CLOSING TONIGHT - Love of the Game Auctions Spring Premier Auction
 

Hi everyone:

I hope this email finds you and your loved ones healthy and safe.

Just a reminder that tonight is the closing night of Love of the Game's Spring Premier auction. Extended bidding begins at 9PM eastern time, and the double overtime period begins at 2am.

There are a lot of highlights in this auction, but a few that are particularly relevant to this board:

Lot #1 is a recently-discovered T206 Ty Cobb w/Ty Cobb back.

The auction also features an enormous selection of 1914 and 1915 Cracker Jack - including a complete 1914 set (#5 on the PSA Registry), offered card-by-card, plus all the extra cards issued in 1915, including all the pose and player variations. You can find those here.

Also included in the auction is a host of memorabilia related to the 1919 Black Sox scandal, including cards, autographs, and World Series programs and ticket stubs.

We also have a large assortment of signed baseballs, including a lot of outstanding team-signed baseballs (check out the St. Louis Browns balls, all among the finest vintage signed baseballs I've ever seen).

As always, I hope you've found the auction entertaining, and best of luck to all our bidders and consignors.

http://loveofthegameauctions.com/catalog.aspx

Please stay healthy!

-Al

Al Good luck tonight

Good luck Al.

I know the auction is hours from closing tonight but I made the mistake of not bidding before extending bidding so I am unable to bid.
So, if the winner of lot 657, the Nat Strong Album, would be interested in making a quick turnaround buck I would love to hear from them.

Thank you,
Steve

Some of those colored woodcuts are really pretty!

I goofed and did the same thing on a different item. Al Bumbry hit the first home run I ever saw, when I was five or six. I'd meant to get a bid in on his bat from the seasons when I was five or six, but didn't get around to it until 9:06 pm. Oops!

Cobb
 

Opinions on Lot #1 206 Cobb/Cobb back closing at $70K?

Weak economy? Would the consignor have done better with a more prominent Auction House?

It seems to be latter, i didn't realize they had Cobb back until it was already under 15-min rules. I would have had put in my bid and try to win that for under $100k

Actually it was 86k after the BP, add that people have to pay sales tax and it sold in REA for 108k in 2018, I think it was fair. The sky isnt falling and it seems more of these cobb/cobbs are being found.

Same - I didn't see it until the under 15 minute rule ... also I don't have $100k for it.

For three weeks, the very first lot in the auction has an image of the Cobb back clearly displayed, and it’s the AH’s fault you didn’t see until late Saturday night?

Not to mention it was posted in about 1/2 the LOTG emails, including those for the consignment deadline before the auction opened. It also had a full page write up in the catalog, and the back scan was the only thing on the front inside cover. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this also the worst condition example?

I am sorry, it is totally my fault becuz I didn't even know such AH exist at all.

What sales tax? This AH doesn't charge sales tax ..... yet!

This!

Please do NOT blame me for not getting the Cobb back for under $100k, keeping such amount of money in my bank probably a better choice. $100k will make a lot more money in stock market than investing on a Cobb back.

I agree. There seem to be a lot of these available lately, relatively. And this wasn't exactly a high eye appeal for the grade example. I don't think the result would have been much different at another AH.

Cobb/Cobb
 

There were no taxes collected by LOTG on this card unless the winner lived in New York.

So if the winner of this card for $108K in REA 12/18 was the seller, he took a $38,000 loss last night. Ouch!

LOTG has a much lower profile than REA, Heritage, Goldin, Lelands, Mile High etc. so I can understand how a potential bidder for this card might not have been aware of the auction.

Just goes to show you, when in doubt, use REA.

This!!! And I still have my money with no regret but feel bad for the consignee. But I would think the consignee is probably getting 5% to 10% of reverse commission.

Frank: It is plain to see that you have a personal bitch with Al. Your predictable LOTG teardowns are mean spirited and unbecoming. Give it a rest, old boy.

Rebate
 

A 10% reverse commission would net him $77K. Still a long way from $108,000.

Bingo! Agreed!

Cobb
 

There is a market value for T206 Cobb's with common backs. For rare backs that are 10's of thousands of dollars, you are better off looking at what the 2nd under-bidder bid, to guess the market value. I find it difficult to believe that anyone who knows what a Ty Cobb back is, has never heard of LOTG.

Are they the last of the Mohicans as far as late, late auctions? I used to like to stay up late, but now it's past my bedtime. Rob

Bitch
 

Happy Easter to you too David.

David, I'm just making observations about 2020 card prices and auction houses.

Where do you see "mean spirited and unbecoming" comments in this thread?

Minion
 

Another minion of LOTG pipes in!

Read the comments of how bidders weren't aware of LOTG and how they're critical of their late, late closing times. I guess they "have a personal bitch with Al" too.

That's me... :(

You finally got something right for a change. Congratulations!

https://photos.imageevent.com/threet...nt/minions.jpg

Then you are not very observant. Only reading the front page of the forum, this thread posted at 10:14 am CST yesterday, would have enlightened you to the auction. Or maybe glimpsing at an ad every now and then....
I thought the price was about right for the condition.

