Quote:
Originally Posted by raulus
I know that this thread is all about modern prices still being crazy.
But are vintage prices any less crazy?
|
Admittedly, this is only one card, but when I started my signed 1953 Topps project in 2014, Satchel Paige was a $1,000 card. Maybe as high as $1,200 if the buyer had to have it now, or as low as $800 if the seller was looking to move it quickly. And it stayed at that level for about 5-6 years. They were readily available too; there was always at least 1 or 2 (or more) on eBay, and a few others would pop up from time to time at the auction houses.
Then around 2020, I started seeing it sell in the $2-3,000 range. I figured some sellers were taking profits, some new buyers were impatient, and soon it would return to normal. Instead, over the next few years that became a $4-6,000 card. Now, Probstein sold one last month for over $8,000, and there's another on eBay right now for $12,000. The buyers are holding on to them as well; before those two, it had been a while since I saw one on eBay. As a buyer, it's the worst of both worlds; not only does he not come up as often, but the prices are much higher when he does. There's one in REA right now in a PSA holder that sold for $3,500 two years ago in a Beckett slab; I'm keeping an eye on it but am fully prepared for it to go out of my range.