I know I shouldn't but it is so much fun (SMR)

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Posted By: warshawlaw 

I was browsing through the junk I brought home from Cleveland and came across the SMR. What a friggin' joke! Anyone have the following cards for me at full SMR:

N172: Duffy, Ewing, Brouthers, Griffith, Hamilton, Hanlon, McCarthy, Robinson, all in 4 all for $700 each.

T204 Ramly: Plank 4 $400

E254 Colgan's: Wagner 4 $150 and 5 $275

E90-1: Baker, Bender, Chance, Joss, Marquard, Tinker, all at vg-ex 4 and all at $100

M116: Wood 4 $75

E106: Bender, Bresnahan, Collins, crawford, evers, marquard, all at 4 and all at $125

M101-5: Weaver 7 $220, Wood 7 $200--I'd really love to locate these cards at these prices...

I could go on and on. These prices are a joke. I would be ashamed to put out such a crappy magazine. What group of monkeys throwing darts came up with these prices?

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Posted By: The Other One (Julie)

And the N172s--they're each graded "4"? Yes, send me--all of them, please.

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Posted By: Josh K.

W - just out of curiousity, what did you get the E90-1 Baker for? I assume (being new to this) that those prices are low. I just bought an E90-1 sgc 50 baker for significantly more than 100.

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Posted By: Elliot

Josh, that was Adam's point. The prices that he quoted are the prices that the SMR (Sportscard Market Report) puts the current price at. He's saying that he'd take any of those cards at that price. He's aware that the current market price (which the SMR purports to report) is significantly higher, as evidenced by the price you paid for your Baker.

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Posted By: David Vargha

So SMR is off . . big deal. No serious collector abides by it anyway. This is certainly very old news.

DavidVargha@hotmail.com

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Posted By: The Other One (Julie)

if I can help it, this all seems very surprising. Why doesn't the SMR toot its own horn, and present inflated, rather than deflated prices? Isn't the (main) object to get you to get your cards graded? And if it's to get you to buy graded cards--well, one search for a PSA 4 Griffith will tell you they don't come at that price (unless they're very pale and/or very pink). Same with the other cards listed...no way.

Apparently, as Elliot says, this is business as usual. But why?

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Posted By: Josh K.

For s/o who is new to vintage cards, other than past ebay sales, what is the best way to determine the true market price for vintage cards. It seems somewhat difficult to rely solely on ebay as there just arent enough sales for many of the older cards. Once you get to the 50's, there seems to be enougth sales to get a good idea. But early 1900's, I feel like Im often guessing.

By the way, I got my Baker for 190. I thought I had overpaid despite believing that the SMR value was very low.

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Posted By: hankron

When I first came out with my guide to early baseball photos, I included brief lists of prices-- examples to show the range. Though the guide still exists, the prices do not. There were a vareity of reasons for the prices' removal, including my realization that some readers took them seriously.

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Posted By: honus3415

Somehow I can't believe there are enough pre-1930 cards sales records (on any card graded higher than a 2 and except for maybe some Ruths and Cobbs) to accurately determine a current market value for any point in time.

Just how many of those even exist at those grades? Then...just how often do those change hands?

Sounds to me like somebody's brother's sister's next door neighbor's cousin seen one sell once for that so that must be the SMR. But then hasn't that been pretty much the way it has always been......lets see we have this big panel of dealers providing input on cards that they don't even have or might sell one of in a year if they are lucky....so why change now?

Although that one just might help ease my conscience if I ever rip off an old lady of that box of cards her grandfather had left her.

Sounds like how I used to get scammed when dealers would use an old tattered guide for buying off me and the one with wet ink when selling to me.

Personally, the only usefulness I've ever found for ANY pricing guide is as a checklist.

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Posted By: Don J.

Josh K,

Just so you don't feel like you overpaid for your E90-1 Baker, about 6 months ago, I sold a PSA 5 Baker for over $900 on Ebay - granted this was unusual but with many of these cards with low populations, the sky is the limit if at least 2 people with deep pockets want the card!

SMR significantly needs to revamp their pre-war section to reflect the current reality. In cases where they say they do not have enough market data, that is baloney. If there are only one or two cards for sale in any given period - say 3-6 months, then that is the current market value! They just don't want to spend the time or $ tracking current prices. As one of the last posters stated, sometimes this seems counterintuitive to a company that is touting graded card prices???

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I bought a couple of HOFers at the National in vg for $100 each and was very happy to do so.

My point is that the PSA book is a mess, not that it is mess high or low. It is a mess both ways. "I pity the fool" who uses their book as a guide, although I LOVE the sellers who do so on cards like the ones I referenced.

You also have to wonder about the sanity of price guide editors who start their guide at vg-ex for prewar cards. I mean, really, how many collectors go after these cards in 4 or better? I'm purchsing 2's and 3's mostly from the T, E and N sets.

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Posted By: Davalillo

"Managements" only response to this issue is send in your changes and we will consider them. They have nobody dedicated to the publication full-time and the impression one gets from the cu boards is that the prez wants collectors to suggest changes with documentation and he will consider them.

The prices are so out of touch this is an embarrasment to PSA.

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Posted By: Marc S.

particularly when it came to pre-war cards. That being said - I thought most of us here preferred SGC for most of the issues mentioned anyway - SGC or raw, in fact. Although SMR is a joke on these issues - most of them are fairly recent additions to SMR, so perhaps it will get a little better with time - probably not, but perhaps. SMR seems to cater to the big $$$$ 8 and better collectors, anyway. And, unfortunately, it seems like there really is no truly dependable guide for pricing for any of these issues. What are your other choices? Beckett? Lemke's Big Book? All serve their own purposes and seem to do it well - but I do not know of a single collector that uses any of those guides for their buy/sell prices.

~ms

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Posted By: tbob

and send them to me, I'll pay 150% SMR for PSA 4s, 5s and 6s any day of the week.
The worst SMR values are for the T207s. It doesn't even differentiate between Recruit (common) backs and the 3 scarce backs (Anonymous, Cycle, Broadleaf). Again, just bundle up those scarce back cards and send them on to me, I'll pay 200% SMR for these babies which aren't even listed in the SMR except as "commons."

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Posted By: Fred Richter

I have 195 1933 goudeys, including 35 hall of famers which incllude the 4 Babe Ruths. Trying to get a decent estimate is almost impossible from these traders and buyers. Most of the cards are in beautiful condition with bright vivid colors. I am the original collector as a boy of 12 years in 1933. Anyone have any ideas?

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Posted By: Josh K.

Fred -

Im not sure I can answer your question as to the best way to determine the value of your cards, but, please let me know if you are interested in selling any of them.

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Posted By: jay behrens

The best thing to do is try and found out if any reputable dealers are in your area, or let us know what area you live in. I am sure someone would be more than willing to check out your collection for you.

Jay

I like to sit outside, drink beer and yell at people. If I did this at home I would be arrested, so I go to baseball games and fit right in.