Book Prices in Mastro Auction

[Jason19th]

The other side of the board was commenting on the price of the Ty Cobb dust jacket, but I was more amazed by the prices for the large book lots 334 and 335 . Am I missing something-- who is paying 5 and 6K for groups of mostly 10-20 dollar books. I know there are a couple of nice books in each lot- but who wants all of the common modern stuff???

[barrysloate]

The pictures make the lots look interesting. It's possible the winner thinks that all the books will be of that quality.

[baseballart]

Barry

I agree with the point that the book presentation makes the lots attractive.

The closed book lots are no longer up on the auction, so I can't be sure what was in each.

There were some titles that would be attractive, such as the Cash Messner if in very nice shape.

The first lot would have been quite intertesting in some of the original dust jackets had been present (McGraw, Thirty Years, Evers, etc). I'm not sure how much a Branch Rickey signature on American in Action adds to the lot.

If I recall the second lot correctly, the only hard to find book was the Moe Berg biography by his sister, which is hard to find in nice shape as it's perfect bound. However, that book wouldn't send me into a bidding frenzy like Busting Em in dj.

It reminds me how I am consistently amazed at how few booksellers put scans of their books on the used book sites such as ABE. I looked again today and put in for a book (offered in Legendary) that didn't have a scan, but the description of which was similar to one of the Legendary titles, albeit at a lower sale price (not Busting em, alas). I guess I'll see whether it was a bargain when the book arrives.

Since the closed book lots aren't up, does anyone know what Harris's Playing the Game (Grosset) sold for? (not the book I bought)



Max

[barrysloate]

Taking an overall view, I thought the book prices were solid and most fell within a range I would have guessed. The Bustin Em was of course off the charts, but most books fell within a +/- 20% range of what I would have predicted. The Richter inscribed to Ruppert was too cheap and I was tempted to put in another bid but didn't. I won only the Peverelly, not because I needed it but because I have never seen one sell that cheap- $1000 with the juice, and when you deduct $75-100 for the presentation box, more like $900. That is likely a record low. But most of the books in the $300-600 range did well, and their condition was a big plus.

[baseballart]

The Grosset playing the game went for $900(!) with the juice. To me, that is far more surprising than the Ty Cobb Busting Em. The Harris book is by no means rare, and the Grosset edition in dust jacket is probably the most common non-fiction baseball dust jacket of the 1920s. The Stokes first edition dust jacket (different image) seems harder to find and harder to find in nice shape, due to the white paper of the dj.

I didn't even see that the Richter was inscribed to Ruppert. However, I just received my catalog for the November Legendary auction two days ago, and I suspect my catalog for this auction will arrive in a few weeks.

[barrysloate]

I wasn't familiar with the Playing the Game dustjacket, but I think what you might have in a situation like that are bidders who think something is very rare, when in fact it isn't. That's just an example of a lack of necessary information for that lot. I thought it was a tough dj myself, so it's a good thing I didn't bid on it.