Future values?....

[gamebird]

I understand that no one has a crystal ball and knows the future values of autographed baseballs. I have been looking at Babe Ruth autographed items and quite frankly the price range is out of my reach. Does anyone see Mantle/DiMaggio/Williams reaching these extreme values in the future. Now I understand the "Baba Ruth" thing, (rarity-age of item thing) but does anyone believe that the Mantle/DiMaggio/Williams autos will bring that kind of value in the future?.....or is there just to much "availability" for their signed items?

[RelicSports]

I don't believe they will ever reach a Babe Ruth-esque price unless they are special autographs (rookie year single signed ball, rookie cards signed, special photos, etc). But I have to imagine that they will continue to increase in value over time as they are legends of the game and will always be a key part of its history...just my two cents

[Duluth Eskimo]

No, there's just too many and the demand is not there with today's collectors. I brought a Babe Ruth signed ball in to show the Cub Scout troop I volunteer with and every kid, father, mother, and grandparent knew who Babe Ruth was.

Also, the ridiculous amount of forgeries hold the Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio market down. If there were no forgeries, the prices would be much much higher.

[thetruthisoutthere]

Originally Posted by Duluth Eskimo

No, there's just too many and the demand is not there with today's collectors. I brought a Babe Ruth signed ball in to show the Cub Scout troop I volunteer with and every kid, father, mother, and grandparent knew who Babe Ruth was.

Also, the ridiculous amount of forgeries hold the Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio market down. If there were no forgeries, the prices would be much much higher.

Jason is so right about the forgeries of Mantle, Williams, DiMaggio, Mays, etc.

The forgeries have diluted our autograph hobby.

In my humble opinion, 80% of those who buy autographs are impulse buyers and delusional autograph collectors who think that when they purchase a set of Mantle, Williams and DiMaggio autographs for $45.00 because they think they got a deal and "stole" it from everyone else.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/DiMaggio-Wi...p2047675.l2557

[whitey19thcentury]

Kind of on a tangent, but keeping to the title of this post: I wonder what the values of autographs will be in the future, too.

Now, I know Ruth, Mantle, Cobb, Clemente, etc etc etc will hold, but what about non-Hall of Fame players who died early/are tough autographs, etc. It seems that collectors of those players are not really in their 20s or 30s, with a few exceptions I know of.

When collectors of those players are ready to sell or pass away, I am not sure that there is a younger kid out there who will want to buy a Wilcy Moore (may be a bad example since he was a '27 Yankee, but you catch my drift). It seems that the "younger generation" or autograph collectors are interested in mainly current players and entertainers.

The market is so diluted by 3x5s now, it is adding to the fact that the supply out equals the demand. I know I am somewhat guilty of contributing to that since I purchased a large chunk of inventory from the MacAlister collections. I was getting upwards of $75 on Duffy Lewis signed 3x5s, but 100+ index cards later, I was lucky to get $10.

[packs]

I don't really agree that because there are a lot of Mantle / DiMaggio items in the hobby the price won't escalate to Ruth levels. I don't think any single human being signed more autographs than Babe Ruth and there are mountains of them out there. Quantity didn't sap the Babe and his autograph isn't valuable because its scarce.