Posted By:
T206CollectorQuan,
First of all, your assumptions are wrong -- I am trying to keep my average above SGC 40, but many of the HOFers that I have are 50's, 60's, 70's and one 80. I have a ton of filler that needs upgrading. Moreover, I am not interested in high grade collectors of Goudey Gum cards or Play Ball cards or Topps or Bowman, for that matter. I am really interested in the high grade T206 collectors. (In any event, I don't believe that the PSA 8 collectors go after much pre-WWI stuff other than T206, which happens to be my passion.)
I personally am trying to understand the mentality of those who collect higher than SGC 80 T206 cards, because I have always stayed away from such cards, not only because of cost -- and by this, I don't exclusively mean ability to purchase, I mean that I'd rather have 100 $20 T206 cards than 1 $2,000 card -- but because of a distrust of the grading system for cards that look so sharp 100 years later. So far, the only answers seem to be "I don't care if it may be trimmed, as long as there's another person waiting to pay me big bucks for it." Well, to me, that is a pyramid scheme.
I guess you are suggesting that since I don't collect higher than SGC 80 cards then I shouldn't be concerned about the interests of those that do. That is a fair point, but this forum is about collecting pre-war baseball cards, and I am interested in the mindset of those dropping $10,000 on cards that I would never buy raw because one grading company, on one day back in 1994 said a card is the mintiest. Well, why do we hold that opinion up as the end-all be-all of opinions on a card of such value?
[Paul, if the Johnson above is "presumptively trimmed" why will it sell for 11K? Perhaps it is just presumptively trimmed in your home.]
By the way, the card sold for $8,983 -- $2,000 under that estimate. Is it unreasonable to suspect it was because a number of people with the ability to pay more dropped out over concerns about this particular Johnson card?