Tom,
Yes, I saw that also there were multiple bidders above the final price that Leon's W511 cards achieved. That is what didn't make sense and why I brought it up. I was wondering if there was some credence to the point one person made about the auction getting better results if a different AH were used. It certainly isn't a PSA versus SGC issue as I wouldn't call the W511 cards a normal set that someone would try to establish as the top set on the PSA registry. And besides, PSA only gave it an Authentic grade whereas SGC gave both of Leon's cards a numerical grade.
I'm guessing the Ebay bidders were possibly not bidding in the Heritage auction, or even aware of it. I am sure there are a lot of people that bid on Ebay that don't use auction houses because they either don't know, or don't care, about the AHs, or may even figure that they would pay more through an AH what with the buyer's premium and such that usually gets tacked on to the hammer price. In this case, it turned out to be just the opposite, and only three days after Leon's auction ended!
I was thinking that with the National and some other really great auctions all just ending within a couple weeks of Leon's auction, is it possible there was too much saturation of great, high priced items out there in such a short period of time that potential buyer's held back on items such as these W511 cards? Huggins & Scott's auction ended a week earlier than Leon's, then there was also the LOTG auction that ended prior to last Thursday, and don't forget the big auctions that were taking place and closed during the National. And then there is the National itself where people save up to attend and often make large purchases.
Don't get me wrong, this was a great auction and I think Leon did very well but, I'm also beginning to think he may have left some money on the table due to the timing of when it occurred. I'm guessing the original thought was that having it right after the National would allow for people to see the items and build more interest, and therefore, more bidding. I also noticed that some people posting in this thread mentioned they were a little surprised at how quickly everything closed, despite the 30 minute, lot by lot, carryover bidding. It seemed that some people felt there would be many items remaining open for bidding a lot longer than they were. I'm wondering if there was just too much, too soon, and it ended up effecting Leon's prices realized since his seems to be the last big auction/sale in such a short time frame?
Anyway, just my opinion and something I thought others may like to weigh in on. And besides the two W511 Ruth cards, were there any other lots anyone felt were way underbid?
Bob C
|