Heritage Auction Catalog
 

The Heritage Auction Catalog just arrived and all I can say is "WOW". The catalog is a collectable itself . Unbelievable items. Hard to believe these artifacts have all survived this long.

going to be interesting to see
 

How all those ridiculously high grade pre war cards do.

Estimates on many seem "optimistic?"

Should be a lot of "foolish" money being thrown around in this one.

Where
 

It always puzzles me how much incredible stuff has been kept in such pristine condition (cards, memorabilia, garments) and yet it winds up in an auction house for sale? Who owned all this insanely collectible stuff? Why are they selling it now? Who owned Jimmie Foxx's warmup jacket from 1938 and how on Earth is it in such amazing condition 80+ years later? The sheer volume of spectacular stuff in so many top tier AHs boggles the mind and provokes a ton of questions...

It does seem crazy, month after month, year after year, auction after auction, page after page, so much fabulous stuff, no end to the supply it seems. What I would love to know is how much of contents of this Heritage auction, or any big auction these days, is new to the hobby, and how much has been sold or auctioned before, or coming out of an assembled collection? My guess would be something on the order of 25% new, 75% "recycled." Anybody else want to venture an estimate of the percentage?

I agree. This is the first time I went cover to cover and didn't see a single item I could afford.
I have, personally, been officially priced out of what I used to collect. Bummer, but I'm going to adjust and look into other venues. Still, it's fun to see what I can't have.

In the extreme, the virtually perfect '41 PB DiMaggio is ludicrous. You can actually make out his face! Lol

I've been saving all of the HA Platinum catalogs (the ones with the holographic covers). I probably have 20 or so. They are all spectacles, worthy of a permanent library.

Came home to a box waiting for me...wasn't sure what I bought???? It was the heritage catalog. I love the covers...what's inside...nice to look at but I'll never own any of it!!!!

I would be very surprised to find any auction at 25% fresh to the hobby material. How much could really be left out there in general? 5% would sound way too high to me. I'd put the over/under at 1 to 1.5%

I always feel a little let down after receiving one of these mega catalogs. It seems like there is just an endless parade of super high end stuff. (And some of that is no doubt fresh from the rehab center high end.) Feels like a bit of a shell game sometimes. You own some cool stuff and it feels cool and then you turn around and there is torrent of more and more and more and more very month.

I know the answer is buy what you enjoy and enjoy what you buy. But it does feels sometimes like one long never ending parade. And what's so special about a parade if you have one every two weeks.

Go for actual rarity over condition rarity. For some issues you're lucky to find one or two copies of a card in a calendar year.

Very true. I have a player contract 1 of 1 and it's the coolest thing I have. Ditto for a few cards.

What, exactly, is the definition of “new to the hobby”? I see that thrown around a lot, but it seems completely subjective.

25% could well be high, but I think you're way low. Just 20 new items in an auction of 2,000? I don't think so. Now, we might be on different pages on the definition of "new to the hobby," since I'm including collections that have been built up over the years going way back now coming out. Most of a collection like that I would include in my definition of "new." And I think it will be some time before the hobby consists almost exclusively of more or less real-time churn and flipping, there's too much stuff out there that's been sitting in collections for years, not to mention players' estates and other things truly new to the hobby marketplace. I'd be interested to hear from any auction guys on this, they would know.

Fresh to the hobby for me means sitting around basically undiscovered. Perhaps inherited and sitting in a shoe box or albums. Definitely not graded. I think 25% of listings advertised as fresh to the hobby actually being fresh to the hobby would be a good estimate. If there was a way to prove it I would take any bets at under 5% in just about any major auction.

how much is not new, but "improved" I wonder
 

... just wondering ...

As former players (or their offspring) die (or prepare to) their collections are probably viewed as "new).

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Any winners from session one last night?

I don't understand why anyone would pay $264k for a L. James card. There are 99 copies out there and James is still alive. I would rather get 2 or 3 t206 Plank or a Cobb back instead.

https://sports.ha.com/itm/basketball...ed-dailystatus

This astounds me. I remind myself that some people, corporations, etc. have more money than I can grasp. It's funny that I wouldn't pay, literally, a dime for anything associated with Lebron James--yet folks will be aggressive bidding on such an item. Collecting is definitely personal. I'm very happy for the winner although it is likely it's a company simply making an investment.

This is the same company that bids on its own auctions. I personally would take their results with a grain of salt.

Likely a company making an investment? While certainly not impossible I find that highly unlikely. And that seems a strange assumption unless you have a specific reason to believe there is a company out there buying up high end Lebron cards.

$144k for the signed cobby.

https://prewarcards.com/2020/03/01/t...eaMsQpUIThLlBU