Why this high of a price???

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by earlywynnfan

OK, I'm not a card guy, but I love intrigue. Is there a site or forum somewhere where there is a list of these players who won't sign specific items and why?? I find this very interesting.

Ken

I've never seen a comprehensive list, but here's a few I know about:

1986 Topps Doug Flynn - he planned to sign it for charity to raise money for a pastor friend. The pastor passed away suddenly, and Flynn decided to just never sign the card. He recently broke down a little and signed 5 at a charity event and they were auctioned off in the $500-1000 range. Johnny Bench bought one of the five. There's a neat interview with Flynn (shot by one of the cards' buyers) on Youtube about this.

1985 Donruss Al Nipper - the card pictures Mike Brown, and neither Nipper nor Brown will sign the card.

1995 Upper Deck Steve Rodriguez - he signed one copy for his mother, and then vowed to never sign the card again.

1984 Topps Byron McLaughlin - this isn't really a case of him not signing the specific card, but he was involved in a counterfeit shoe ring (the guy made fake Jordans or something along those lines) and was sought by the FBI. He fled the country shortly after this card was issued, and although it's never been confirmed is thought to be living in France. The funny thing about this card? Dave Cameron managed to track McLaughlin down just before he left the U.S. and got him to sign a handful of these cards. I thought it was pretty amazing that Dave found McLaughlin before the FBI could!!

1982 Fleer Steve Garvey - Garvey is as gracious as they come in terms of signing, but for some reason doesn't sign this card. I do not know the specifics of why, or when he decided to stop signing it, so it's possible there are signed copies from that year when it was first issued.

[isaac2004]

Originally Posted by dgo71

I've never seen a comprehensive list, but here's a few I know about:

1986 Topps Doug Flynn - he planned to sign it for charity to raise money for a pastor friend. The pastor passed away suddenly, and Flynn decided to just never sign the card. He recently broke down a little and signed 5 at a charity event and they were auctioned off in the $500-1000 range. Johnny Bench bought one of the five. There's a neat interview with Flynn (shot by one of the cards' buyers) on Youtube about this.

1985 Donruss Al Nipper - the card pictures Mike Brown, and neither Nipper nor Brown will sign the card.

1995 Upper Deck Steve Rodriguez - he signed one copy for his mother, and then vowed to never sign the card again.

1984 Topps Byron McLaughlin - this isn't really a case of him not signing the specific card, but he was involved in a counterfeit shoe ring (the guy made fake Jordans or something along those lines) and was sought by the FBI. He fled the country shortly after this card was issued, and although it's never been confirmed is thought to be living in France. The funny thing about this card? Dave Cameron managed to track McLaughlin down just before he left the U.S. and got him to sign a handful of these cards. I thought it was pretty amazing that Dave found McLaughlin before the FBI could!!

1982 Fleer Steve Garvey - Garvey is as gracious as they come in terms of signing, but for some reason doesn't sign this card. I do not know the specifics of why, or when he decided to stop signing it, so it's possible there are signed copies from that year when it was first issued.

When you say Dave Cameron, do you mean fan graphs Dave Cameron?

[dgo71]

Originally Posted by isaac2004

When you say Dave Cameron, do you mean fan graphs Dave Cameron?

I've actually wondered if that's the same guy but I'm not sure. Dave was a super collector in the 80s and 90s. He hit ST annually and worked sets, and has complete signed Topps sets from some ungodly stretch, something like 1980-1992 or something. Nuts. He also did a bunch of signings with long lost Latin players in the Dominican and Venezuela. I saw the guy on Fan Graphs with the same name but I don't know if it's actually the same person.

[mcgwirecom]

Wasn't there a story about Wayne Gretzky not signing his rookie card? Or maybe a diiferent one?

[isaac2004]

Originally Posted by dgo71

I've actually wondered if that's the same guy but I'm not sure. Dave was a super collector in the 80s and 90s. He hit ST annually and worked sets, and has complete signed Topps sets from some ungodly stretch, something like 1980-1992 or something. Nuts. He also did a bunch of signings with long lost Latin players in the Dominican and Venezuela. I saw the guy on Fan Graphs with the same name but I don't know if it's actually the same person.

I doubt, fangraphs Dave Cameron is in his 30s

[JimStinson]

That price does seem ridiculously high ...but reminds me of a really wierd experience I had on e-bay that I've still been unable to figure out.

I bought an autograph collection in Las Vegas from the estate of a former security guard that happened to have six unsigned polaroids of Elvis Presley nothing spectacular just Elvis hanging out while shooting a movie. Most were even out of focus. They were "Throw ins" on the deal. After the autographs were all sold I listed the Elvis pics on e-bay. Figured maybe they would sell for $50.00 or something.

Within three days they were up over $3,000 and when the auction closed they closed at almost $7,000.00. Needless to say the high bidder never paid , I offered them to the underbidder who also never paid. I then blocked BOTH bidders and relisted them and they again shot up to $6,000.00 again same thing happened , never was paid. Underbidder never paid either. So finally offered them to the 3rd highest underbidder who was around $600.00 and he bought them. To this day I have no clue what happened ...point is with e-bay you never know
______________________
jim@stinsonsports.com

[travrosty]

i had a rare boxing autograph that i thought might bring in 150 dollars, and two guys fought it out and with a few seconds left on ebay, they both sniped and it went for 565 bucks. when two people want it bad, look out!

[dgo71]

Just goes to show you that an item is only "worth" what someone is willing to pay. Some days it's worth $10, some days $1000. Just depends on who is bidding.