Hobby Myths Most Accept as True

[ChrisStufflestreet]

Originally Posted by bcornell

No offense taken, Blair. I thought that snarky line was one possible reply to being quoted book prices, which are often wildly wrong. However, those prices are sometimes a starting point in a face-to-face negotiation between a buyer & seller at the National.


Bill

As far as buying at shows, I have always taken the position that I decide what I want to pay. If a seller wants to bargain, that's fine, but I've always understood that it's my ultimate power to say "no, thanks" and walk to the next table.

As for the sellers who rely too much on "book" values, I've always gotten a kick out of sellers who:

#1. Don't put prices on their cards
#2. Can't tell you what the price is without consulting the Great Oracle of Beckett
#3. Pay little attention to the condition when they assign a price.

One show I attended in a local mall a few years back had one of these moments. I saw a beat-up '51 Bowman high number. It was a common but the paper had darkened, the corners were missing and several creases were evident even inside the top loader. Asking what he wanted for it, the seller took out his Beckett, looked at the listings for a minute and said, "twenty."

I thanked him for his time, but then he started saying, "But look right here!" (pointing at the guide) "This here is a $30 card!" So I took the guide, opened it to the section that explained condition...showed him that a card that rated Fair/Poor should only command about 15-25% of the value at most...but he wasn't quite so eager to follow The Book at that point.

But...I know that goes both ways. Most of the 54 guys who also sell are sure to have plenty of stories where somebody brought in a childhood collection that had been thoroughly thrashed and had calculated the Hi Beckett value of every single card before walking into the store to sell them.

[Rob D.]

High bidders "win" items in auctions.

You don't win things in auctions, you buy them. If I were the owner of an auction house (or the former owner), I would love that the idea of "winning" items has become the accepted verbiage. You might be winning the right to buy an item for your bid, but the last time I looked, if I win something, money isn't leaving my pocket.

[tbob]

Hobby myths:

1)T207 Davis with a blue C is a legitimate variation.

One exists and is a printing freak.

2)There is a P2 Mullins large letter variation pin with black cap.

It does not exist and has has incorrectly been assumed to exist for over 30 years.

[Jacklitsch]

Don't know whether it's been mentioned but as late as the 2006 Standard Catalog and maybe even later the following card has been listed but in fact does not exist:

1907 Dietsche Postcard PC-765-1 Schaefer & O'Leary two player card.

[cfc1909]

This one is real old and from Burdick himself

There is a t206 with a Hustler back. One has never showed up

Mr. Reader took my other one with the mysteriuos black bar Old Mill needed to complete your t206 back set. I loved it when I could finally with 100% certainty cross this one off my list and I admit it was on my list.

[celoknob]

Myth: Based on the prices paid for their cards--that Mickey Mantle and Nolan Ryan were vastly superior to all other players of their time.

[2dueces]

Myth. That the T206 Wagner PSA 8 was printed in 1909.