Memorabilia in Auctions WEAK
 

Is it just me or has the Memorabilia section of Auctions been weak lately?

I know Cards are surging, and seems like most auctions are 80-90% cards, and the memorabilia has been slim pickens.

Hoping REA turns this around, but usually I'm involved in OT on Auction night, but it's been since December since I've been involved, just have not seen much quality.

I totally agree. As a "non-card guy," I blow through most catalogs in 10 minutes or less.

It is complete SH*T these days. I cannot believe how the good stuff has dried up. I attribute this to four things....

1. Cards were much more mass-produced than virtually all forms of memorabilia that we collect. There will never be a shortage of cards, dating back to Old Judge. There are just a ton out there in comparison to more unique memorabilia.

2. "Flippers" have become very prominent in the Card arena. Re-selling is at an all-time high because the market continues to be hot. So you will see tons of inventory available on eBay and in every auction. In fact there aren't even enough auctions to sell all of it. That's why 3 of the biggest (REA, Heritage and Goldin) have added their monthly events (mostly for lower-end offerings).

3. Collectors of unique/rare memorabilia are far more reluctant to part with beloved items, simply because they may never find another in their lifetimes. There will always be another '52 Topps Mantle or Green Ty Cobb T206. But there may never be another game-used Mantle Jersey or Ty Cobb Fan for a Fan. Especially in decent/unrestored condition.

4. Auction houses love to feature Cards. Higher-end examples sell for a lot of money, garner lots of bids, and have predictable prices (based on a plethora of documented sales history). So it is easy to set proper opening bid amounts and reasonable reserves (if applicable). Most importantly, they are small and easy to ship. Typically memorabilia is more bulky, more difficult to package/ship, and takes up more space in terms of storage.

I would say that (of those 4 reasons), collectors not letting go is the biggest reason for the current drought. I have a lot of nice cards that I will part with some day. But much of the rare memorabilia I have will accompany me to the grave. Just my observations over time.

It may be outside of your scope of interest, but there's some neat stuff in the Prestige Japanese Baseball Auction. I thought the Oh bank was cool as well as the Ichiro banners.

Some cool stuff in LOTG this month as well.

There’s definitely less as cards are pushed to the front of all auctions, just have to dig a little more.

I think you nailed it, Mark.

Not as cool as the 1950 Yakyu Shonen Magazine...

To many auction houses now and some running daily or weekly now making stuff dry up instead of 2 or 3 auctions a year but the same auction house.

Cards are super hot right now.

We've worked really hard to make LOTG a memorabilia auction as much as a card auction, but one thing I can say for sure: memorabilia collectors don't part with their material as frequently as card collectors do, so consignments are more difficult to get. I am incredibly interested in advertising display pieces, game-used items, old scorecards, significant ticket stubs, and large-format items like panoramas and such.

What I find is that card collectors will often work on a project, like a set or something, then finish that set and sell it off to fund another project. Memorabilia collectors often surround themselves with their collections, filling up their bars, hobby rooms, man-caves, etc., with memorabilia that never leaves.

I work pretty hard to keep the memorabilia up in the front of our auctions (the baseball memorabilia section is ahead of the card section in our catalog, though we did start the 'Great Cards' section in the front of this auction), to present large-format items well, to describe them and research them as best I can. Hopefully we'll continue to have a steady flow of great memorabilia items. I do agree, memorabilia seems to be light, but on our end, it's not for lack of trying!

-Al

It sounds like perezfan could singlehandedly remedy the shortage of quality memorabilia on the open market. :p

Agree with Al. Cards go in the safe; cool memorabilia goes on the walls. Once it goes up on the wall, prob not coming down.

I agree, just received my spring Lelands catalog and it was pretty lackluster. I didn't bookmark anything that struck my fancy.

Yeap. I couldn't handle not seeing my large Horner Composite when I walk into my office so it didn't sell in my collection auction. It's still here...

https://luckeycards.com/horner1.jpg

Leon...that is gorgeous. Have never seen that

Wow, that's really cool Leon!

