Value of a rare unique Koufax piece?
 

I posted this over in Blowoutcards and they recommended I consult you guys on this piece. So my girlfriend's dad is friends with a guy who was high school teammates with Sandy Koufax and he wants to know what the value of this is. Ive never seen anything like that and its honestly pretty incredible and i doubt anything like it exists. Its from 1953, Its a black and white photo and Koufax is third from left in the back row.

http://i.imgur.com/1Nqi8OQ.png?1

http://i.imgur.com/9uM2yyS.png?1

Thanks guys!

are the autographs real?

100% real. I have no doubt of their authenticity.

Wow! That is off the charts cool!

I can't offer any help on a price other than priceless.

FYI- The only way I KNOW an autograph is authentic is having seen it signed with my own eyes. Even then, some sort of Certification witnessing that would be necessary should I ever want to sell the item.

There are a lot of folks further upstream in the food chain of hobby knowledge than me, but, without more 'proof', I doubt if anyone would be tempted to even acknowledge your item, much less put a price on it.

Also, not the sort of item expected from someone's second post.

I'm going to ballpark guess that this photo would sell for between $600 and $850. I don't think it's an attractive piece but there are certainly collectors who would love to buy it.

Fair enough. He has no plans to sell it without authenticating first of course so the first step were it to be sold (which he might not do) is to send it to PSA. As for my lack of posts, I made the account on the recommendation of blowoutcards members (a forum I have been on for 5 years) due to the expertise of people on here. I do not collect vintage cards or memorabilia. Here's the link to the blowoutcards thread I posted: http://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1144301

How is PSA going to authenticate all those HS kids autographs?

I had assumed that they would authenticate solely the Koufax signature. Do you think they would try/need to authenticate the other signatures?

Thank you for the estimate!

Great piece.

Assuming everything is authentic (and I have no reason to believe it is not, but I'm also not an expert) I would think the place to start thinking about a value is looking at signed high school yearbooks for Koufax.

Sold 2015 at Heritage for a little over $500
https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...a/7135-83343.s

Sold 2011 Heritage (not signed until decades later) for $1135
https://sports.ha.com/itm/baseball/1...a/7041-80976.s

Didn't notice any others in a quick google search but may be a direction to think about this.

Look at the value this way: if you would acquire a Sandy Koufax high school yearbook,what would that go for ? Mantle high school yearbooks go very high.

Thanks for the post! I figure this would be worth more than the yearbooks for a couple reasons: this auto is a lot bolder than the one that sold for 500, and this one depicts him playing baseball rather than in a suit, and there are far more people that have a yearbook with him than those who were on his team. Also according to the auction the yearbook suffered moderate to heavy water damage and the binding is pulling apart. It appears that the one that sold for 1135 also suffered water damage. I'm nothing close to an expert so I could be way off but do you think I might be right in figuring that?

I think you have to remember that there is a portion of the hobby who collect yearbooks specifically. There is another that collect photos but this photo is signed on the back.

They have exemplars of everyone ever born, don't you know that? LOL

They've never seen an autograph they couldn't authenticate. JSA is similar.

This makes no sense. Is there some sort of required order of postings that one must follow?

Posts 1-100 can only be about items reasonably assumed to be priced at under $100, or include ironclad provenance (preferably having the athlete who signed the item appear in a National TV ad stating that the item is authentic.

Posts 101-200 can include items up to $200. Also a maximum 3 posts per day on any topic unless it includes giving away donuts to all members. :)


Obviously with new members joining a site who has not built up a reputation there can be concerns of someone trying to scam people, but in this case there was not even an indication that the OP is thinking of trying to sell anything.

Thank you. For one I clearly stated in the OP that its not even my item; im asking on behalf of someone who asked me on behalf of another person lol. Im the only person they know who collects sports cards so they figured I would be able to figure out its value best. I understand its a really cool and likely one of a kind piece but there is no correlation between that and my post count.

It's unique and, while that does not automatically make it super valuable, the only way to know its value is to put it in an auction where major Koufax collectors would see it. It only takes two collectors who just "have" to have it for the price to escalate beyond expectations. If the owner is happy to hang on to it, that's just fine, too. Regardless of what someone else may be willing to pay for it, I would imagine it has great sentimental value to the owner. Cool item.

Thanks for the response. I think its super cool and agree that if that was me in that picture I would want to keep it forever.I think he just wants to know what its worth and possibly have it authenticated but i dont think selling is super likely right now.

I think that estimate might be a little low. I am just guessing as I am not aware of a similar Koufax item hitting the market. My guess would be closer to $1,500. Would like it much better if signatures we're on the front. But as is I see there being a lot of interested people.

Tom C

The advice that is often given here is that, if you know an auto is legit, there is no real need to get it authenticated -- to tell you something you already know. And, if you plan to sell it someday through an auction house, they will authenticate it themselves. Therefore, there's no real value in spending money now on authentication. This is my advice and I believe I have summed up correctly what a number of other folks here have said with respect to other items. Of course, not everyone may agree.

+10000000000

If the signatures were on the front, yes. I would say less because they are on the back. Yearbook>Photo. How do you display It? Put it in an album and flip thru an album with photos?. If you could frame it and put it on display, that is where I see the big premium.

Use a Float Frame that displays both sides. Great piece!

+1 ;)