How Important Is Provenance To You?

[Tsaiko]

It's been over 50 years since a relative handed down their baseball cards and other memoribilia to me. I've treasured these beautiful cards and memoribilia for the longest time and have finally decided to sell most of them. My family pleaded with me to sell them in the '60's, but the sentimental value far outweighed the monetary value, so I have held on to these for all this time. I had forgot that I had stashed the bulk of the cards in my childhood home. I have just found a treaure trove of cards while moving my mom into an assisted living situation.

Most of the cards that I have personally carried with me were sold recently. There were three offers made for almost the entire collection, and feeling like I was losing a part of me, I turned them all down. Eventually one of the bidders almost doubled their offer and I couldn't refuse. I've spent a lot of time researching each and every card (a lot of the info and related sites I have learned from this forum, so thanks), so I know I got a really good offer. After the deal was done, I asked the new owner why they offered so much and the answer was provenance. It was because they knew that these cards were never circulated or traded and that they knew the circumstances and the history of the original collector and that made my collection more desirable to them.

So I'm really curious to know if provenance is important to other collectors and if they would pay more for a card if they knew the exact, short, and possibly interesting history of a particular card. If the person who bought the collection is reading this, I didn't remember these other cards I had stashed, so when I said that was the whole collection I was not trying to be deceitful and will certaintly contact you before anything else gets offered.

So, provenance, important or you couldn't care less?

Thanks,