Waste.

[Marckus99]

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/1...d-sells-312000

[Scocs]

Hmmm...let's see. Which would I rather have: a signed piece of cardboard that's barely over ten years old from a guy who's barely over thirty years old, or a really nice house?

Wow, that is a tough choice.....

[ngnichols]

Originally Posted by Scocs

Hmmm...let's see. Which would I rather have: a signed piece of cardboard that's barely over ten years old from a guy who's barely over thirty years old, or a really nice house?

Wow, that is a tough choice.....

Can't buy or sell from your pocket.

$312k to the person who bought it might be like you spending $312.00

Scale of economy.

I had to get over that hurdle too being in the private aviation industry.

That's a sweet card and if anything, it helps bolster the sports card industry even further.

[pokerplyr80]

I think the most interesting part of that article is that the second highest price for a signed card is 50k for a signed Ruth. Crazy by comparison. That was probably also a 1 of 1, even if it wasn't marked as such. If I could have had either yesterday for the same price not knowing what this would sell for I easily would have picked the Ruth.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by Scocs

Hmmm...let's see. Which would I rather have: a signed piece of cardboard that's barely over ten years old from a guy who's barely over thirty years old, or a really nice house?

Wow, that is a tough choice.....

Im pretty sure that where ever the winner lives, there are no nice houses available for 300k. Although he could have bought a nice car for that.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

Im pretty sure that where ever the winner lives, there are no nice houses available for 300k. Although he could have bought a nice car for that.

In Fontana???

[Econteachert205]

Bubble

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

In Fontana???

Lol, even in Fontana the nice ones go for 400k+ Out here in OC you can't even get a condo in a bad neighborhood for 300k.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Agree with the OP. It's stupid money. Manufactured scarcity is meaningless. And LeBron probably has signed hundreds if not thousands of cards.

[drmondobueno]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

In Fontana???

For $300k I was thinking Brawley‼️

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by Scocs

Hmmm...let's see. Which would I rather have: a signed piece of cardboard that's barely over ten years old from a guy who's barely over thirty years old, or a really nice house?

Wow, that is a tough choice.....

Bidder probably already has a really nice house.

[justrun7]

The game used card market is one I never understand. This buyer could have bought LeBron's game used jersey from Game 1 of the 2016 NBA Finals for a fraction of the price ($52,591.99). A regular season jersey could be bought for below $5,000.

http://auctions.nba.com/iSynApp/auct...24#bid-history

[pherbener]

"The card was sold to a basketball card collector only two months ago for an undisclosed sum. That collector told ESPN.com that he was motivated to buy the card after James won the NBA title. He said Goldin convinced him that he could immediately flip it for a much higher price."

Does a quote like this from the article make anyone else nervous given Goldin's association with Maestro and the number of times his name appeared on the documents?

[nat]

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

[rjackson44]

Old saying there's a sucker born everyday

[vintagerookies51]

Very surprised by some of these responses. You guys act like the guy who bought it is some average joe who spent his life savings on it, which is obviously not the case. Clearly some millionaire who has all kinds of cash to throw around. I also thought people had more understanding for modern card collectors. I've always been a vintage guy, but I'm sure some of the modern collectors wonder why in the world we buy cards of guys that we'll never see play or have the oppotunity to idolize. I do agree on how ridiculous it is that this card goes for 6 times what an entire game used jersey goes for... I'd take the jersey over this card any day of the week

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Old saying there's a sucker born everyday

Octavio, you are slightly off - the old saying actually is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%...n_every_minute
But in this day and age, I think the saying should be, "There's a sucker born every second."
Val

[itslarry]

Originally Posted by nat

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

I think eminence came out at like 5k a pack a few months ago. Something like 7 cards...

Lebron has an exclusive with UD, panini had an exclusive with the NBA. He hasnt signed anything in uniform in a hot minute.

[glchen]

I'm not going to go into whether the Lebron card is actually worth 300+K too much. Like most everyone else, I think the card went much too high. I think the somewhat analogous comparison would be how much a complete Lebron James rookie game used uniform that he signed would go for. It seems reasonable to assume that the signed rookie uniform should go substantially more than the card.

Back to the card. It's not just any signed Lebron James card. It is a signed ROOKIE card. I don't want to get into a debate on why rookie cards should be much more valuable than other cards for a player. Let's just say that's the reality. (And I'm not going to go into those cases either where the card manufacturer issues the rookie card YEARS after the player's rookie reason. Not going there. Also not going into those cases where the jersey on the card wasn't even that player's jersey or wasn't truly game worn.)

I don't collect modern cards or modern rookie cards. However, from what I can tell, in a player's rookie year, there are tons of different cards that are released. Therefore rookie card collectors look for that player's "best" rookie card. (You can often try googling this: What is best rookie card?) Typically, these are the characteristics that go into the player's best rookie card:

(1) Manufactured scarcity: the lower the print # the better (I know ppl hate this, but that's the way it is.)
(2) Is there an auto on the card? (Extra points if the player signed on the card rather than on a sticker that is put on the card.)
(3) Is there a game used patch on the card? Extra points if the patch is multi-color/jumbo-size, has laundry tag or logoman, etc.

Cards issued by a major manufacturer (e.g., Topps/Bowman, etc) are more valued than from a minor vendor. TPG grade and eye appeal also play a smaller part.

Therefore, this card has some of the top characteristics that say that this is probably one of the top LBG rookie cards if not the top one. Again, whether this means the card is worth 300+K is another story ...

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by nat

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

It sounds crazy, but there is a lot of product out there now that costs even more. And there are high end collectors that break multiple cases of various issues as soon as they come out. Out of my league, but someone I used to work with did it frequently. He sells most of the cards right away, and keeps a few here and there for his collection. Occasionally he would take a big hit but it was amazing how often he'd break even or turn a profit despite keeping a couple cards.

And those $500 exquisite packs from 03 now go for about 10k. If you can find one.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

It sounds crazy, but there is a lot of product out there now that costs even more. And there are high end collectors that break multiple cases of various issues as soon as they come out. Out of my league, but someone I used to work with did it frequently. He sells most of the cards right away, and keeps a few here and there for his collection. Occasionally he would take a big hit but it was amazing how often he'd break even or turn a profit despite keeping a couple cards.

And those $500 exquisite packs from 03 now go for about 10k. If you can find one.

I'd rather just put 10K on red. Seems like that would be more fiscally responsible.

[1952boyntoncollector]

You guys were all over Golden auctions on the Wagner going 'below' estimate.

im assuming the lebron card blew away their estimate...

[HOF Auto Rookies]

I wouldn't say he's a sucker or it's a waste of money, that's just ignorant. Sure, may be a waste for us but to them I'm sure it's pocket change.

Amazing the card sold this much without the patch even being game used.