Auctions I lost - 10 years later

[ParisianJohn]

I was showing a new T206 collector one of my cards yesterday (a Moose Grimshaw T206!) and he asked me how much I'd paid for it. I couldn't recall off the top of my head as I'd bought it ten years ago, so I searched my email for the receipt and in the process saw some messages from eBay on auctions I lost on around that time. That got me thinking of price spikes, and this morning I searched my email account for all messages with the phrase "Sorry you didn't win this time" from 2013.

Below are some I lost out on along with similar recent sales for those cards on eBay (all within the last 90 days, and all from auctions). You'd expect (or at least hope) the prices would go up in ten years, but this really drives home for me by how much they've increased. I'm in my mid-40s, make six figures, own my home (mortgage is done!!), but I have my bills and two kids in elementary school who'll need some tuition paid at some point, and I see more and more than the cards like the 1933 Ruth that used to be within my grasp are just gone now. Even seeing a Steamer Flanagan PSA 4 go for $160 brings up issues about who's going to even casually get into collecting.

[mrreality68]

Wow

Thanks for sharing interesting stuff

And you a right regardless of your income and budget what we could afford are now more Difficult to afford and we either save longer to buy the 1, save longer and by a lower grade of that 1, or change our collection to now what is in our budget.

Wish I would have save emails and the lines.

Although Heritage has a great feature where you can look at the close items you bid on it it only goes back 2 years(at least based on what and how many items I bid on)

[ParisianJohn]

Originally Posted by mrreality68

Wow

Thanks for sharing interesting stuff

And you a right regardless of your income and budget what we could afford are now more Difficult to afford and we either save longer to buy the 1, save longer and by a lower grade of that 1, or change our collection to now what is in our budget.

Wish I would have save emails and the lines.

Although Heritage has a great feature where you can look at the close items you bid on it it only goes back 2 years(at least based on what and how many items I bid on)

It's interesting to see the spike on even the commons, but once you get to HOFers it's crazy, but then when you get to the "gold tier" guys like Cobb or Ruth the percentage increase is really off the charts.

And yes, you bring up an interesting point on how we have to re-aim now. For me, instead of looking for something like a quality T206 portrait of Three Finger Brown each month do I now go for a Bob Bescher or some other common player? Do I scale down and go for Brown's card as a 1.5? Do I scale down the volume instead and try for just something like Brown's card once every 5-6 months now? Do I sell my house and buy a bunch of Goudey Ruths? Not in this housing market!

[Eric72]

I wonder how these increases compare, percentage-wise, to a dozen eggs...

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by Eric72

I wonder how these increases compare, percentage-wise, to a dozen eggs...

I'm a chicken tender, so I'd say "overall similar, but far less volatile".

Most of the egg price increase has been in the last 18-24 months...before that, eggs might have actually been selling for LESS than they were in 2013.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Mike D.

I'm a chicken tender, so I'd say "overall similar, but far less volatile".

Most of the egg price increase has been in the last 18-24 months...before that, eggs might have actually been selling for LESS than they were in 2013.

What is driving the price of eggs?

Answer: avian flu, combined with high cost of feed, etc.

[Rhotchkiss]

I note that the increase to HOFers is consistently very large compared to the sale in 2013, like 4x minimum. Commons have increased, but not nearly as much as HOFers

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

I note that the increase to HOFers is consistently very large compared to the sale in 2013, like 4x minimum. Commons have increased, but not nearly as much as HOFers

Yes, if these numbers are right, 10 years ago a 33G Ruth was worth 50 times a common card, now it is 120 times. What that implies is there are more buyers now that are not hard-core collectors, and therefore not interested in commons. If that is true, we can expect more volatility in Ruth and other stars, as those buyers are more likely to be "investors", and not as attached to their cards.

[LEHR]

Around 1999-2001’ish I sold fifteen or sixteen T206’s graded PSA 8. This group included three Southern Leaguers. All were originally bought for quality with nice full borders and near perfect centering. When I sold them they all sold in the $450-$650 range. This was probably the dumbest thing I ever did hobby wise considering what nice 8’s sell for today.

