"Race card played in failure to sell Honus collectible"

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Posted By: Mike P

Strangely, Cobb's definition of the value of the card pretty well accords with the widely accepted Supreme Court definition of fair market value.

Cobb said: "Something's worth what someone's willing to pay for it."

The Supreme Court in U.S. vs Cartwright wrote: "The fair market value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither being under any compulsion to buy or to sell and both having reasonable knowledge of relevant facts."

The usual interpretation, and probably what Cobb meant, is prospective, not retrospective.

Based on current selling prices for Honus Wagner T206 reprints on eBay, the Cobb/Edwards card is worth, not the $1800 Cobb says he paid for it, but the $10-20 it would bring on eBay -- discounting its notoriety.

In "How to Put a Price on a Dream," Paul Daugherty of the Cincinnati Enquirer wrote on 5/23/2004: "He paid $1,800 for the Wagner card 20 years ago, with the promise from the owner that he could get his money back if he couldn't sell it."

Maybe it's time to cash in on that promise?