Question about strange high t206 SLg bids on eBay

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Posted By: Jason Smith

Hi,
I don't get to this forum as much as I should, and I haven't been collecting T206 as feverishly as I did about this time last year, but during the summer (I'm a teacher) I have more time to get into it on eBay, and this summer I have noticed the prices a bit higher. Good news/bad news that we are all conflicted by as collectors. As much as I like to know my collection value is going up, it hurts because I'm not nearly done! Anyway, below are 3 examples of cards that I think are going for unusually high prices.
I collect T206 because the cards are beautiful, I have a fascination with "the early days of baseball", it's a link to my grandfather's boyhood, because they are relatively rare compared to the cards that came later, and finally because they are just within my reach as being affordable (PSA 5 commons = $60 to $70) to buy a couple a month.
My question is, do you think this is a case of 2 or 3 collectors who really want these particular cards, or do you think it is someone who can just throw a lot of money around? Is that good for collecting in general? Maybe the bidder's are reading this and can shed some light...

T206 PERRY LIPE, Richmond (southern leaguer) PSA 5 $401.00
T206 MOLESWORTH, Birmingham (southern leaguer) PSA 5 $555.00
T206 FRANK KING, Danville (southern leaguer) PSA 5 $666.00

By the way, if topics like this have been covered, feel free to direct me to those posts. I'm interested in the philosophies behind the experienced collectors.
Jason

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Posted By: T206Collector

...is certainly not as extensive as many others on this board, but I have noticed some trends in the T206 card market over the past 8 months or so. Generally, the portrait market for HOFers has gone through the roof. I spent an embarassing sum of money on a SGC 70 Tinker portrait on ebay a few months back, but still well short of the $700+ I saw a PSA 5 Tinker portrait sell for. I have not really been dabbling in the SL'er market, being just content to amass them when I get a stray one in a lot of commons or something. But, what I think others on this board have noticed (and I agree) is that there are people trying to build their PSA or SGC set registries. That, combined with the ebay phenomenon of two bidders driving a price way up, will cause some pretty outrageous prices.

That being said, there are still T206 bargains to be had on ebay for those who are quick enough to jump on reasonably priced "Buy It Nows" and for those interested in collecting SGC cards, which I think come a bit cheaper than their PSA counterparts. Also, I believe the non-portrait HOF market has cooled somewhat.

Good luck collecting the monster!

Paul

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Posted By: warshawlaw

finishing my Tinker to Evers to Chance at a price I considered reasonable was a real ordeal, and I had to settle for Tinker and Evers cards that are not as attractive as I'd have liked; I just was not going to spend that kind of bank on those two cards.

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Posted By: Dave

I agree that these prices are higher than expected. I was interested in the Lipe card, but not at that price. All three of those SL cards you mentioned had cheaper sales for graded cards this summer:

Lipe PSA 4 for $93.33 in May
Molesworth PSA 6 for $370 in May
King PSA 6 for $321 in May

I bought a lower grade (ungraded) Molesworth for $56 on June 8, as part of a purchase of 10 SL cards. Total was about $500 for all of these. These were all from a seller called lck52001 who has had (and continues) a whole bunch of SL lately. I also just bought a Thornton for $77, which seemed a little high, but not out of the picture. I've been trying on Ellam and Sid Smith for a while, but they keep going too high.

As you said, this is a mixed blessing; I want my value to go up, but really would rather be able to participate more. I tend to hoard, so who cares about the value.

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Posted By: Jason Smith

Thanks for the confirmation on the feelings I'm having about ebay. Like I said, I should definitely keep in touch with this board from time to time. Prices like that drive me crazy, but I know it's a matter of bidding for the right card at the right time. Last summer I was able to get a few PSA 5s for less than $50. Not ones with Low Pop, of course, but cards that help my rating on the registry, and that is a big influence for me. I was in the top 20 there for a little while, but like I mentioned, I have not been buying for awhile and got pushed down to 23 (Obsessed by T206 if you want to have a look).

On a slightly related topic, would anyone care to share their favorite T206 card, color wise? I have a poster set from Sport Americana (a tool I wholeheartedly recommend - may be able to find on ebay) of the set and I drool over the cards all the time. My votes for the top 5 most beautiful T206 cards are:

5. Rube Waddell pitching (can't afford the high grade one I want)
4. Addie Joss pitching (this was my first T206 card, so I'm biased)
3. Pfeffer, Chicago N.L (I keep getting outbid on one)
2. Ty Cobb, bat off shoulder (ha ha, someday)
1. Oberlin, Minn (I have this one!)

Thanks for indulging me,
Jason
PS - what history is available on the artists that designed the t206 cards?

