N173 Old Judge Cabinet Pricing
 

I think I'm confused about the pricing of N173 Old Judge Cabinets. Heritage just sold a Duffy in beautiful condition with minor back damage for about $1,400. Most other HOFers I've seen have sold for $5000 or more. Does back damage really matter that much for N173s? Is Duffy particularly common? (Not according to the Old Judge book). Why no love for Duffy?

Paul-you have a right to be confused. The Duffy went cheap. I already had a nice copy of that Duffy pose in an N173 so I didn't try to win it. Duffy is not a difficult N173, although is not the easiest to find either. He is not that popular a player and not that many people collect N173s. The back damage may have impacted some bidding, to me it would mean nothing.

A piece of the photo is missing along the right edge.
That kept me from bidding aggressively, not the damage to the mount.

I would have bid but have spent too much on other cards lately. I'll probably be regretting this for awhile.

N173s have always been all over the map. A common player (non-HOFer) will often fetch more than that Duffy. That was a decent purchase for someone. The cards are thinly collected, establishing value is tough.

Well, I love them and collect them.
I actually prefer them over the n172s

N173's are great cards due to the photo clarity. I bought two of them back around 2000 and decided against collecting them due to price, so I stuck with N172's. I usually go quantity over quality, otherwise I'd collect them. They don't show up often and most are commons, so there isn't a good idea of market value on them

I have no idea what to pay for them. All I know is Brouthers is common.
Joe

The description said it was missing a surface layer. I took that to mean it was what we refer to on N172's as "Skinned". If so, that would be pretty major back damage.

Even though it would be on the back I think that would keep some buyers away. They are beautiful cards, no doubt.