[ParisianJohn]

Originally Posted by LEHR

Around 1999-2001’ish I sold fifteen or sixteen T206’s graded PSA 8. This group included three Southern Leaguers. All were originally bought for quality with nice full borders and near perfect centering. When I sold them they all sold in the $450-$650 range. This was probably the dumbest thing I ever did hobby wise considering what nice 8’s sell for today.

Ouch. You at least got some nice cash for it, and that was 20 years ago, too, and who knew which was the market would go. My biggest bonehead move when it comes to collecting goes back to when I was in 5th grade.

When I was 10 my K-5 elementary school had a contest to guess how many jelly beans were in a huge glass jar they had on a table outside of the cafeteria. The closest guess would get the whole jar and all 600+ students were asked to submit a guess during homeroom one day.

Just like many other students, I eyeballed that thing and did some calculations and ultimately wrote down 1,946 (I still remember that number 36 years later). On a Friday afternoon they announced over the P.A. that I not only had won, but had done so with the exact number. I was asked to go to the principal's office to pick up my 1,946 jelly beans.

When I returned with my prize to my classroom I was swarmed and the teacher basically decided to just give up and ended teaching for the last 15 minutes before dismissal. In fact, even she was excited by my win. Several kids asked me to give them the jar. Hell no! Then kids started offering me money. One kid named Seth tried to trade me for it. He had a 3 ring binder sheet of 9 pocket protectors with cards in them and he offered me the whole sheet. I thought about it, but everyone told me to reject it, and I said no. He then tried to sweeten the deal by also offering me either a $10 or $20 bill. I don't recall all of the cards, but I remember two of them were 1983 Topps rookies of Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs.

This huge glass jar was such a hit I wanted to bring it home and show it off to my parents and explain how I won it with an exact guess. The pride of a 5th grader!!

At one point I did ask him if I could take it home and then trade him on Monday and he said no. I think probably the teacher would have stopped us anyway if she saw Seth leaving with the jar (we rode different buses home so no chance to leave the school grounds and then swap). Also, all my friends were telling me not to do it. Though I was tempted, I turned Seth down.

That day I rode home with the huge jar and was a rock star on the bus, and a swarm of kids followed me as I walked to my house with it. After I got inside and showed my parents I realized, "I don't even like jelly beans. Even if I did, what the hell am I gonna do with 2,000 of them?". FAIL!!!

I doubt those Boggs and Gwynn rookies were PSA 10s so I probably didn't lose a fortune, but I wish I had those 9 cards and could say, "I traded some beans for them."

[kcohen]

Originally Posted by LEHR

Around 1999-2001’ish I sold fifteen or sixteen T206’s graded PSA 8. This group included three Southern Leaguers. All were originally bought for quality with nice full borders and near perfect centering. When I sold them they all sold in the $450-$650 range. This was probably the dumbest thing I ever did hobby wise considering what nice 8’s sell for today.

Who among us doesn’t regret having sold some of the cards we sold?

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by kcohen

Who among us doesn’t regret having sold some of the cards we sold?

Or not having purchased cards 5-25 years ago that were thought to be overpriced at the time?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by kcohen

Who among us doesn’t regret having sold some of the cards we sold?

I might be the poster child for that thought .... Not just on my collection. Almost everything before that too!

ps..Brian, great Lipset sales list above.
.

[Exhibitman]

John, you are made of sterner stuff than me. Any time I look back on cards I underbid 10-20-30 years ago, I throw up in my mouth just a little.

Casey:



I am about as hard-core a collector as there is. I have been collecting since the 1970s (first show in 1976), dealt, ran shows, and I never gave a rat's ass about set building. Commons just don't appeal to me unless the player has a very special back story, like being in The Glory of Their Times or Baseball When The Grass Was Real. My HOFers far outnumber my commons and the only prewar set I can remember completing was the Salutations Exhibits, which I broke up and sold off, except the HOFers, a few years later, because commons bore me.