Question on Tiger Woods Card - Masters Of Golf 1997-8 card

craig19

Looking for some info on this card, as I was thinking of getting one for my son. I see one listed on EBAY for like $30,000!!! What is the difference between that card and one that comes in the other unopened sets i see for like $60 for the set? Isn't that card in the unopened set? Isn't it worth the risk to get the set and have the card graded? Also i see FOIL cards...what are those? looking for some help if anyone could please give me some insight...
thanks

1420sports

This was a card that was on fire about 5 years ago. PSA 9's were generally getting about 3K and more and a PSA 10 sold for 100K+. It is a tough card to get in PSA 8 and up because of the borders and the packaging - poorly packed and Tiger is on the bottom. The foil set is a little tougher as they were not distributed like the regular sets.

It is a nice set if you are a golf fan, so I would pick one up as well as a nice PSA 8 Tiger. I once owned about 40 sets and like many others, made a mint selling these when they were on fire.

mikeschmidt

<< <i>Looking for some info on this card, as I was thinking of getting one for my son. I see one listed on EBAY for like $30,000!!! What is the difference between that card and one that comes in the other unopened sets i see for like $60 for the set? Isn't that card in the unopened set? Isn't it worth the risk to get the set and have the card graded? Also i see FOIL cards...what are those? looking for some help if anyone could please give me some insight...
thanks >>



Some comments:

A) You are assuming that the price of the one on Ebay is equivalent to it's value. It is not. You would have to find an example that actually sells to get a proxy for the market value of such a card in GEM MINT condition.

The card is extraordinarily rare in GEM MINT condition. Although I'm not bothering to look at BGS's population reports, if I look at PSA's for a proxy, they have graded 8,131 examples of this card, and only two have ever been awarded a GEM MINT grade. The card, not rare in and of itself, is a significant condition rarity. With it being oversized, with having large black borders, and with [I think] the placement of this card within the set, it is unbelievably tough in GEM MINT grade.

If you use PSA's population as a proxy, you would have to buy approximately 4,000 sets to get one card that would grade GEM MINT. At $60 a pop, that is $240,000. Add in another $25,000 or so for grading fees - and it is a proposition I would not take.

Just like most "modern" packs/sets, etc. this is more of a gamble than anything. Even if you believe the card is a $20k card in GEM MINT, you can spend $60 plus some grading fees and hope you find the Holy Grail. But odds are very high you will not.

~ms

mikeschmidt

And, just to be clear, in PSA 8 condition, this card is about a $50 card, give or take.

1420sports

$50 bucks may even get you two of them

As a Tiger Woods fan, it is a nice card to own and is actually a very nice looking card.

ArnyVee

I've actually got two of these graded by SGC or PSA as GEM MINT. I purchased them when they first starting getting hot for like $1K. Gotta look for them because I've been meaning to place at least one of them in my eBay store.

Gator

SMR for a PSA 8 is $30. I haven't looked in a while, but the pit.com had these for around that price. I haven't seen a PSA 9 sell in a while, but I picked up a couple of them on Ebay last year in the $250-$350 price range. At that time SMR on the PSA 9's were $1000. They are currently listed at $650.

gregmo32

I have a quantity of these sets available at $49.00 each if anyone is interested. They are fresh from sealed cases, and I do have cases available as well.
PM me or contact me at gregmo32@aol.com

ArnyVee

Greg, have you tried cracking any of these sets open? If so, how hard would it be to pull a 10 Woods from those in your experience?

mikeschmidt

<< <i>Greg, have you tried cracking any of these sets open? If so, how hard would it be to pull a 10 Woods from those in your experience? >>



With only 2 graded by PSA out of over 8,100+ submissions, doesn't that answer your question?

ToppsCo1lector

<< <i>

<< <i>Greg, have you tried cracking any of these sets open? If so, how hard would it be to pull a 10 Woods from those in your experience? >>



With only 2 graded by PSA out of over 8,100+ submissions, doesn't that answer your question? >>



lol, I was going to reply exactly the same but I'm in a great mood lol.

ArnyVee

Whoa! Heh....guess so.

By the way, after searching I've found one and it's a SGC 96 (PSA 9). So, the other one which is floating around here somewhere is in the same condition.

gregmo32

Finding true mint copies of this card is damn near impossible. One thing to be aware of, there were also uncut sheets of these that were issued for the 1999 season. They were produced in much larger qunatity than the year before's, but as we all know, PSA does not grade sheet cut cards. SGC and BGS do grade them, and this made for the PSA 9 and 10 cards to be even more valuable. Although there are those that say that even some have slipped by PSA................................All that to say, this card is the most condition sensitive major issue since OPC Gretzky. They are black borders, last card in a tight cello wrap, and oversized. Oh yeah, they may be the RC of the best and most famous athlete of his generation when all is said and done

gregmo32

And I believe that SGC and maybe BGS lists the card as 1997-99 , which includes the fact that they indeed grade the sheet cut cards and consider them the same as the singles from the factory set.

ArnyVee

Greg, how can you tell if it's the '99 Tiger Woods as opposed to the non sheet-cut variety?

Also, how many sets come in a case of that product?

JW

I would only recommend buying a PSA graded Gold Foil version of the card. You can pick up a PSA 7 for $30 to $50 and a PSA 8 for $80 to $150 on eBay. It is the only card that has a chance of going up in value over the long term. The Goil Foil versions are in limited quantity compared to the regular set version. PSA has graded 1,380 of the Gold Foil versus 8,131 of the regular cards. It is tuff to compare the SGC reports since they grade sheet-cut or trimmed cards. It is pretty easy to identify a sheet cut card, if you have seen a real one. The colors all apear to be faded. Here is a pretty interesting article from 2001 - ESPN article.

ArnyVee

JW, the colors seem to be faded on the picture or the black borders? Mine doesn't look faded at all and the color of the bordering doesn't look 'orange' as the article suggestions. Wonder if I should submit my card to PSA. Thoughts?

craig19

If anyone has any PSA graded 7-8 of the foil version, and you are interested in selling, please send me a pm....

gregmo32

There is no way that I know of to tell the difference between the sheet cut 1999 and the 1997-98 other than the usual techniques for sheet cut cards. They are essentially the "same" card. One was just issued as a card in a factory set and the other was issued two years later only as a sheet. SGC abd BGS label them as the same card - PSA tries to distinguish and will not grade the sheet cut card.

There are different types of cases. There are 20 ct cases and 12 ct cases that come with a retail display set up. I have the 12 box retail cases. You get a cardboard stand up with the display box to set the boxes in a retail store.

mj23kg21

This set brings back many memories - both good and bad. Good because I owned a few 20 count cases and made a killing on them and bad because I could have had pretty much as many as I wanted for $7.00 per set and only bought a few 20 count cases. The remaining inventory of slightly more than 6000 sets sat in a warehouse in Minnesota and was sold in the late 90's to a few dealers for around 2.50 per set. The cases I could have had came in 10, 20 & 90 count.

gregmo32

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!

craig19

gregmo - looks like BGS does disinguish between the cards. Their slabs clearly say either 1997-1998 or 1997-1999....right?

Tedw9

Actually, SGC does distinguish bewteen cards. The factory set card is listed as 1997. The sheet cut card is listed as 1997-1999.