59 Bell Brand Ram Marconi on ebay - opinions please

bowdowntome

This is the first graded BB Ram card I've seen for sale on ebay. Just looking for opinions from some of you Bell Dodger and/or Ram collectors about the graded price for a PSA 5. The card is considered a "common" within the set. I know it didn't have a bidding war, but someone was willing to pay $50 for it How does this compare to PSA 5 BB Dodger cards?

BB RAM

I'm fully confident, looking at that 5 and going by the ones I already have graded, that my Marconi should get a 7 easy maybe an 8, when I ever gat a chance to submit.

Here is mine.
Opinions?


BTW, that smudge you see on the left border is on my scanner bed, not the card.

brianwintersfan

I see no problem with that getting a 7 or better.
Looks nice.

wolfbear

Assuming there's no problems with the back,
or any surface flaws, it looks like at least an 8 to me.

Great looking card !

onlychild

<< <i>The card is considered a "common" within the set. I know it didn't have a bidding war, but someone was willing to pay $50 for it How does this compare to PSA 5 BB Dodger cards? >>



Common Bells are often harder to find in any condition. I have seen a Wille Davis 6 go higher than a Koufax 6. I remember a 1962 Bell Alston with a highest grade of 5 go for over $100. It's all about supply and demand. That PSA 5 Bell Marconi is a pop of 1, looks like $50 may have been a steal.

Bells will easily drop a grade or 2 with just minor surface scratches, which you may not see. Yours look nice but no one can tell from a scan. Look at it under a "halogen" light .

Also there is a great article writen by a very talented collector . It's about the Bell Baseball cards but it may give you an insight.

MorrellMan

gotnosiblings has it right - he is too humble to admit he is a leading expert on the Bells. Especially with Bells, the tendency is to overestimate the grade until you have discovered the little ticks and spots that bring down the grade. These cards were slipped into a flimsy cellophane cover and tightly packaged with greasy pointy potato chips, crammed into boxes, thrown on trucks, shoved into shelves and pummelled by bratty kids. Even the eventual owner usually liberated them from their cello while eating the product, leaving additional grease stains on the cards. Although your cards look great in the scan, it is hard to tell. You can send them to me and Kevin and we'll give 'em the once over.

Graded '59 Bells are still very hard to find; jbradley didn't so much win that auction as he was simply willing to pay the seller's price. He was the only bidder and took the card at the opening bid. That being said, he is also a major Los Angeles regional issue collector who bids regularly on Bells and Morrells.

bowdowntome

I checked out onlychilds BB Dodger webpage when I first started this BB Ram quest. Really neat!

The back of my card is beautiful except for some toning alnog one of the edges. In fact all the cards in the set I bought have something like this to one degree or another. You can tell the cards had been stacked together for along time by the impressions of the edges of the cards below them, and the cards not being stacked entirely straight for however long it was. Interesting though that not one of the cards in this set suffers from grease spots. I can't believe this set was put together by someone who got them from chip bags, without at least a small grease stain on one of them.
I have been wondering if it was possible that a certain amount of these cards ever ended up as excess stock and never got packaged? (Waht a find that would be, huh?)
Or if they were at one time available as a set in a mail in offer of some sort. I'd never heard of one, but ????

A few months ago, when the set finally got listed in the registry and the pop report, there were a TOTAL of 18 cards graded, including the 6 I sent in. As of now, there are 25 total, and only 16 different from the set of 40. Conceivably, since I still have 30 that I want to have graded, I could end up with 32 1/1's, until the pop report starts building I guess.

onlychild

<< <i>A few months ago, when the set finally got listed in the registry and the pop report, there were a TOTAL of 18 cards graded, including the 6 I sent in. As of now, there are 25 total, and only 16 different from the set of 40. Conceivably, since I still have 30 that I want to have graded, I could end up with 32 1/1's, until the pop report starts building I guess. >>



...and it will only get worse. Pop 1/1's are usually short lived.

Toning is acceptable, as long as they are not stains. Impressions on the other hand is not a good thing.

To the best of my knowledge there were no mail-in offers. That's what makes these cards so unique. There is a reason the highest graded set has a GPA less than 8.0! Most cards sealed in packs have stains, impressions and surface scratches. If high grades weren't scarce, we wouldn't be talking about them .

bowdowntome

Hope I didn't give the wrong "impression" about the impressions. It's not actually an impression of the card, but rather just the edge.

Here is the back of the card:



The toning you see on the edge creates sort of srtaight line. You can see that one of the other cards was stacked under it, a little crooked, so that only the toned area was exposed to light, or whatever elements create the tonnig. It is pretty typical for all the cards in the set I bought, which includes the 2 PSA 7's that I already rec'd. This card is, however, better centered than either of them, and has 4 sharp corners, even under 16x mag.
Checking for surface imperfections is something I'm not too familiar with however, unless they are obvious things like dings, scuffs, visible scratches, etc... These cards do have more of glossy surface to them, as opposed to regular cards from the day, so I would think they are more susceptible to scratches and such, or at least are more noticeable?

onlychild

The uneven toning lessens the eye appeal, to the point it looks like stains. It might cost it a couple points. You may be disappointed if you are looking for an 8 or more but who knows...I'm no expert. You can never tell from a scan.

WTH - send it in and report your score.

Look at what a small faint stain did to this Drysdale that was opened from a sealed pack. Other than that, the card is a pack fresh beauty.



Kevin