Exactly. I tried like hell to get it into my catalog, but Leon wouldn't budge.

Come on, Leon, you can help improve the memorabilia selection of my next catalog for the benefit of everybody in this thread, whaddaya say?

-Al

Incredible piece.

Great post, I think you described many of us. I have been collecting cards for around 35 years now. They all set in a spare bedroom that I rarely enter. I have also done the different card projects to only sell it when completed. Sometimes I don't even complete them before they bore me.

A great guy and fellow member got me into collecting bats a couple years ago. My bat display is in my living room, my wife is awesome.:)

I have sold many cards in the last year to support my bat habit. Luckily the cards have greatly increased in price while the bats I collect have only slightly gone up.

That piece is truly insane. Stunning. Seriously, you could put that an an autographed Goudey Ruth side by side and I pick that piece every time.

Here's my contribution. Purchased from a board member and framed up last year.

Yes - no question, lack of items and interest

Still have fun finding what I can!

Jimmy

I’m just glad Leon promised to sell it to me for the cost of the framing when he decides to sell. Leon is a stand up kind of guy for sure🤣. Seriously great piece Leon.

I would say that (of those 4 reasons), collectors not letting go is the biggest reason for the current drought. I have a lot of nice cards that I will part with some day.
But much of the rare memorabilia I have will accompany me to the grave. Just my observations over time.[/QUOTE]

Well said, Mark, with the exception of one rare Vandy pennant that needs to return to OH before that first shovel of dirt hits the grave... :p:D

In all seriousness, great response

Yes some very good responses, and Al, really appreciate hearing an Auction Houses perspective.

Wish more Auction House people would come on here from time to time and lend their insights on trends and such.

Really appreciate.

Beechnut
 

Just got this back from the frame shop. Mile High has some decent memorabilia in this auction that just opened especially the Tuxedo signs

Was that Ted Patterson's, Bob? I got to spend a lot of time in Ted's basement looking at stuff like this piled up against the walls, and of course the walls themselves were full. Incredibly beautiful ads like this one. LOTG has been selling his collection, but it doesn't seem to me that most of it has surfaced, Big Al would know much better than me, though. I miss Ted, he could be a lot of fun, lots of great stories from his career in the game.

Beechnut
 

Hank, it is not from Ted's collection, this was from a recent find.

That is an absolute stunner.

Other than perhaps the Hassan Tobacco Cobb/Matty Sign, I honestly don't think there's a more beautiful Ad Sign out there.

As a tangent to this discussion, does anyone think the hot card market is softening prices on memorabilia, diverting funds from memorabilia to cards? Or is the divide between card and memorabilia collectors so great that the current market doesn't matter?

If you have higher end pre-war memorabilia you're thinking of consigning, are you holding until cards cool off, or are you selling while the money is flowing freely?

And, by the way, if anyone wants to answer: Is the market for rarer pre-war World Series programs ($10k range) usually strong/predictable, or is it prone to fluctuation based on small bidder pool etc?

My opinion: the memorabilia and card markets are typically not tied to one another in any way other than "a rising tide lifts all boats."

I tend to think of a Venn diagram, with card people in one circle, autograph people in another circle, game worn in another, and memorabilia in a fourth - there are places they intersect, and certainly people who collect all four, but I don't think a run-up in one area negatively impacts prices in the other.

I wouldn't hesitate to run high-end memorabilia in an auction during a time when card prices were strong, and vice-versa.

-Al

Love this post...I honestly thought I was alone in my thinking of this....My Want/Need list is pretty small at the moment (1920 and 1920 World Series Ticket Stubs)..but they were coming up in at least one auction regularly, but now I can't find them anywhere. Ebay has a couple at outlandish prices, but that's it.....Just crazy to see what is happening in the modern card market as well....

