Yes this auction there was no true reason for the highs and not so high on some of the cards

Like to me this card where Ruth looks like he is a cartoon in prison went for $28k.

Unique for the Grade” & the Finest 1933 R337 Eclipse Import #402 Babe Ruth PSA 7 NM – “Pop 1” & the Highest Graded Example for ALL 24 SUBJECTS on the Combined PSA & SGC “Pop” Charts!

On the flip side I thought who ever won the Felix Mendelssohn Ruth for $43k did really good. I thought the price was light.

The 2 1926-29 Ruth Exhibit Postcards 1 went for less then 5k and 1 less then $4k. I think those buyers did well also.

The Goudey Ruth’s and the 1921 and e121 Ruth’s throwing pose seem to go for strong prices.

The 1922 w575-1 Ruth throwing pose seemed to go for less than I thought it should have

Then there was the 1933 Cigar Ruth and the 1922 e121 photo montage Ruth I believe those went for about the right price

I won the two Marriot Signed Art Prints lots ! I was so happy. The 3 Mantles, Two Willie Mays and one Bob Feller :-(

I was bidding on several of those Ruths. The 1922 w575 I would have much a much stronger play for had I not spent the same amount on the Michael Jordan/Lebron James dual auto card. Had someone bid me off of that card, I was planning to win that Ruth. It was still quite a bit lower than I would have gone on it. I pegged it in the $45k-$60k range value-wise. And yes, I thought that Felix Mendelssohn Ruth went cheap as well. I felt under bankrolled and underprepared for this auction. I think there were a lot of opportunities missed in this one.

Happy to say I was able to snag the Felix Mendelsohn Ruth! Really excited for this one!

Wow Congratulations on picking up the Mendelssohn Ruth

Welcome to the family

Thanks Jeff! You have a great copy! I actually had/ have an sgc 1 I got last year too, this is an upgrade for me! Might be my favorite Ruth I think!

Congrats Erick, love that card too.

Thanks Jeff!

Erick, fantastic upgrade!

Thanks Pete!

Congrats Erick. I am glad it went to a well deserved home. I woke up last night at 4am eastern and came very close bidding on it, but I didn’t, and knowing you won it makes me happy I didn’t bid (or at least bid you up).

It always amazing me what the set registry will make people do. PSA 9 sold for $2500 last year.

https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=61710

52 Topps PSA common for $64k

Thanks Ryan! Me too :D

I've always felt the same way (about what people will pay for PSA 10 commons from the '50s), but I can at least understand this one a little more.

You so rarely have a '52 T PSA 10 hit the marketplace. I can't remember seeing any in the two years I've been back in the hobby, though I easily could've missed something during that time.

Given how '59 T PSA 10 commons could fetch $10 k pre-pandemic (and 7 x more of them exist), I'm not too surprised to see a hallowed '52 commanding $64 k

I mean, to each his own, and whatever floats your boat, but it's not like you walk down the street and are mobbed like Paul McCartney or Mick Jaeger because you moved up from 41th to 39th on a PSA registry. Amazing people feel so strongly about it.

I agree. A $30 raw card.

$63,970 buys a great Jagger-esque party, complete with endless hookers and blow.

[QUOTE=Snowman;2152699]Out of curiosity, why did you think this would only go for $25-30k? Were you more just hoping for that, or did you research recent comparable sales first that led you to believe that was it's range?


Your question was to another member here but since I was looking at it as well, I thought I could answer as to the why the $25-$30k range on the Young. Last sale (which was awhile ago) was about $10k if memory serves. PSA 7 HoF guys (think Johnson, Mathewson) were in the mid-high teens recently and a 7.5 sold in the low $40ks less than a year ago. Using those data points and knowing the pop report show them all somewhat similar made me come to that conclusion.

I don't think it was a registry buy for whomever bought it but I can't be sure. Regardless, it was a gorgeous 7!

...and here's my big 3 from my set. I wanted the 7 but am pretty happy w/my 6!!

Agreed. I always found it absurd, that in the sports card world— or perhaps these days the best word is "market"— there are those who will pay exponential price increases for infinitesimal (if any) increase in card quality.

