Vintage GU Bats - Undervalued?

[SyrNy1960]

Originally Posted by glchen

I think the issue with GU bats (and jerseys) is that folks aren't really ever sure that the player really did use that bat unless it is photo matched to an actual game, which barely any of them are. If they are not, then you are just trusting some authenticator which are just checking bat records to see if that player used that weight/length, etc, so who knows if some other player used that player's bat in reality. IMHO, that's what is bringing down prices.

You’re correct. For vintage bats, photo matching is difficult because there aren’t many images out there, and if you do find some, they’re black and white, grainy, and not close-up.

There is an awesome 1928 Ty Cobb Game Used Bat currently in Goldin Auctions, with really clear photo match images. Very rare to find images like that from the 20’s.

From my own experience, I have been burned on game used bats with LOA’s from the experts, and including from the player, only to find out after doing some research, the bat wasn’t authentic. It happens more often than many want to believe. I don’t want to have something in my collection to where when I’m looking at it, and I’m thinking to myself, “I wonder if he really used it?” I think this is where it does hold collectors back a bit from paying the big $$$.

Photo matching does make a huge difference. There was an Alex Rodriguez 2007 Game Used Glove that sold in Infinite Auctions for $3,932.50; sold again in Golding Auctions for $4,287.50; then sold again in Goldin Auctions for $17,220, but this time the glove was photo matched.

I believe most game used collectors think the same way.