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Posted By: Greg Ecklund

E90-1's in mid and low grades have also had some crazy price spikes lately. I guess it only takes two people in a bidding war to make prices get out of control - sometimes it's better to just put in your max and stay away from the computer at the end of bidding. That way, if prices get crazy, you keep your powder dry for another day.

My 5 favorite T206's

1. Tris Speaker
2. Ty Cobb (Bat On)
3. Wid Conroy (w/Bat)
4. Willie Keeler (batting)
5. Christy Mathewson (Dark Cap)

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Posted By: jay behrens

The Johnson portrait is by far my favorite card in the set. The Oberlin card is very reminiscent of the Goodwin cards and I like that one too.

Jay

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Posted By: T206Collector

No one ever talks about the different color schemes for T206 cards, but I think it's really interesting. When I was bored once, I organized my collection of T206 cards by color. And then organized them in ROY G BIV rainbow order. They actually looked pretty amazing like that. And you find out that there are a few rare colors out there. I think the Patsy Dougherty card might be the only indigo. I also find it interesting that the southern leaguers are predominantly in pastels. If you take the six horizontal cards, you will find that three of them are predominantly yellow, while the other three are blue. That symmetry suggests that this color scheme was intentional, but who knows.

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Posted By: JimB

Those prices sound a bit high to me. It may have been a case of a couple collectors who really wanted those particular cards. I just bought 10 southern leaguers at the Sportsfest show in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. They were all ungraded and in the vg/ex to ex range (clean, nice, no creases, minor corner wear). I paid $75-100 a piece.
Jim

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Posted By: tbob

Those cards you mention are going for what my buddy Pete calls "stupid money." Wait a while and you'll be ablee to get them for half of these prices.

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Posted By: Dave

The Lipe card mentioned here closed out at $463. There were 3 bidders at the end, one sniped with 6 seconds left but the winner had a higher max.

Too much money. I'll come back for this card.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

Waddell portrait: azure blue background, great image.

Tinker: Gotta love the hair...

Pelty horizontal

Cobb bat off: my daughter loves the pastel background

McGraw hand on hip: looks like a gay traffic cop

Bender portrait: one of the best likenesses in the set

Evers portrait: ditto

Phelan orange background variation: OK, bit of a trick card here. The printing goof makes him look like a vampire.

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Posted By: Jason Smith

As far as high prices, maybe one person bids an excessive amount just to make sure they get it and then other people bid up and up just out of curiosity as to how high the other person is willing to go. Sometimes when I see a name over and over bidding high on cards I want to do that just out of jealousy and spite, but I refrain...

Thanks for the info on the color scheme, that's interesting. I don't really have enough of the cards to do that, but I'm fascinated. I mentioned my favorite cards based on beauty, but the card I want the most (and always have) is the Walter Johnson pitching card. That is the card I would "spend my life savings on." That's the card I plan on buying one day...
Jason

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Posted By: Rich Porricelli

I think it is a case of several well heeled collectors that can out distance the average well intended collector. I foolishly thought I could collect "off conditioned" 1914 Cracker Jacks cards. PSA 3, for example, of common players, are seller for near or greater than double listed prices. Its so discouraging.

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Posted By: tbob

Just don't collect E94s, you'll pay triple what you should because this set is in such demand. It is a smaller set than the Cracker Jacks but the cards have really dried up, partially due to 4 collectors (ahem) trying to collect a master set of all the players in each of the 6 colors (red, olive, green, violet, blue, and gold).
I keep waiting for the E90-1 set to take off, it's such a great set but the prices have been fairly dormant on this one for a while.

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Posted By: Rich P

Your right tbob. I suppose I just need to re-adjust my sights if I want to collect in this era. Actually I do, and I already content myself with off conditioned T206s. And for the record,yes, I am finding a general increase even amongst the crumbs..Card shows, can still be a quality source for T206s in this condition range..

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

Cobb, green background
Cobb, bat off
Johnson portrait
Waddell pitching
Bender with trees.

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Posted By: Scott Elkins

........waiting for the E90-1 set to take off! Did you not see the Buster Brown (Horizontal Common) that was graded Fair and sold for over $180 on eBay a week or so ago? Also, some of the other graded commons went for very strong prices. It seems that ONLY the more common cards are remaining at semi-decent levels - Matty, Cobb and a few of the other more common cards from that set. I did manage to pick up one of my favorites for under $170 - a PSA 4 Mordecai Brown - super looking card with a nice and unusual color scheme (at least I think so). Luckily for me, I am not working on a set, so I can back off the higher cards for now and focus on the ones I can grab at decent deals! I did jump on the "Ban Wagon" and buy a FR/GD ungraded Buster Brown for around $60 - only got it for my caramel Horizontal collection though. As for the Joe Jackson Rookie, I found out in the Sportscards Plus auction, one cannot even get a PSA 1 for under $3k now!