The recent Memory Lane auction bears this silly dynamic out in so many cards. Just take any of those PSA 9 Mantles. There has never and will never be any convincing this collector that a tiny degree of sharper corner here or there makes a "9" worth $400,000 more than an "8." Paying more for overall eye appeal that I can actually see when holding and viewing the card, that I get. Paying such a multiplier over other readily available options just for the sticker— a sticker applied by a company that has had so many widely known miscues? Seems crazy to me. But as many have said in the hobby, "the Registry is a powerful drug." That's always been a perfect analogy, because gobs of money have certainly been spent on drugs by addicts.

From the first day I got into hobby I was buying PSA and SGC about equally, so never paid any mind to the whole registry concept.

Portrait PSA 1 MK $4,554.00
Batting SGC 1 3,421.00

I thought the batting pose went a bit light; the portrait was right for the grade. I think all of those 1920s exhibit Ruth cards are soon going to be $5k+ cards in virtually any condition.

It is a very powerful drug. I have one psa registered set - my 526 card t206 set. Initially, I didn’t care about the grade composition, but later decided that (excluding the big 6), I wanted all commons in at least a 5 and all HOFers in at least a 6. And as I started upgrading my set, I started moving up the registry, which I liked. And some cards are weighted more, so I found myself considering Zach Wheat in a 7 merely because his card was weighted a 4 vs other HOFers who are weighted 3. It’s stupid, but I fully got caught up. And then I got to #4, stayed there a week until the guy I jumped made an acquisition to take back #4. My first thought was what can I do to get back into 4??!! Anyway, only need two more commons in a 5+ and I have all HOFers in a 6+, and, to some dealers’ dismay, I have decided to stop upgrading. But I can tell you first hand that the registry is like crack.

As much as I have issues with PSA, I will concede that the registry is nothing short of sheer genius and, in my opinion, the sole reason why SGC will always play second fiddle

Hi Ryan,

I do not totally understand the weighting of it to get on the list and to move up or down it.
But I do disagree with 1 premise.
In my opinion yours should be #1 because your shows as the only set 100% complete. That should be the biggest weighted factor in my opinion.
Regardless you have a great set and congratulations on it

+2. I loved that green T206 Cobb. If I didn't have one, and had the money, that one was a keeper. Beautiful card. I have paid 2x vcp for the best of the best. And will do it all over again. (hopefully)

Ryan, I commend you for this most insightful post AND for your ongoing willingness to share various aspects of your collection with us, which most collectors with fabulous collections don't do. Whether you are #4, #5 or #6 on PSA's T206 set registry, your accomplishment is tremendous, IMHO.

Adam I love the Ruth Exhibits--I was the buyer on the Batting SGC 1---I also just had these 2 graded by SGC (thanks for your help)---Don---I also love all the color variations on the 1926-29 (can drive you crazy)

Thanks Jeff and Val. I guess I was 5th and then got pushed to 6th :(

Maybe one day I will pay way too much for some BS upgrade, just to jump Joey for a few days before he does the same and over takes me. And, of course, it will be wholly unacceptable if Brady jumps me, so if I drop to 7th than I will have to email Bill B and pay up for some Southern Leaguers in a 6+ (bc they are weighted 2), so I can put Brady back in his place! The registry is literally a crack-infused, digital dick-size competition and it’s amazing what some of (us) dicks will pay to be one spot higher. I mean, look how close I am to having an average grade of 6…. For a mere $50k at most, I could get there. Seriously, it was the most brilliant thing PSA did and the reason it will (unfortunately, bc they are not good at their job) stay on top.

Am I the only once who has got emailed 3 of the same invoices since yesterday afternoon?

I got the email twice. I guess they are reminding us to pay.

No, you are not.

Also, they made this big charade about their zelle email had changed, and never once put what it was. (Spoiler ) I dont think it changed

I got two as well.

Chad

I don't buy the weighted average of a less than complete set. The first denominator should be a complete run, everything else after that.

I was equally confused by this. A complete set should trump all.

I'm fine with the weighted average of a less than a complete set as long as you receive a weight of zero for the cards you are missing.

So in a 10 card set, if I have 9 PSA 9s but am missing the 10th card, that should yield a higher score than someone with all 10 cards graded as PSA 8s since 9x9 is 81 and 10x8 is 80.

In theory you could have 520, missing the big 4 and still take top spot. I don't know how they weight these things, it's not my bag, but without the big 4 you shouldn't take precedent over a 524 complete set. Just my opinion.

I was bidding on the portrait pose. But the pinholes eventually caused me to hesitate. I'll have to wait for another opportunity.

