find in any condition, or the Ken Heintzelman, which seems as if every copy was put through a washing machine in the 1950s.
As far as hammer prices on 53s, it seems like the big guns have been paying huge prices for 8s, which is bringing up the prices of 7s as well. If I recall, an Alvin Dark went for $300 a few weeks ago, as did a couple of other commons. I paid $20 for a PSA-5 Vic Wertz, and then bought it again for about $70 in PSA-6 the next day. Those seem to be fairly accurate prices for commons this week.
I'm sure as soon as I get the set complete, the value will plummet.
-Al
I know the feeling. Last night I missed out on five 1968 PSA 8 Detroit Tiger cards. I set my snipe above all of the recent sale prices. When the auctions ended, I wasn't even close on any of them!
Mike
Grant Jackson
Jake Gibbs
I was getting a submission together last week - about 40-50 cards - and as I was pulling them out of their toploaders to inspect for surface wrinkles (which can be very light on 53s and kill the grades), I noticed that one of my commons had been recolored. I bought that card about four months ago on Ebay, didn't give it the kind of once-over I should have when it arrived, and now it's really too late to do anything about it. I'm out about $15 on the card, I guess.
In terms of Goudeys, your question just made me a little nervous. I just sent 32 to PSA last week. One of them was a crossover from BVG, all the rest were raw. I just realized that I never measured them before sending them in. So we'll see how many, if any, were trimmed. All the stars I sent in were purchased from very reputable sellers, though, so I guess I'm not overly freaked.
The other thing that's misleading about me saying I'm not worried about fakes, even after submitting 70% of the set, is that I don't have either DiMaggio or either Foxx yet, and only have one Greenberg and one Feller (both of which were submitted). So I don't have the cards that are most likely to be fakes yet, and probably will pay extra and buy them slabbed when the time comes.
I did get burned a few months ago on a gorgeous 61 Aaron that PSA rejected for trimming - by the time I got it back and contacted the seller, they were NARU.
-Al
-Al
In regards to 38 Goudeys- I collect these and have yet to buy a raw one that comes out trimmed. The reprints are obvious- the borders are much whiter than the actual card. On authentic 38's the border matches the cream colour on the inside.
JERO and I agree that we both have a really hard time putting a grade to a raw 38- it seems that although you know what grade PSA is going to give it- it always comes back something different.
Ryan
Just my 2cents worth, and my own feelings on the matter. If I was 50%, or even 90% done with a set that large, I still wouldn't budge on what I was willing to pay for commons.
I agree with you and JERO about the 38 Goudeys. I have two PSA slabbed cards right now, and I'm amazed - one is a 5, and I would have given it a 4, mayber a 3. I sent PSA a BVG Gehringer to cross over; BVG had given it a 2, and it was almost as nice as my PSA 5. At the same time, my other slabbed card is a 2, and it looks like a truck ran over it.
Of the 32 I sent in, I'd say 10 were better than the PSA-5 that I have. We'll see what the grades look like within a week - they logged the submission today.
-Al
PS - If you talk to JERO, tell him I said hello.
The worst part is that 5x SMR is not enough in many cases (see, for example the Gibbs). The SMR for the Gibbs is $18 and the card sold for $133 (almost 7.5x SMR). I think it sold to the guy who is #1 in the 1971 Topps Yankee Team Set. The Gibbs was the last card he needed to complete his team set. The second highest bidder at around $120 was "Fabfrank" who is also a 1971 Topps Set builder. I believe he is down to about 6 or 7 cards to complete his set now.
Believe me, I would really love to finish the set especially considering I have been working on it for over 3.5 years now. Unfortunately, my budget is limited and I would rather spend my limited budget to buy several cards for the player sets I am working on (Wade Boggs, Bo Jackson and Jim Palmer) instead of paying many multiples of SMR for a common. It might take me a while to find one, but I will just wait for a lower priced PSA 8 or a PSA 7 or even a raw version that I can get graded.
Mike
TheSMR guide lets you know they are not taking into account low pop commons, they are
pricing all the commons the same (within a series, at least) because it would just take too much
work to try to track ebay or even accept input to know if a 1967 PSA 8 Duke Sims (population 17) should have the
same SMR prices as an (also 1st series) Barry Moore PSA 8 (population 98).
As a result, with so many people working on a 1967 set registry (71 listed, 13 over 50% complete)
it should not be a surprise that a Sims auction goes for 8x SMR while a Ron Hansen can be acquired
perhaps for a fiver.
