Heritage Auction (4/3-4/4)...Observations and Share your Winnings
mintonlypls
Posts: 2,736 ✭✭✭✭✭
It was another outstanding Heritage Auction last night (4/3)...with PSA-9s from the 1950s and 1960s doing well ...and PSA-10s from the 1970s continuing to show very strong prices, too. Here are record prices catching my attention:
1952 Topps Willie Mays SGC-6 (MBA-Gold) selling for $37,800...estimate was $18,000.
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle PSA-2.5 (From golfing legend Fred Couples) selling for $158,600...record was $80,000.
1953 Bowman Color Mickey Mantle PSA-8.5 selling for $55,000...record was $43,000.
1955 Topps Hank Aaron PSA-8 (MBA-Silver) selling for $20,300...record was $11,500.
1955 Topps Hank Aaron PSA-9 selling for $88,500...record was $80,000.
1955 Topps Jackie Robinson PSA-9 selling for $232,000...record was $93,000!!!
1956 Jackie Robinson PSA-9 selling for $88,500...record was $37,200.
1957 Roberto Clemente PSA-8.5 selling for $9,100...record was $5,000.
1958 Sandy Koufax PSA-9 selling for $37,800...record was $10,500.
1961 Roger Maris PSA-9 selling for $14,000...record was $10,300.
1966 Mickey Mantle PSA-9 selling for $67,000...record was $33,200!!!
1968 Pete Rose PSA-10 selling for $94,500...record was $26,000!!!
1969 Mickey Mantle White Letters PSA-8 (MBA-Silver) selling for $112,800...record was $74,400!
1971 Bert Blyleven PSA-8.5 selling for $4,150...record was $1400.
1973 Hank Aaron PSA-10 selling for $62,000...record was $59,000.
1974 Nolan Ryan PSA-10 selling for $82,300...record was $60,000.
1976 Johnny Bench PSA-10 selling for $28,000...record was $19,000.
1975 George Brett PSA-9 selling for $15,200...record was $10,300. (I dropped out at $9,000)
1963 Carl Yastrzemski PSA-9 selling for $28,000...record was $5,000!!! (I sold mine to a board member not too long ago for $5,000, Ouch!...Nice buy Brad!) And mine was much better...here are the two (2) PSA-9s:
Another interesting lot was a 1975 Tom Seaver PSA-9 (regular issue) selling for $3660 with an estimate of $12,000. It received only one (1) bid. Recently in REA monthly auction (March 2026), there was another 1975 Tom Seaver PSA-9 (regular issue) which sold for the mind-blowing price of $420 w/BP! I assume the winner in the Heritage Auction saw no bids (going into tonight's close) with an estimate of $12,000...and thought it was a steal.
My only win was this card...1970 Nolan Ryan SGC-9 (MBA-Gold)...
Share your winnings...as well as your observations and thoughts.
Comments
Monte - good information and high end vintage HOF cards continue to bring high prices across the board. We talked about this one at lunch a week or so ago, and it ended about where I expected at a little over $30k with hammer - believe the previous high was $24,600 for a PSA 8. This one was centered well and had strong eye appeal.
Big Fan of the 1968 Pete Rose. Have always like the card/ Picked up 2 8's about 6 months ago for $375 or $400. Wow what a number it received.
Nolan Ryan cards only go one direction and that is straight up.
Crazy price on the Brett. Wow.
I don’t understand what you wrote about a 1975 Tom Seaver psa 9. It should have an estimate nowhere close to 12k and should sell nowhere close to 3.6 k. The one you said sold for $420 is right around the correct value.
Can you explain? Was it a Psa 10 at heritage and not a 9 ?
@Darin According to VCP the Seaver did indeed sell for $3,660
There was an REA March Auction 2026 in which a 1975 Tom Seaver (regular issue, not a mini) PSA-9 sold for $420 including BP (bid x 1.23). Fast forward to the latest Heritage Auction which closed this weekend...there was another 1975 Tom Seaver (regular issue, not mini) PSA-9 given an estimate by Heritage of $12,000 (probably a mistaken estimate listed by Heritage. Note, estimates are not shown after auction ends) with an initial starting bid of $3000 (also a mistaken initial bid by Heritage)! There were no bids until the close last night when a bidder placed that initial bid of $3000...and won it at $3660 ($3000 x 1.22). Unbelievable, but true...
