Mears Auction - Reach Catcher's Mitt

[John V]

Some of you may remember the 1891 Reach catcher's mitt I recently listed on B/S/T and eBay. It took a while but I was finally able to sell it for $300. The buyer then put it in the latest Mears auction, that ended last night. Take a look at the link below. Any ideas on how or why it went for so much?

http://www.mearsonlineauctions.com/L...spx?lotid=8471

[sayhey24]

I'm not a glove expert, but in general items can sometimes have more cache when they are in a major auction. Also this time around it may have been seen by collectors who don't come to this site and didn't see it on ebay. It looks like the hammer price was about 525, so minus the seller's premium, the person probably made a profit of about 150-175 dollars.

[John V]

I guess I wrongly assumed that most who visit the auction sites also visit ebay, forums, etc.
I know when I tried to sell, there was plenty of back and forth regarding it being a child's size vs. adult. (It measured 10" and I got 50/50 on opinions.)
I believe the description on Mears never mentioned size.

[vintagesportscollector]

The discussion of child size could have significantly influenced the orginal $300 selling price and your initial difficulties in selling. Seems a bit suspect that there was no mention of size in the Mears listing - conveniently omitted. If I am the Mears buyer I may be disappointed when I get it. That being said, the prize doesn't surpise me that much. A bit higher, but the glove has nice appeal and two bidders attracted to it could easily increase the price.

[khkco4bls]

thats mears not disclosing the size which makes a big difference. whoever bought the glove thinks its adult.

[perezfan]

People tend to be nitpickier on this particular site as well. If the glove measured 10", I (and most collectors) would consider it full-sized.

Mears likely has a huge contact list, in which their client base is made up of "hardcore" collectors as well as some novices. Someone was obviously attracted to the Crescent Pad as well as the white buckskin (which is somewhat rare and desirable).

I know I always have a more difficult time selling stuff here than on Ebay or consigning to a Mears or a Hunts type auction. I think it's because there are far fewer people viewing it, and the nature of buyer is more discriminating.

Plus (to Sayhey's point) there is more "glitz and glamour" in buying it from a major auction house than from a collector-to-collector B/S/T. Prospective buyers may not view the Mears item as something that someone is trying to "dump" - but rather "an amazing find from an acclaimed auction house". It's just how the flawed human brain tends to work!