A thread was posted here when the auction started. Why can they find this thread, but not find the original LOTG thread? I always watch this board for new auctions to see if there are any of my wants selling. I would think any serious buyer would too. It is one of the primary reasons that I am here.

I thought that whole auction brought some pretty good prices.

1935 Goudey all 4 players signed
 

I had an underbid on the 1935 Goudey Indians card with all four signatures, including Averill. I have very few autographs in my collection and did not know how high I should go, so I didn't bid higher. I guess all 4 players must have lived a long time and attended card shows to sign. I wonder what the back story is on how the original owner got the signatures. I would like to have won that card, but I don't bid to win, if I'm not confident about what I know about an item. Is it uncommon to have a 35 Goudey with all 4 signatures? It seemed like an amazing item to me.

That too is my observation. As a Gastroenterologist, he just can't resist the urge to give Al/LOTG a rear delivery.

I thought the 1926-29 Foxx Exhibit was very strong at $4,500 all-in for an SGC 4. Was there anything special about this one which would've driven it so high? I expected it to sell for 1/4 of that price - am I way off base?

Wasn’t the Fox exhibits autographed?

Imagine Fox signatures are pretty rare.

I think the Cobb/Cobb was a total steal (BTW- acquired by a board member). Only 24 of these known.... I don’t think it had anything to do with the auction house. I believe too many Cobb backs have been available in the past year, so they don’t feel uncommon, and the supply has put-stripped demand for now. Maybe with this low one, people will keep them off the market for a while.

Otherwise, I think the auction did very well and brought strong prices for consignors.

I believe the consignor is a board member here too

Then if you had half a brain you would have won it and then consigned it to one of the other auction houses.

But no you look at the auction when it's in OT. Who does that? You are on a freaking stay at home order, you'll never have more time in your life to look at auctions.

Hopefully you will do better on the stock market with your money, just don't jump in after 4 pm when it's closed.

Lotg
 

I think the results were strong for the current unknowns. I really liked the closing format. Wish they would move from 2am to midnight before they start the double overtime for us older folks.

Daryl Fraley

lol

at least with stocks you can buy after 4 pm even if dont own a share

Is that how u flip your cards... LOL. You must be very bad in math.


LOL... I feel very comfortable still having the $100k in my pocket. I am very confident I would come out way ahead in stock than investing in this particular Cobb.

No genius, you said in your first post it went way low in your eyes and had you seen it you would have tried to win it for under 100K, then you agreed with someone that it would have done better at another auction house.

You also claimed to have never heard of LOTG, but somehow you are on their Site for Extended bidding.

Get your stories straight.

Sure, if you had only "bought yesterday and held until tomorrow"

I would agree a cobb/cobb isnt the best of Investments vehicles
Based on This sale and these "finds" make the pricing pretty volatile.

I used to kick. Myself years ago for passing on a lower grade one. It was literally a day before the lucky 7 find happened. I thought having more to pick from, might stimulate the market.

geezz... I have never heard of LOTG... then saw this CLOSING TONIGHT post last nite so I clicked to check it out. Like u said... i have nothing else to do at home and just click click click on random stuffs.... make sense now???

I would have tried to win it just becuz i found out LOTG still doesn't charge sales tax that would seem to be a DISCOUNT to me. It would definitely do better (at least I would have bidded on it) if it was in a bigger AH.

I am still happy with the money still in my pocket. PERIOD

Man I saw this thread a day too late, def would have jumped the prices up on a few items

You definitely missed out, lots of Black Sox items.

Hey Scott! The Foxx Exhibit is considered his rookie card by most and has been undervalued for a long time. I would have bid higher on it were it not for the mark on the right hip on the card. I'd gladly pay $4-$5 K for a nice 4 at this point!

LOL... pls don't say things like this. Many people got pissed off we (myself included) not knowing this AH had auction closing last nite.

I had 13 consignments in this auction, and was very content with the prices realized on 12 of the 13. This was in the face of a very shaky economy with lots of variables, and with REA running their auction concurrently in full-force. For me (as a consignor) LOTG realizes prices that are as strong as any other AH out there. Their descriptions are always among the most detailed, and their fees are among the very lowest. I don't know what more a consignor could ask for.

And on the buying end, it was extremely competitive going after the dozen or so lots that I was aggressively bidding on. Though I was outbid on almost all of them, I scored a couple of very tough memorabilia items that I had never seen offered before (including REA, Lelands, Heritage, Hunt, Goldin, SCP, Mile High or anywhere else).

No comment on the Cobb/Cobb, other than to say you'd have to live on another planet to have missed it. Granted, LOTG might not be quite as big as some of the others since they came onto the scene more recently. But they are the most customer-friendly, and continue to grow bigger and better with every auction.

VERY happy with the results! :)

I guess I'm officially an old man (living on the east coast). Two auctions and I happily shut the computer off at 1030 and went to sleep. Just knowing I was not going to be spending money at 2 or 3 am was all the pleasant thoughts I needed to zonk out.

Good to see despite the worldwide economic apocalypse upon us that there are still people wiling to shell out nearly 6 figures for a card.

