e102 "variations" on Ebay tonight --- dismal performance

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Posted By: Brian McQueen

It seems that e102s are starting to heat up in the market a little bit. I had 15 of them in BST a week ago and they all sold immediately. Tonight, the entire set was auctioned off individually on Ebay. Some of the easier cards to find got some really strong prices like the SGC 60 Miller (batting) that went for $999. Many of the commons went well above the market average so Mastro should be very happy with them. The HOFers all turned in a strong performance as well with many exceeding expectations. The only cards that didn't seem to do that well were the four scarce variations.

Keeping in mind that most e102s are very obtainable with the exception of the variations which show up very, very rarely. The Miller fielding in a 20 holder went for $566 when this card in this grade has gone for well over $1000 in the past. I was the underbidder on it and really just trying to take a lucky shot but still, I was one of only two people that bid over $379 on this card. The Doyle batting SGC 40 and Schmidt SGC 20 also seemed to do badly. The Schmidt only reached $306; last year, I remember paying about $800 for this card in a 10 holder. The only variation which seemed to do pretty well was the Wagner fielding but even this one seemed a bit low considering how nice it looked.

So "What happened with those variations" is my question for you all I guess. I've been following this set for a while and have noticed that while the set in general has heated up as of late, the "toughies" all seem to be ice cold. Any thoughts?

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Posted By: quan

brian these toughies are right on par with what they've been doing recently. i was underbidder to you on the doyle w/bat...and was close on the schmidt and miller also. the last few toughies from this set have been won by board members. i don't think the guy just getting started on the set realize these cards are tougher...i'm also starting to wonder whether they really deserve a huge premium either. the so called "toughies" from all the caramel sets have dropped alot since 4-5 years ago.

p.s. the wagner fielding was a nice one!

edit: checking back i was at $405 and bruce at $409 to your doyle batting, so i lied about underbidding

[Archive]

Posted By: Rob D.

Hi Brian,

Your reference to the "entire set" being auctioned made me go back and double-check, because I noticed when the cards were listed a week ago that it appeared it was an entire set minus the Lajoie (it figures). Or did I miss the Lajoie? Any insight on why the Lajoie wasn't included? I've never considered it all that tough.

Thanks, Rob

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Posted By: peter ullman

brian...i won the miller fielding and got beat out on the wagner fielding. i feel the wagner should be worth more than it is and the price realized was a good price for the buyer. the set is pretty tough and is underappreciated.

pete in mn

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian McQueen

Quan - well, I noticed a lot of familiar names winning the other e102s. Guys that I figured if they'd bid aggressively on the commons, they'd drive the variations up well over a grand apiece. I would respectfully disagree with the statement that "set toughies" have decreased in value the past few years. With the advent of the internet, Net 54 and increased information concerning the sets becoming available, many toughies have absolutely blown up in price. You can look no further than the e103 Tenny and Wood on Ebay last month to find examples of that. Both of those exceeded $1800. But caramel toughies that have earned themselves a difficult reputation are significantly increasing in value across the board - e97 cards like Rossman and Steinfeld, the tough e90-1s, e90-3 Hahn, etc..etc.. all increasing in value even compared to other examples in the same set.

Rob - Good eye...this group was missing a Lajoie. I always thought Lajoie was one of the easiest cards in the set so it's funny that it was absent from tonight's run of e102s.

Pete - nice score on the Miller. Darn the luck, if it hadn't been for you, I would have had this variation for under $400 also! Would have been neat because I already have a Wagner fielding and I won the Doyle and Schmidt tonight. That would have given me all four of 'em!

[Archive]

Posted By: quan

brian i've been dabbling in the caramel sets again and that's my observation. it's true with the internet and faster info we also find that these cards are not THAT scarce and probably don't deserve the huge premium. like the e97 steinfeldt, the price for the last psa5 was way less than what i sold a 40 example for a couple years ago. i felt the mastro's e97 tougher cards went for very cheap, like both nichols variation...

used to be these "scarcities" come up once every couple years for the set collectors, now every year there seems to be a couple. of course for some cards you never see (e103 wood/tenney), the prices are still high as 2 guys need it...but next time you take yourself or someone else out of the equation and it'll take a major dip...like the 3rd bid on the e103 wood (winning bid $18xx) was in the $3xx range.

[Archive]

Posted By: quan

also it's not a bad idea that i see these cards are coming down...a couple years ago that wagner fielding would be a 3k+ card. i'm glad when the next one comes up maybe i'll be in contention for one. when i had my e102 set i was waiting for these 4 cards forever and when they came up it was way too pricey.

[Archive]

Posted By: Brian McQueen

I know a few people who have been trying to put the e102 set together and have ended up having to wait around for a couple (or all four) of these variations to appear. I'm sure that the hype and premiums are appropriate and they really do have some low, low pop reports. I hope you're right in that they're coming down. Makes it easier for me to compete as well.

I think that in the end, it just depends on who's needing the card at the time the auction is happening. I guess a couple different people were really needing some of those other cards though. Sort of brings me back to my original post actually....why were those commons that are seemingly available on a weekly basis so sought after but the demand for the variations to finish off the set so low?

Perhaps the people competing are happy with a 25-card player set? Perhaps like Quan said earlier, those bidding might have simply been unaware of the scarcity of those particular variations?

[Archive]

Posted By: Jeff Lichtman

The Chase SGC 5 went for a lot tonight.

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Posted By: B.C.Daniels

how's that w-600 Chase lookin?



BcD

[jas3232]

Just new to this forum but I was wondering if you guys can help me learn something about the e102's. What is the theory on what company issued these? Is it possible that the Schmidt has only seen 9 total cards graded between SGC & PSA? I had 16 of these babies fall into my lap including the Schmidt and Wagner fielding and I'd love to collect the rest and anything of interest that you can share would be greatly appreciated.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by jas3232

Just new to this forum but I was wondering if you guys can help me learn something about the e102's. What is the theory on what company issued these? Is it possible that the Schmidt has only seen 9 total cards graded between SGC & PSA? I had 16 of these babies fall into my lap including the Schmidt and Wagner fielding and I'd love to collect the rest and anything of interest that you can share would be greatly appreciated.

This set, E98 and E101, are still of unknown mfg. You might also do a search on the forum (as you probably did) to find other info. I think the last "discovery" of a mfg was on the E92/E104 Nadja sets, being found to be mfg'd by Blanke-Wenneker..... regards

[4815162342]

[Leon]

Originally Posted by 4815162342

One snaked himself in.....he is banned and I will find a button to delete all of his posts momentarily. My apologies. Every great once in a while this is bound to happen..Welcome to the internet..

[barrysloate]

Looks like he is selling some good meds...wouldn't BST be the best place for it?

[4815162342]

Originally Posted by Leon

One snaked himself in.....he is banned and I will find a button to delete all of his posts momentarily. My apologies. Every great once in a while this is bound to happen..Welcome to the internet..

Did he go through the trouble of emailing his name and phone #?