I agree with Al, and do collect all 4 of those categories. I have no discipline, I suppose. But I do not believe the dramatic spike in card prices indicates a negative for memorabilia at all. If anything, some card collectors who now get priced out, may turn to certain forms of memorabilia as an alternative. As Al eloquently stated... a rising tide lifts all boats.

I'll cite one example... A lot of the cards on my want-list are now out of sight. I can't justify the prices when I know this is a seller's market and not an ideal time to buy. So I turned to Original Type 1 Photos, used to create the 1955 and 1956 Topps cards. These are crystal clear images taken by esteemed photographer William Jacobellis.

I've focused on my favorite team (the Reds), and have recently acquired Gus Bell, Joe Nuxhall, Johnny Temple, Rudy Minarcin, Smoky Burgess and Al Silvera. It's really exciting when you can find the original images used for both the portrait and the action shots that appear on these wonderful horizontal cards. And it's even cooler to display the cards alongside these amazing photos.

I'd probably put photos in a fifth circle. Seems to be universe removed from general memorabilia.

Speaking of cool memorabilia, Al this is an awesome piece.

https://loveofthegameauctions.com/Lo...entoryid=23409

There's memorabilia and then there's bobfreedman memorabilia. :eek:

SCP is loaded with memorabilia in the auction getting ready to start.

good eye, not a fantasy piece.

Interesting comment on that piece, Steve. We sold it once before, back in 2018. The winning bidder misplaced the LOA, and so when we reached out to JSA for a replacement, we were advised that most of the bigger name signatures on it were questionable. We've just withdrawn it.

We don't sell signed pieces without a reputable LOA - either from JSA, PSA/DNA, or occasionally Beckett - and the original consignor of the piece wouldn't have given it to us without one, either. However, Jimmy has no recollection of having ever seen it before, so the LOA must have come from someone else.

All that being said, we'll be refunding the consignor (who won it from us several years ago) for his purchase.

-Al

Yikes, I feel responsible for that ..... like I put the kiss of death on it. . . .



QUOTE=Al C.risafulli;2082239]Interesting comment on that piece, Steve. We sold it once before, back in 2018. The winning bidder misplaced the LOA, and so when we reached out to JSA for a replacement, we were advised that most of the bigger name signatures on it were questionable. We've just withdrawn it.

We don't sell signed pieces without a reputable LOA - either from JSA, PSA/DNA, or occasionally Beckett - and the original consignor of the piece wouldn't have given it to us without one, either. However, Jimmy has no recollection of having ever seen it before.

All that being said, we'll be refunding the consignor (who won it from us several years ago) for his purchase.

-Al[/QUOTE]

Sweet Caporal pins, Armor Coins, Tobacco silks and leathers, Police Gazette premiums etc. are more likely to be collected by baseball card than memorabilia collectors and, obviously, they aren't cards. They fall into the "trading card genre."

Nah, Jimmy called me about it today. I had asked him to replace the missing LOA and when he reviewed the piece he wasn't comfortable with it. Because the LOA is missing, I don't know if JSA had initially authenticated the piece and changed their mind (not very likely), or if it was originally a typo on my part (i.e. I wrote "JSA" instead of PSA/DNA or GAI or whatever - much more likely). Regardless, it's withdrawn!

-Al

Well if cards are way up I am going to sell into a price run-up and hold the items that haven't appreciated.

I imagine that many of the auction houses (LOTG excluded based on the above posts) are not chasing memorabilia as much at this point.

Cards are incredibly easy for them to list. For most cards getting attention these days, they are well-known cards, already graded (or submitted by the auction house) etc. It takes no time or work to research, they ship easily and inexpensively etc.

With prices going up like crazy, I don't imagine that auction houses are looking to chase down unique memorabilia pieces that are harder to find, harder to ship, harder to research and harder to photo. Especially since pricing on the hotter cards has blown pricing of memorabilia out of the water.

