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T206CollectorI won the Carter Plank in Mastro on Friday night. And I have a few, albeit self-serving, thoughts about the whole process.
Notwithstanding the fact that I paid through the nose for Carter's substantially beat up SGC 10 Plank (Friday Night Mastro), I believe I was helped by REA's auction for the PSA 1 Plank the next night (Saturday Night REA). First of all, there were half a dozen people who e-mailed me along the way and after that told me they were interested in a beater Plank for about $8,000-$10,000. But it was obvious to me all along -- given the trimmed colorless issue that went for $13K last year -- that it would take meaningfully over $15,000 to acquire one, regardless of condition. And, a lot of people said they were more interested in REA's PSA 1 since it was in better condition than Mastro's SGC 10. So, I believe a number of bidders said, "well, if I'm going to spend over $15K on a 1, then I'll just bid on the cleaner REA PSA 1 the next night." And, I thought about doing just that myself, but when two people opt not to bid on one thing in order to save their bid for the next thing, that will lower the price on the first and raise the price on the second. There just had to be that mindset among at least two bidders, since, again, I was really super close to joining that fray, too. So I concentrated on the earlier auction, knowing that whatever the SGC 10 sold for on Friday, the PSA 1 would sell for more on Saturday. Indeed, prices in later auctions are almost always driven by prices in earlier auctions, so long as there are more than 2 interested bidders in both.
So, again, I thank those that punted the Mastro SGC Plank in favor of bidding on the REA PSA 1 Plank. I think you kept the Mastro SGC Plank at a reasonable price (all things considered), while the next day driving up the value of Plank 1's generally. I understand my SGC 10 is in much worse shape than the REA PSA 1, but when people talk about prices for PSA 1 Planks, that number will now start a $20,000. It will be interesting to see the next sales price of another Plank in comparable condition. I happen to think, given Wagner's escalation, that Plank and Magie have begun to and will continue to follow suit. In the 1980's, Lipset said that Plank was valued at about 25% of Wagner. While that number has certainly gotten smaller, there are just way too many people putting together T206 sets today not to drive up the prices of the ultra scarcities. People balked at beater Wagners selling for $20,000 years ago, too.
In short, I don't think the REA consignors got hurt by the Planks that sold the previous night. I think they benefited. I'm not sure the consignors of the Planks from the previous night could say the same thing. But I do agree that Planks (and Magies) will be breaking price records for the foreseeable future.