OT - Auction Catalog Descriptions

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Posted By: Brian H (misunderestimated)

Some observations...

As noted above, the Old Judge lot descriptions were quite terse -- I think that's because the bright folks at MastroNet know that real prospective bidders for these kind of lots only need to know (and perhaps only want to hear) the facts. They don't need to be told how old/rare/valuable Old Judge cards in large groups are -- they just need to be told which cards are in the groups (in the terms spoken by Old Judge mavens).

Conversely, the Donlin T206 card description (perhaps written by Robin Leach after getting kicked out of a Starbucks for drinking too much). Well, what sells that card is not simply that it's a Donlin T206 (avg. price about $50 in OK shape). Donlin was a pretty good player, colorful guy in his day..... No, what sells that card is the condition....Or more, specifically, the holder which tells all potential buyers how rare and valuable the card is. And no, just writing "PSA 10" won't cut it. These potential bidders need to know what that means -- how rare it is, how that makes it not only the best T206 Donlin but the best T206. Now maybe you've got the big dollar guys interested they want to own the BEST .... Well why would that matter? I don't know but it does to alot of folks with a lot of money (and admittedly to some extent, sometimes, even to me).