There are two sides of this. I collect programs / scorecards and prices seem soft so definitely not looking to sell. But in the past year I purchased 1904 and 1905 NY Giants scorecards at less than half of what they sd for 2 or 3 years ago. I was underbidder on similar items 3 or 4 times. So happy to buy when the opportunity presents itself. Below is the 1905 example I picked up this month.

Good analysis. Agree with all. So much of the memorabilia I own and love, I bought (and paid up for!) because its unique and if you pass you might never see it again! Hard to part with it.

Orioles
 

Man, I haven’t picked up any good Orioles memorabilia in quite some time. If any of you guys have any O’s stuff (for display purposes) taking up room please, please let me know. I have some gaps in my wall (and will have space in the curio...once I pick one up).

Love that piece Leon showed; just WOW!

Obviously I have an incredibly narrow focus. Due to this I seldom find quality memorabilia available. In all honestly not much of it was ever created for my niche in the first place. When it does appear it’s often muy caro and necessitates the sale of my cards. I’ve never sold any of my 71 Pirates memorabilia other than photos that I can recall.

I was at my childhood home yesterday and came across this 30”X30” store display that I acquired somewhere in my youth. My Mom threw nothing away. I miss her. I fear this rediscovered piece may take me down a new memorabilia collecting rabbit hole. Although it’s not as cool as Leon’s composite or the Dean brothers, it is “Rick James damn it!”

Wow. That's awfully cool.

Horner Composite
 

Haven't been back to this thread in a while, guys. Thanks for the compliments. This came from the estate of Nixey Callahan, manager for the Pittsburgh Nationals, via a Hunt auction in 1991. It had a provenance letter with it at the time but it got lost somewhere in owner succession. His picture is the larger one in the upper right corner. If I am not mistaking, the current view on the population of these is that 1 was given to each executive and I am not sure more were given out. I think 4-6 of these particular 1903 AL types are known. Maybe someone knows more?
Mine does present nicely on the wall right behind my desk. It is the only thing on any of my walls. I have wood paneling and hate nails. For this I made an exception. One nail for the string.
.

That’s Super Freaky! :p

Super freaky indeed...and one (I'm surprised) you took home to Mother.

One more point that seems in play here on Memorabilia is that the scarcity of items means that appreciation isnt evident...stuff doesnt trade enough for prices to move up and entice sellers to move their items. Thus no frenzy gets created. Also, with no grading, comps are hard so you cant even crossover values from to
other items.

I have some really high end hockey wools and jerseys that I wouldnt want to part with. I am sure they are worth more than the considerable prices I paid. But there are no others of many of these items (eg. eddie shore’s jersey from his estate from the first NHL all star game after he hit Ace Bailey in the head).so it’s still mine to look at and enjoy. You really “feel” the history of the game with memorabilia moreso than cards (collect those too of course).

Great points!

But in all honesty, I think Hunts' latest live auction put a temporary "hold" on the infamous memorabilia drought.

That is a really good point as liquidity matters. We all use the same resources to try and establish value and when that information is unavailable or old you lose that sense of knowing what the “market” is. As we all know that information can and has been manipulated so it works both ways.

I am one of the back in the hobby guys and have been buying more type 1 photos, some tickets and an assortment of vintage cards. That said for me the market is for me what I am willing to pay and I am either going to lose or win in the long run, but at least I bought what I liked.

Absolutely Mark! The latest Hunts' Auction catalogue is jam packed with AMAZING memorabilia...

In the last 5 years I have gotten some incredible pieces of memorabilia from Hunts. Frequently for better prices than I thought. Let others complain about the website and refuse to look at their auctions. Wish there were more of those folks.

Look at Goldins latest auction and sort by highest price first. Card guys are ridiculous.

Even REA is incredibly light on memorabilia in their current auction. It's nothing like it was even 5 - 10 years ago. I believe people are holding on to the rare/unique memorabilia for the long-term, whereas there are many more "flipper/investors" in the card world.

In light of how light most AHs are on memorabilia these days, I've particularly amazed about all the amazing stuff Hakes gets. Their Negro League memorabilia alone has been off the charts great this year. So great I haven't been able to afford any of it. But amazing.

