REA 2010: Interesting T206 Prices
 

I was just going over the prices for various T206 cards from the REA 2010 auction. There are some interesting anomalies going on.

For example, this EX Cobb went for $1880:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13399_1.jpghttp://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13399_2.jpg

Whereas this EX Cobb went for $3525:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13386_1.jpghttp://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13386_2.jpg

Granted the colors on the PSA Cobb are brighter, but the back is also more soiled. The price disparity seems odd to me. And I've seen PSA 6's go on eBay for $3000-$3500 within the last year. Strange.

Take a look also at this PSA 5, which sold for $6463:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13411_1.jpghttp://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13411_2.jpg

But this T206 SGC 70 green Cobb, graded slightly higher, sold for only $5875:

http://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13376_1.jpghttp://www.robertedwardauctions.com/...em_13376_2.jpg

No big surprises here, as the PSA green Cobb is arguably better looking and thus worth more despite the technical grade, but I find it kind of interesting. Feel free to post your comments, or post examples of other strange prices that you saw from this auction.

Great example of buy the card and not the grade:)

That's why as a seller, it pays to have your cards slabbed by PSA!

It always seemed to me that SGC can be fairly liberal with their low-mid to mid grade level while PSA tends to be too harsh sometimes...

I would take the SGC greenie because of centering. The red PSA though is stunning with that registration.
JimB

stunning
 

the green centering captures me as well.
wow.

best,
barry

Both PSA cards seem to have nicer looking portraits. The red PSA one has a better centered front.

PSA-Effect
 

I hate to say it but I think is has to do in part to the grading company. Though I am now an SGC guy, before I came on this board I was strictly PSA. For some reason there are more PSA fans who focus primarily on PSA-graded cards. Case in point: I used to, and many others still do, search Ebay, auctions and webstores specifically with "t206 PSA." This means more buyers for PSA, less for SGC and that has an effect on competition and, in turn, prices. This cycle is perpetuated by higher (re)sale for PSA cards. Just my thoughts...

Posted about this while back
 

After the REA auction, I posted about this very subject.

PSA commands higher prices over SGC. It is hard to get this thru my thick head that PSA sells for more than SGC (generally and mostly). I know we have hashed this over with spot sales of SGC over PSA. But lets all get real - PSA sell for more.

I just had a T206 Cobb green on ebay for $5,295. No bites. The REA T206 Cobb green went for $6,463. My Cobb has better centering - tough to find on this issue. The REA PSA Cobb had little better color. Are people willing to spend over $1,000. more for a little better color with poorer centering ?

And I noticed the REA Cy Young portrait PSA 5 went for some crazy super high amount - triple question mark ??? Like over $3,000.00 - is this the current market value of this card or was this high price a fluke?

Hate to say, but just went to safe deposit box - pulled all my SGC, going to send to PSA for crossover. Common sense says if just one crosses it will be financially worth it. If more than one cross, I will be ahead.

Bummer, because I really like the SGC holder better. Oh, well, can't go against what the masses prefer - PSA.

Steve

Crossover
 

Hi Steve,

PSA does not like crossovers from SGC, it seems. There have been a couple of threads recently about crossovers from PSA to SGC and vice versa. Both companies seem to have a low percentage of crossovers at the same grade. I've had a better experience cracking open the SGC cases, and submitting the cards raw to PSA. At the PSA 5 level, PSA is more lenient on product staining, a faded image or a tiny wrinkle, but is harsh on glue residue, a pencil mark/indentation or poor centering. Doing the crossovers can be an expensive, and frustrating experience.

Ron