Here is the link:
https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball-cards/singles-1970-now-/1975-topps-tom-seaver-370-psa-mint-9/a/50084-80825.s?ic2=mytracked-lotspage-lotlinks-12202013&tab=MyTrackedLots-101116
Name your price...and someone will come.
Can't say that's a total shock, though. I've had people nuke cards in the past to go WAAAYYY over logical pricing structure. However, if Heritage screwed up the listing and the buyer could claim they were misled, who knows....
Thank you, that is just a crazy price for that card. Wow! 😳😳
I used to have one and never thought a psa 9 would ever sell for that much.
My biggest mistakes in the hobby involve 1975 topps regular cards. Sold a Psa 9 Brett for $500 and a PSA 9 Aaron card #660 for $800. Of course both were years ago. The Aaron was a real beauty.
i also can not believe how much nolan ryans cards are going for. anything in a nine and a ten grade are just selling for amazing amounts.
a nolany ryan psa 8 went for 1800. i have never seen that kind of price maybe thinking that if regraded it might get a nine.
about a year and a half ago, I went on the limb for me and bought an SGC 9 1975 Mini Ryan for $1,600. THat's the most I have spent on a card in my life. I wasn't real sure about it. BUt at this point if feels a lot better.
Bought a 1986 Fleer psa 9 RYAN from 4sc about 9 months ago for $40, now it's almost $100.
i wish i could have spent the money a year ago on a 1974 psa topps nolan ryan they were going about two hundred now twice that much now. i went ahead and got a centered psa 7 a year ago. it is going for good price now i still wish i had a eight.
Keith (KC) and I met for lunch recently to discuss cards. I collected in the 60s growing up…and the next generation like Keith collected in the 70s. When talking about the high prices for cards in the 70s, we concluded the next generation now has disposable income …and wants those cards that they collected as kids in high-end condition…9s and 10s.
For some reason Heritage tends to find really foolish bidders at times that pay 3-4x market on cards or lots. It truly amazes me. That said, they also sometimes provide tremendous bargains. I picked up a lot for $3,700 that I value at over $13,000 because they totally botched the description in the title. But I am not complaining!
Late 60's and early to mid 70's non-sports
Holy crap Monte - I never sell cards but might have to turn the Yaz into a '51 Mays.
Sort of interesting that condition rarity continues to be a driving force among HOF players. I see the ‘55 Robinson in PSA 9 at $232K as the biggest surprise.
I suspect that there might be a handful of card collectors that have second thoughts about vintage cards mainly due to valuations. Just to gently remind folks here, there are many many affordable cards that can be bought without breaking the bank that are representative of MLB history.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
If anything the average collector is priced out of the vintage HOF market. It's become a hobby segment only for the wealthy or foolhardy.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
Brad,
The back on the Heritage 9 Yaz is off-centered. Yours is exceptional. I think it could receive an MBA-Gold diamond. For sure, a silver diamond after which your ‘63 Yaz PSA-9 sells north of $40,000. With the proceeds of that sale, you would be able to buy a PSA-7 Willie Mays RC!
Definitely more than a hobby today, which is what it was when I started collecting back in the 1980s and 1990s. It’s also an investment commodity today!
It is still a hobby for many of us.
The 55 Robinson referenced above can be had every day of the week, in collector grade, for under 1k, as low as 400 bucks.
This one was $750:
Last comment - the difficulty in hitting high grades has resulted in an absolute ton of under graded cards. I’d argue it’s an amazing time to be a collector, with so many mint cards in exmt holders. I get how frustrating it is as a submitter, but my god I see lots of Beautiful stuff in new holders at affordable prices. But, your ego needs to be able to handle not having the “best” stuff, and instead just great stuff.
they changed the way they grade the surface. almost no opc 10's will be handed out for 1981 and older going forward and very few from 1982 - 1989. The card stock was flimsy and if stored correctly would be distorted. For the regular topps cards, the cardboard they used was the cheapest they could find. The reason SGC has very few 10's is they grade the surface really hard and always have. One could argue that a 9.5 sgc could be better than some/most PSA 10's from 1986 and older.
