Babe Ruth W517: brown vs. green?
 

I see Heritage has an SGC 50 portrait version already at a record $2000--the "brown variation." Which made me wonder: any idea on numbers of browns vs. greens? Not in listings anywhere that I see...

Must be a toughie, no one has weighed in yet. Those who have already bid the brown Ruth up to $2000 must THINK the brown is more valuable.

I always thought the green and brown were the most common colors for the W517, and their quantities were roughly the same. The portrait (#20) pose is tougher than the throwing (#4) however.

Edit: maybe not. For PSA, pop report shows 4 and 20 about the same.

Tints
 

I agree with Gary in that my experience of seeing W517's over the years (not necessarily Ruth, but just in general) is that the Sepia and Green are probably pretty close in terms of their relative populations. The reddish and purplish tints are definitely much, much less common.

Brian

color variations
 

there is also a blue that is tougher than the green and brown but not as tough as the red and purple. also there are shades of green and other colors.

Attachment 263437

Attachment 263439

Attachment 263443

Attachment 263448

Attachment 263449

That still leaves unanswered--beyond the usual auction competitive frenzy--why the price on this brown Ruth at Heritage is at $2000, more than twice the norm, and the auction is not yet over...

My most educated answer is...I dunno.

Brian (It is a nice looking example. Sometimes the green tint ones have a real splotchy look to them)

Maybe a friend of the consignor, maybe a collector thought that is THE example for him? It happens. I have paid quite a bit more than I should have for cards I really wanted before.

If every card always sold for the same price forever than that would be very unusual. I have seen VCP on cards that are $1000 to $3000 and seen differences of $2000. It happens. I know sometimes i have looked at a 5 year history of a card and say 'man i wish i would of gotten the price that guy got it for at auction last year etc' or 'dang, that guy paid way to much' If this same card sells for $2000 more next year than i would be wondering more.

But as you know, in an auction, it takes two or more to tango, so more than one person bid up that card, as opposed to, say, a BIN. Of course it could be nothing more than people think a "variant" was much scarcer than the main version, which in this case (and many others) not really true.

If people big up because of centering and general look of card that's something I can get behind. I am always an advocate of those two things but it's not always a big factor in pricing.

The first thing I noticed when I looked at this specimen is the overall eye appeal. It is really great. That is what I was hinting around in my last post. I am not saying that is what happened as I have no more info than anyone else. But it (a high price) can definitely happen and on a Ruth card like that.