D304 Butter Krust help
 

I'm considering going after a D304 card with the Butter Krust back. I could do with some advise from those who know this set better than me.

Assuming the front of the card presents as a 4 (clean, no wrinkles or surface issues but some corner wear), what would the back of this card do to the possible grade?

Thanks in advance.

Imo
 

Now it’s a “1”

Just from the discoloration, or am I missing something? I would say it knocks it down by at least a grade, but my guess just from that image is it gets a 2.5.

Maybe
 

Almost looks like”burned” ….. I guess I’ve just seen so many harsh grades lately that I have learned to have low expectations!

1.5

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Thanks guys. I don't think it's been burned but there's definitely staining.

One follow up question....I think the Butter Krust back is a lot rarer than the Brunners back. As a rough guide, what's the markup I should expect on a HOF'er with a Butter Krust back?

With a common player, almost no markup, unless it’s a very uncommon front/back combo in which case it could be significant to a master set collector.

In my experience, Butter Krust is usually the next common after Brunners and the back adds are similar in that Brunners says Butter Krust in big letters, so I don’t the general public sees the two as being that different. A Weber Bakery or Martens back are the ones I think hold the largest premium, maybe x2+ with General Baking in between at maybe 1.4-1.6x. Butter Krust, maybe 10-20%, maybe, and even more maybe on a common player

As an aside, D304 is a great set and a fun project to assemble.

2, 2, 2... do I hear a 2? 2, 2, 2, going once, going twice...

Is there a picture of the front of the card? Maybe the card could be sent to that new MBA grading company and get one of those fancy stickers added to it.
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I agree on the Weber and Martens backs. The Butter Krusts and General Baking are close.

I wish I had these back.. (almost all of us can say that about something)

Is there a way to tell an original D304 card from the reprints?

I ask because scammers have become very adept at aging reprint cards which turn out to have a burnt look to them.

To close this out...the auction for this card came and went. It was a Honus Wagner Butter Krust. I had some remote hope of picking up a a bargain but I think I was deluded.

Ultimately, it went for about $32K (including the bp)!!!!

Is it only me or is that price crazy high? It's not even graded. I know it's Honus Wagner and the eye appeal of the front is great but assuming that it grades at a 2, I figured the comps are about $12K. If it graded lower than comps are circa $6K.

I'm always keen to learn so please educate me. Did someone just pay way over the odds or have I missed something obvious?

Gary, who held the auction?

It's a small UK auction house. They've been selling off a large collection that includes European sports cards (soccer, cricket, etc) as well as a number of US baseball cards.

They're not far from me and I was able to go inspect the cards in person with a loupe before the auction.

I dont understand (at all) what has happened to D304s.

Not long ago, but post-Covid boom, that Wagner card, even graded as a 2, was worth $7k-$10k, which is a ton above where it would have been in 2017-18 @ $3k-$5k.

Last year I sold a bunch of stuff, including my D304 set, in Memory Lane. Now, ML gets very good results, but my PSA 3, Brunner Wagner sold for over $50k. In fact, all of the D304s went absolutely nuts. I remember watching the auction late into the night/morning thinking I was being pranked or living in some alternative universe.

I think it was this auction that re-established the baseline values for D304s and those baselines, in one auction, were increased 3x - 5x 2023 levels. Now, D304s are gold. I dont know why and I dont know who/how many people are behind it, but this cool and small set of mutant-looking players (the Lajoie is the ugliest thing on earth) is now the gold standard of D cards, and blows away most E and T sets of similar size, vintage, and players.

But to put things in (crazy context) -- my PSA 3 Wagner sold for $50,000 while a similarly graded T204 Wajo sells for maybe that the same amount.

Juts one of the many crazy phenomena of the day (shrugging shoulders emoji)