No kidding. REA has exactly one GU flannel - a 1966 Orioles coaches shirt. They used to have several quality flannels, usually including some high-end ones.

Right! They used to have at least a couple dozen Game-used pieces per auction. I am convinced that collectors are holding on to this stuff with tight fists.

While LOTG has some decent memorabilia in their upcoming auction, their catalog just reinforces to me that, if you want almost any card, it's just a matter of having the money. Quality memorabilia is hard to find, even when money is no object.

Mark,
I totally agree with this! ;)

A little off topic, but is the auction catalog out yet? I can't find anything online, just the old summer auction. Thanks!

Hunt Auctions Live Louisville Slugger Museum Auction this Saturday is almost majority memorabilia.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Thank you!

+1 agreed

every auction they get great Negro League Memorabilia and other nice and unique items also that I do not usually see at other Auction Houses

Since I live close I visited their office the last two auctions to preview the items. Although I only won one item it was incredible to see and hold many of their items. I hope we will see more in the future.

For the last several years, they've been parceling out items from perhaps the best negro league collection ever (Richard Merkin) and the best pin collection ever (Paul Muchinsky.) As the prices reflect, much of the material coming out of those collections are the only examples ever seen or at least rare as hell.

Agreed great stuff. Did not realize it was coming from just a few collectors.
Wish I would have jumped on it years ago when I saw it but never really paid attention to it and now looking at it there are great items and amazing history behind them

Are those 2 collectors still alive?

Just curious why they have had these items in their auctions 3-4 times a year for the past 5 years or so. Seems almost never-ending.

Why not have a big one? and what is their tie to Hakes......almost seems like 50-70% of their auctions are from those collections rest of the stuff is filler.

Richard Merkin passed some years ago. For those who do not know him, he was a respected avant garde artist, so reknown in fact that he appears on the cover of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album. There are several collectors/dealers I know who bought his baseball paintings, regarding them not only as significant works of art but also as prudent investments. As has been noted, his collecting interest was Negro league baseball, and he possessed arguably the most significant collection in that field. Richard was a very warm person, intensely loyal to his friends. Among his close friends was Ted Hake, founder of Hakes Auctions.

As to why Hakes has been selling his items slowly over the years, I do not know except to comment that if the Merkin estate did not have need for the funds upfront, given the size of the collection compared to the size of the market, selling it in one or two shots would have probably presented the market with more material than it could absorb, thus preventing the estate from maximizing the amount it could potentially receive.

very good info thank you.

Paul passed away several years ago. I’ve talked to his son and widow and the original “plan” (as I was told) was to put all his pins in “trust” for Paul’s then two year old grand daughter. Either the plan changed or the grand daughter still has a bunch of the pins.

Love of Games has a lot of variety of Memorabilia from pennants, tickets, scorecards, photos, figurines and so much more.

I am in sensory overload and actually put in alot of initial bids for alot of items

Good Luck all

Larry Ritter of "The Glory of Their Times" fame was also close to Merkin, and told me he loved to rib him about Richard's beautiful rent-control apartment in which he housed his collection and his art studio and for which he was paying peanuts. Merkin finally lost that apartment, and I think he might have started selling off his collection at that point.

With respect to Hake's, selling the Merkin and other collections has also increased their visibility in that market. I had a dozen or so negro league photos to sell and sent them in to be split between the most recent auction and the upcoming one.

While I haven't pulled the trigger yet, there are at least half a dozen lots in that auction I plan to make a play for....

I definitely agree that the Merkin collection has made Hake's the place to go for Negro League collectors looking for items. If I ever moved anything of mine, I would definitely consider selling through them for that reason.

And also seeing some nice pieces at LOTG

some nice Negro League items at REA:

https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...e?itemid=94990


https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com...e?itemid=95223

very nice in deed and some other really nice memorabilia including pictures, pennants, advertisements and more

Sensory Overload