"Cy" young old put
 

Having a passing interest in the obscure and obscene, back prints, variations and stamps are an interest of mine. To that end, did anyone catch the old put Young in last night's Goldin auction?

https://goldinauctions.com/mobile/lo...dibly_scarce__

Looks like it also sold in a Goodwin auction 4 years ago:

http://www.goodwinandco.com/mobile/l...entoryid=23804

These don't come up very often, so I'm curious to hear opinions about why this card seems to have sold for such a steep loss. Is it a victim of its own scarcity? Is it because the card depicts Irv Young as opposed to ole cy? Are back stamps no longer en vogue? Am I the only one who is interested?

Ouch! that's quite a hit for the seller..

Got a little bump along the way, after the 1/2 point grading came along.

It is a thinly traded card that can have wild swings. One time 2 people had to have it and the other time not so much. I have had it benefit me and also backfire, in close to the same amounts.....more than once.

Leon, I tend to agree with you....I've been on the losing side of that equation more times than I can count. That said, by the last census, on an earlier thread here, there were 19 known old puts. Surely there must be more than 19 folks looking for one. Maybe not?

While Goldin noted the $6K+ sale of the card in Goodwin several years ago, they conveniently neglected to mention the sale of the exact same card in REA in 2015 for $1,920. So, it actually sold for $400 more than it did in its most recent sale.

Scott, thank you for that data point. I totally missed that sale whilst conducting my research.

Yet another reason this board rocks.

Edited to add: this card certainly does get around!

I think also the find of a toytown stamp ...coupled with the myriad of attempted fake back stamps that have been brought to market... in addition to what Leon said are the reasons these cards are very volatile .

Peter - yes that is a valid point. I would imagine it wouldn't be overly difficult to fake a stamp such as this - perhaps formulating the ink would be the toughest part. But then again, it's probably not worth the effort and expense - I mean realistically how many of these things could you churn out before negatively impacting the price? Same with the e94 overprints.

I think that the toy town stamp held a certain je ne sais quoi because of its association with t206. I find the toy town stamp more of a curiosity, and would not pay a premium to obtain an example. The e94 and old put stamps, as well as niagra baking and Alden candy and their ilk were placed on the card by a purveyor of goods in order to facilitate sales, toy town never was....whether this was done contemporaneously with the card's issuance, shortly thereafter or later in life - well, I think that information has been lost to the sands of time, much like tears in rain. And if you see a c-beam glittering in the dark at the tannhauser gate........

There are a few other ways scammers are doing their deeds which hopefully will come out soon. I have in my possession the only fake e94 overprint I am aware of. It was cracked out of an SGC holder after the fact. This was from years ago. I would say we need to be more vigilant than ever today. From my perspective I see issues surrounding T206s more than anything, but all cards, fronts and/or backs can be altered and/or faked...Caveat Emptor....

That sounds juicy. Always curious to learn of new ways people try and scam the collecting world...And yes, T206 makes sense - highly liquid, large volume of cards available, popular, lots of money sloshing around them....Thinking too hard about this sometimes takes the joy out of it all.