Dmitri Young Collection

[GasHouseGang]

In case you missed it, there was an article on Dimitri Young in an issue of SMR. To summarize, Dmitri Young spent many years piecing together one of the world's most impressive post-WWII baseball card collections. Not settling for anything but perfection, the Dmitri Young Collection consisted of only cards graded Gem Mint PSA 10. Earlier this year Young sold his collection through SCP Auctions. The results were pretty astounding.

Of the nearly 500 baseball cards from the Dmitri Young Collection, ten went for more than $50,000 each. Six of those reached six figures. Leading the way was a PSA 10 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente, which closed at $432,690. A PSA 10 1954 Topps Hank Aaron sold for $357,594.

As impressive as these numbers are, I think he actually lost money on his collection. Click the link below and it will take you to an article that goes into more about the collection and tells a bit more about Young himself. Enjoy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-major-leaguer-dmitri-young-is-unlikely-owner-of-huge-rookie-baseball-card-collection-.html

[doug.goodman]

The results were pretty astounding... he actually lost money on his collection

Yep, astounding.

Other threads about his collection :

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=150919&highlight=dmitri

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=151413&highlight=dmitri

http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=150464&highlight=dmitri

The third link contains my favorite line from all the threads, which is the one about how a PSA 9 turns into a PSA 10 if you click your heels together three times :

"So when Horton's PSA 9 card popped up on eBay for $400, buying it was a no-brainer. Young sent it to PSA three times, asking that they bump it up to a 10. The third time they did."

Sarcastically,
Doug

[drc]

If you lose money on sales results like those, you probably shouldn't be investing in baseball cards.

[Mrmiamih]

Article makes PSA Look awful

Like they gave in to Dmitri, which is wrong , if the card was a 9 , why was it bumped to a 10, because it was from a MLB player

[doug.goodman]

Article makes _______ Look awful

... if the card was a 9 , why was it bumped to a 10...

For the sake of this conversation, I choose to assume that they had no knowledge of who was submitting the card.

For the sake of this conversation, I choose to not pay attention to the name of the card grading company involved in this specific circumstance.


The fact is that a grading company took a card with a certain grade, and after repeated attempts, turned it into a card with a higher grade, which illustrates why we "raw" guys laugh (and cry) at grading in general.

Doug

[Volod]

Back in the late '80's, when grading started to take off, I thought it was nothing more than a gimmick, aimed at the investing crowd just then getting into the card market. Now, I sneer at it as the scam it really is.

[WhenItWasAHobby]

The fact is that a grading company took a card with a certain grade, and after repeated attempts, turned it into a card with a higher grade, which illustrates why we "raw" guys laugh (and cry) at grading in general.

Doug


How true. Besides the highly volatile subjectivity that goes into grading, the reality that many doctored cards get graded and sell for mucho dinero should terrify any sane person. In fact one Hall of Fame registery member once openly admitted that if he gets a card reject for evidence of trimming, he'll resubmit up to four times until it gets a grade.

[aro13]

I doubt he lost money. The total he spent did not equal what the last auction pulled in but he sold many cards along the way. If he upgraded a 9 to a 10, he would probably have sold the 9.