1967and 1973 Topps baseball wantlists (any condition) welcome. Once had the #14 ATF 1967 set. Yet another collector like skylaneflyer, gimel1 who made it to the completion of 1967 only to need the money more than the company of 609 close friends.
Looking for oddball Norm Cash and Cleon Jones stuff, and 1956 team cards
Nick
[edited for typo]
Reap the whirlwind.
Need to buy something for the wife or girlfriend? Check out Vintage Designer Clothing.
The second highest bidder at around $120 was "Fabfrank" who is also a 1971 Topps Set builder. I believe he is down to about 6 or 7 cards to complete his set now.
6 cards to be exact Mike
I've been working on this set for 14 years till I decided to go from raw to graded. As you can expect, that transition was a wake up call. I was shocked I didn't win that Gibbs card though. I bid strongly but obviously not stong enough. That's okay though because a PSA 7 of the card would be just fine for me. Because it was a PSA 8 I was a little more aggressive. When it comes down to the last few cards to complete a set, disregard the SMR and just "go for it". Once the money is spent and the set is done you won't even remmeber what you made for the last few cards. I just figure that during the building of the set I purchased enough cards under SMR that it offsets the ones that I pay over SMR for.
If anyone has these 71's in either PSA 7 or 8, email or PM me your price.
#382
#596
#635
#697
#700
#722
The Wilks in PSA-6 went off about three minutes ago, along with a PSA-6 Enos Slaughter, two of the seven I need for the set. I put in snipe bids at $96.50 for each, and lost both for $97.52.
Unreal.
I also put in a snipe on a PSA-6 Johnny Sain at $41, and lost it at $43.52.
Sniped Sherm Lollar and Pete Runnels at $20.51 and $28.75, respectively. So I upgraded two cards, but once again didn't get the two I needed.
Grr.
-Al
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
I sent in three different lots. The first was a Charles Gehringer I wanted crossed from BVG to PSA. That one's not been posted yet.
The second was all HOFers and one common, twelve cards in total. This was the lot I was most worried about. Came back two 1s, four 2s, four 3s, a 4, and a 7 (Bob Feller).
The third lot was all commons, 17 in total. Came back four 1s, four 2s, five 3s, one 4MK, two 5s...and one "not holdered, altered". The "altered" card in question was Bill Werber, and I just don't buy it.
I figure if it was trimmed, it would have come back "not holdered, evidence of trimming". So the alteration in question is probably bleaching. However, four or five of the cards in this submission seemed very white in comparison to the others, and there didn't seem to be a problem with them. So I'll give it a thorough review and then resubmit it.
Overall I'm disappointed with the grades. I knew these cards were largely off-grade, but I didn't think I'd have that many 1s and 2s. I have a PSA-2 Ervin Fox that looks like it got run over by a truck, and all but three or four of the cards I submitted look a lot better. Furthermore, quite a few of the cards I thought would come back with a 4 are coming back with a 2. Go figure.
Thought someone might like to know,
-Al
Enough with the frustration. Bid a couple hundred and finish this damn set already
1967and 1973 Topps baseball wantlists (any condition) welcome. Once had the #14 ATF 1967 set. Yet another collector like skylaneflyer, gimel1 who made it to the completion of 1967 only to need the money more than the company of 609 close friends.
Looking for oddball Norm Cash and Cleon Jones stuff, and 1956 team cards
-Al
Al;
Sorry to hear your grades disappointed you. I noticed that "altered" grade assigned to the Werber. It may be bleached as you say, but if it's not all that white, it could also have been cleaned with an eraser to take some of the dirt off the edges. I had a couple '41 Play Balls rejected with the same designation. I didn't know what to make of it until I studied the edges and corners under a loupe and I could see the eraser marks on the borders (I wasn't aware of them when I bought them). I guess on that old uncoated stock, this is a pretty common low-rent way of altering the card.
You're probably right, now that I think about it.
You know, I don't want to give the impression that I'm devastated about these grades. This is a tough set, I'm buying raw cards, and they're relatively scarce and 67 years old. Sometimes I get a little hung up in the registry, but the bottom line is that these cards have value in any condition, and I'm really only getting them slabbed to prevent them from being beaten up further.
A few came in lower than I anticipated, but the Feller makes up for it. Ultimately, my goal was to complete a prewar set on a modest budget, and I am accomplishing that.
-Al