On the flip side sgc doesn't knock the card down quite as much for the surface issues. So a PSA 7 can easily be a SGC 8 because of this.
Just my experience lately.
I would be thrilled if it nets me a PSA 5 ecstatic with a 5.5 or a 6.
Brad
It seems intuitive that if the graders have been much more restrictive and harsh the past few years in how they're handing out higher grades that will inevitably mean fewer high grades. That's going to lead to less quantity and higher prices.
Is it just speculation and when does it become a bubble?
This is an everything bubble, we need a good deep recession to reset. Which appears to be on the way.
not a chance...
Agree very unlikely and nobody should be wanting it to happen. People suffer during recessions.
Less than 50%, but general consensus puts it around 2-3x more likely than normal. From a policy perspective the best way to avoid a deep recession is to accept reality as it is. Difficult politically though hence why it happens.
edit to add: I think the Sportscard market is on fire. Vintage is amazing right now. Signed stuff is amazing right now. That could continue regardless the overall economy as the number of people coming into the hobby is increasing and, as many people predicted, many of those people are being introduced also to vintage.
Give it whatever name you please. High profile quality cards won’t suffer at the hands of economic stress where disposable income still exists.
Moody's top economist says we're probably already in one. (I really hope he's wrong)
Double post
I mean they happen once every 6-8 years, and are healthy. But, ok, if you say so.
Wanting it to happen (or not happen) and acknowledging it is likely to happen are two different things. Yes people suffer but thats no reason to ignore what is going on around us. Massive layoffs, limited job growth, wage stagnation. And wait until the inflation report this Friday, back to 2022 levels of inflation.
This is NOT political, these cycles are normal. The idea that we should never go into recession is behind the massive printing of money, and why the boat I almost bought in 2016 for 80k is 160k now. I can’t predict when this thing tips over, or what the impact on sportscards will be, but anyone that thinks markets and economies don’t course correct is suffering from serious recency bias.
I have heard the same gloom and doom for years and always from the same group of people. I will believe it when it actually happens. For every expert that says we will have a recession there's another one saying the opposite.
You've uncovered how probabilities work dude. Bravo!
Mass layoffs from government and tech companies. The March job report showed high increases in new jobs. Inflation cannot jump from 2.8 to 9.8 which is what it was 16 months ago in 1 month
You must watch CNN for financial news
Very close to politics folks -- you know the rules!
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
I repeat: Cards. Valuable cards. Cards which are valuable are good. Good to have. Good to buy. Cards. For money. Lots of it. Let’s get this back on track.
Those numbers are pretty bogus anyways.
You are at at even 4000 post milestone in 2 years 2 months. Thats decent amount per day
and yes Heritage rarely is truthful about anything.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Not even a minute do I buy the whole buh buh buh I'm a man-child japery - Me (2025)
Yeah. The ‘75 Topps Seaver, now that’s some hot rockets right there. 😉
There is a 10/10 89 UD Griffey in the May auction with a Heritage estimate of $30,000.
Some really excellent vending lotto tickets... I am really curious where that Griffey lands.
High end cards are on fire but anything less is just normal and rises with inflation and standard of living increases. I don't see middle tier cards on fire. Just the top cards are going crazy.
Does anyone have a chart for what's considered "Top Tier" or "High End"? There also might be outliers due to condition sensitive cards during manufacturing...
Example (just making this up)
up to 1959 - PSA 5 and above
1960 - 1970 - PSA 6 and above
1971 - 1980 - PSA 7 and above
etc...
Great question. I am curious myself.
There are plenty of other areas within the hobby or business where pricing and value remain stable. Identifying those areas is a challenge when people’s demands and interests change so quickly, however, “high end” is rather simple to figure out based on the subject matter and quality of such. It’s always been that way.
I had some political signed items in the auction that did OK.
I had some of my type 1 PSA slabbed 1940s photos (Gehrig Williams Ruth) that IMO did poorly. So, Mixed bag.
HOF SIGNED FOOTBALL RCS