So I'm guessing you didnt see they, as well as a poster, pointed out you DO have to pay sales tax in NY. Your profile says NY, In case you forgotted where you live.

We'd love to be enlightened as to what you would have "bidded" on.



Thought that 100k was going Into the stock market?

What are your 13 consignments? Especially curious the one that did bad.

I have no regret moved out of NY last yr.

It is his RC and has been surging in price over the last year. An SGC 50 got nearly $3k in a Sterling auction earlier this year. I think it could be 2x-3x this price as people realize it*.
There was also some very good recent research establishing that W560, which was one of the three candidates for his RC, was issued probably a year later than had been thought. No one wants to miss the next 1925 Gehrig. Before that card took off you could have had one in decent shape for $2k-$3k. Now, not.

*full disclosure: I own one, have had it for decades, but they're gonna have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers, so i have only an academic interest in the price of the card as a student of the PC back series (happens to be my favorite of all Exhibit baseball sets); not trying to pump my collection's value.

Not even worthy of a response. Why focus on the one item of 13 that "did bad", other than just to be a rebel rouser?

I will re-phrase... I had 13 consignments; 12 of which did very well, and one that sold for a bit under market value. When you consign that many lots, this is a phenomenal outcome. When you bet sports, do you routinely win 13 team parlays, without a single trip-up? If so, you should already have a Cobb/Cobb to accompany your Wagner!

OK hate to be pedantic but the word is consignor. The person who consigns an item to an auction is the consignor.

That's right.. my bad. good catch!

I do... but don't mind to scoop more.

Shoelessmoe - I would feel really bad if I missed a Felsch auto, but I do have the autos and cards that were offered already (aside from the Arnold Rothstein autograph), but for sure would have bid on the Roy Wilkinson to try to upgrade mine and a Shano Collins that I once owned before that sold at a low price. Someone got a beautiful Risberg autograph at a good price!

Awesome... Would love to see them both! :rolleyes:

Not even worth of a response..... balabalabala... LOL

I usually don't respond negatively on these boards. But you guys should take your bullshit cat fight somewhere else. LOTG is one of my favorite AH's and I don't like seeing this thread hijacked by a bunch of guys with a hormone imbalance.

Why is this a hijack? Is the auction still CLOSING TONIGHT??? or you don't want to hear someone left money on the table consigning their stuffs to them?

Agree with this one million percent. I knew the intent behind the post as soon as I saw it. It had zero to do with the Cobb and everything to do with a vendetta.

I do want to point out that I have consigned to LOTG and done very well with them. I've also bought high ticket items at a discount from REA when they decided to finish an auction while undergoing website problems.

OK.. i better stop here. I have no idea what happened between Frank and LOTG in the past and I have nothing to do with it.

And I will register in LOTG auction.

I had 4 consignments in the Auction and the 2 low end items met expectations but my other 2 items fell far short. Fisrt was a group of Harpers woodcuts. 5 woodcuts including the 1874 Boston team. Last LOTG Auction an 1874 Boston team woodcut sold for about what my 5 woodcuts sold for. Second was a S81 silk of Alexander a very scarce item of a popular Hall of famer. Sold for less than half of what a Lajoie sold for in the last REA.
Was it LOTG or the current economic situation? AL had sent out a message to consignors asking if Auction should have been postponed I responded with yes it should be delayed until Baseball gets back on track but I guess I was in the minority. I did win a couple of lots that I also felt were below recent sales. I think I would consign to LOTG again but I will wait until things stabilize just a bit.

I've consigned with Al and LOTG before, and did so again in this recent auction.
I'd take his prices, his customer care, his commitment to doing his level best and being as honest as the day is long as being incredibly important to me when I chose who to bid with and who to sell with.

Once again, very happy with my decision.

I consigned with LOTG in this auction as well and have purchased from Al in the past. I don't know that you can put a price on integrity (though I was happy with the overall sale prices my lots received), but I've heard nothing but good things about Al and his auctions and look forward to working with them again in the future.

There's clearly a lot of shady people and businesses in this hobby and, as was said below, I'm very happy with my decision as well.

LOTG auctions
 

I don't know Al, but one time I read in one of his auction intro's that he likes the band, Yo la Tengo. Sounds okay in my book. I'm still following this thread to see Chris post his T206 Wagner back run. ha=ha. Rob

my 2 cents
 

I had initial bids on about 10 items - all of them sold for more (some just and some much more) than what I thought to be fair market value.

Definitely did NOT like the step backwards in the closing process - with just about every other auction house figuring out a way to maximize bidding AND close the auction at a reasonable hour, there is no reason an auction needs to close at or past 4AM these days - it was definitely a deterrent for my bidding.

I've been a bidder in LOTG auctions a few times and overall have had a great service experience. There was a "hiccup" when items I won in the last auction were shipped to an old address (rather than to the one I updated).

No comment on the Cobb/Cobb.

Early front runner for longest most pointless thread of the year. Some dude never heard of an AH that advertises many times a day on the very page he's posting on. Others apparently missed it too. Story at 11.

That tells me advertising here doesn't work.... very simple logic.

You are just an effing idiot. Plain and simple.