With noticeable paper loss no less. Oh well, so long as PSA missed it, it's all good.

If you have a PSA 1 Wagner wouldn't that be worth 10 points? That is equal 2 PSA 5 commons. Their weighting system doesn't always make sense.

A few thoughts
 

1) As Floyd points out - the weighting system in at least some cases makes NO sense! Years ago I asked how they determine the weights - I was told by PSA that the weight is based on the value of the card in PSA 8 - the higher the value, the higher the weight. With that information, I dove deep into the weighting in the Clemente master set registry and found numerous weights that made no sense - at the time I sent sales records on a bunch of cards and was able to influence the changing of a number of weights. I've just thrown up my hands and stepped a bit back from the registry since.

2) In addition, as Ryan so clearly points out, the registry being a significant price driver for PSA slabs, I do believe that PSA invests A LOT more $$ and does a LOT better job branding their company than any of the other grading companies. As I share with many at shows, my experience is that while the quality of grading (for better AND worse) is equivalent between PSA and SGC, PSA so far has maintained stronger market prices for equivalent grades.

3) Also agree with Matty about the price differential between as an example 8's and 9's given what those "in the know" know about the gross inconsistency (on a good day) in the grading process. Clearly there are deep pocketedd newer buyers that have much to learn. That said, there may be enough of them that in a practical sense it will not matter.


All of the above notwithstanding, it seems impossible to ignore some of the jaw dropping hammer prices on so many items

So, because of the weighting system, could you theoretically have a PSA 10 Wagner and no other T206s and have, like the #3 set on the registry?

Agree w/you, Ryan as learning about the weighting makes choices for cards very interesting. Agree w/you on the Wheat, too. I found a good deal on a 7.5 and when I saw the weighting, it became a no brainer.

As always, great set! I'll never be 100% complete but happy w/my 521. Hoping to get closer to your set but not looking forward to the 150-200 commons I need to upgrade...haha!!

The Registry was certainly a genius creation from the perspective of PSA, and how it ensnared so many participants.

Its salient feature, in my opinion, is how it got (and continues to get) so many collectors to spend money on cards they never really wanted, and would never really want, were it not for The Registry.

I, too, was once into it— and then I realized how deep into the weeds I had wandered. How far off course I had gotten, when I compared what originally would have satisfied me to what I was actually pursuing. The Registry also gets collectors to spend more time looking at other's sets with competitive eyes than looking at one's own cards with simple and pure enjoyment. And the cherry of lunacy atop all that, is that most Registry sets don't even feature pictures, so you wind up looking at a web page in a remote corner of the internet that shows only a grid with cards and opinions from graders who get it wrong a good deal of the time.

For me, the epiphany— or should I say intervention— came when my brother took me to task for spending thousands on commons. He had such a fresh, genuine, outsider perspective on it, that cut through the fog; he said something like, "Dude, what the &*@# are you doing? You just spent thousands on a Wayne Twitchell. Wayne Twitchell? Who the hell was Wayne Twitchell and why on earth would you spend that much on him? I don't care how few exist with that stupid sticker on it, you can get that same card in almost identical condition for so much less. You're a moron. Go spend that on a player or card you actually always wanted."

And like that, the spell was broken, LOL. I consigned that set and built my collection, going after all the cards I always wanted as a kid. I was back to collecting for myself, not for PSA, or to compete with utter strangers.

A PSA 10 Wagner would only be 100 points. A guy with 21 PSA 5 commons would be higher on the registry than the guy with the PSA 10 Wagner.

I had a pretty similar experience with the 1953 Topps set. It sort of broke my spell with the PSA registry, and I now own zero graded cards as a result.

Excellent, thought-provoking, and well-written post, MattyC. Thank you. -- Brian Powell

You think THOSE weights are ridiculous, the SIGNED WEIGHTS for the 1952 topps are exactly the same as the unsigned weights! You have guys living with a weight of 4 or 5, and guys who died in the 1950s, some with 2 examples known, worth 1 point!

Hmm. Sounds silly.

I think this hobby needs a crowd-sourced registry where collectors (not PSA) determines the value of each card in any grade from all TPGs. If I had the time, I'd build one, but alas, I do not.

See post #23 in the below thread from May. I wonder if it ever grew legs.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showth...72#post2098772

FWIW, which is admittedly nothing, that is my favorite Ruth Exhibit card.

That's cool. Hopefully one of these projects grows into something with broad appeal and adoption.