Card Prices Back?

[Matt]

Anyone else noticing card prices seem to be coming back to pre-depression pricing for the most part (maybe not T206s)? I was following 4 cards on eBay tonight and put in strong snipes on all of them; was the under-bidder on 3 and was 2nd underbidder on the 4th. On 2 of them, my bids were higher then VCP all-time highs for the grade.

[sox1903wschamp]

Originally Posted by Matt

Anyone else noticing card prices seem to be coming back to pre-depression pricing for the most part (maybe not T206s)? I was following 4 cards on eBay tonight and put in strong snipes on all of them; was the under-bidder on 3 and was 2nd underbidder on the 4th. On 2 of them, my bids were higher then VCP all-time highs for the grade.

Yes, was outbid on a pre war card tonight that I thought my bid would be plenty high enough. Went for twice what I estimated.

yes I was outbid on 2 of them by a shot. the 3rd went for my max which was $23 over VCP and it was raw. I have seen several spurts like this before and hope maybe the turn is coming.

[Potomac Yank]

Folks ... you can give your thanks, that you have no idea what a depression is like.

This recession is pretty bad, and not over yet, but during a depression, you and I wouldn't be bidding on cards, or anything but a Home Relief Line ... Ask anyone in the family that's been on one of them, about them.

[Bosox Blair]

(Ignoring the issue of whether you call the economic situation a depression or a recession...)

I think prices are somewhat stronger now than they were early this year, but it does depend on what cards you are considering. I base this on fairly limited data - mainly my impressions of the REA auction this spring vs. the B&L auction that just closed. Again, this is pretty unscientific, but I thought the prices at REA were pretty soft on a lot of great, rarely-seen material. At B&L, I thought the prices were closer to years gone by on the higher-quality and high-demand lots. However, I did notice that prices on single commons at B&L (even ones in quite high grade for the sets - a.k.a. low pop commons) went very cheap at B&L in general.

As for Ebay, I have not seen much of interest in many months.

Cheers,
Blair

[Bosox Blair]

Further anecdote - last night I was the underbidder on Ebay on a T205 Mathewson SGC 50 (=4). Great seller w/ 100% feedback on many thousand deals. The card sold for $550. I should have bid harder. This was a heckuva deal.

Price guides on this say $900-$1,000. Not sure what VCP says as I don't subscribe.

Cheers,
Blair

[Matt]

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair

Further anecdote - last night I was the underbidder on Ebay on a T205 Mathewson SGC 50 (=4). Great seller w/ 100% feedback on many thousand deals. The card sold for $550. I should have bid harder. This was a heckuva deal.

Price guides on this say $900-$1,000. Not sure what VCP says as I don't subscribe.

Cheers,
Blair

Blair - as with most pre-war cards, the price guide references is way off with regards to actual market pricing; it doesn't sell for anything like $900-$1000. Also, not sure if it made a difference, but that Matty appeared narrow in the slab.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by Matt

Blair - as with most pre-war cards, the price guide references is way off with regards to actual market pricing; it doesn't sell for anything like $900-$1000.

Hi Matt,

Just for my own info on this, can you tell me what this card does sell for in VG-EX grade (or I guess what VCP says?)

For the cards I have watched/bid on/purchased at auction in the last year, I would go so far as to say the price guide references are off on some pre-war cards (and even way off on some), but I would not say "most".

Cheers,
Blair

[barrysloate]

VCP shows prices on an SGC 50 Matty that span from as low as $450 to as high as $960, which is a wide range. Some of course may be nicer than others. That happens to be a rather easy card to find, so I can see that prices might be soft.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

VCP shows prices on an SGC 50 Matty that span from as low as $450 to as high as $960, which is a wide range. Some of course may be nicer than others. That happens to be a rather easy card to find, so I can see that prices might be soft.

Thanks very much for the reply, Barry!

Looks like I should subscribe to VCP so that I get the full range of sales data. Do you guys recommend the Gold membership (as I understand it, this lets you see scans, which could help explain some different price results)?

I appreciate your help.

Cheers,
Blair

[barrysloate]

If you think you will make regular use of it, the gold is best. Seeing scans of the cards is important.

[Bosox Blair]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

If you think you will make regular use of it, the gold is best. Seeing scans of the cards is important.

Great - thanks again!

Cheers,
Blair

[Mark]

Originally Posted by Bosox Blair

Hi Matt,

Just for my own info on this, can you tell me what this card does sell for in VG-EX grade (or I guess what VCP says?)

For the cards I have watched/bid on/purchased at auction in the last year, I would go so far as to say the price guide references are off on some pre-war cards (and even way off on some), but I would not say "most".

Cheers,
Blair

I haven't been watching closely, but it's my impression that when the price guides are correct it is merely a coincidence. Because it seemed to me that all of them were way off, with the occasional exception of the guide for M116's and some low grade t206's.

[murcerfan]

dunno vcp or smr or this "book" everybody around here tries to lowball me with .. but the dgt can tell you most card values are still way down from 4 years ago....you like the vcp or "book" prices better, I always say go buy it from them. :-)

uh-oh...I'm turning into Levi :-)