1865 Brooklyn Atlantics CDV for sale

[slidekellyslide]

I guess I don't understand the criticism here...a nearly unique card of a very important team sells for $92,000 which is chump change to the high rollers in this hobby and for the most part this is bringing ridicule in this thread.

[ullmandds]

no criticism here...cards like this are tough to gauge where they will sell...as evidenced by the contest! the guy who purchased it seems like a nice guy who is trying to do the right thing to help his family...I think that's great!!!! I just find it interesting that a relative non-collector would invest a large sum of money on a relatively obscure rarity...for investment purposes! That's all!!!!

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

no criticism here...cards like this are tough to gauge where they will sell...as evidenced by the contest! the guy who purchased it seems like a nice guy who is trying to do the right thing to help his family...I think that's great!!!! I just find it interesting that a relative non-collector would invest a large sum of money on a relatively obscure rarity...for investment purposes! That's all!!!!

I tend to agree with our Canadian friend that this guy is a collector who is using his tax number to avoid taxes by spending 5 cents a month to list his cards on ebay at astronomical prices.

[autograf]

No criticism, but $92K for a nearly unique card is a chunk of change. Things go up, things go down. Who knows if this will go up to provide that medical coverage. Don't know.....risky proposition to bank things on in my book..........

[ctownboy]

I don't know what type of financial resources the buyer has BUT, if I had a sick child that needed a lot of hospitalizations I don't think I would be dropping over $90,000 dollars on a nearly one of a kind card in HOPES that it triples in value. No, I would take that $90,000 and put it in a mutual fund (or a Certificate of Deposit) and just sit back and watch it.

Those might not be sexy purchases or "investments" but they ARE liquid and somewhat safe. Need cash quick for a medical emergency? Sell the mutual fund or cash out the CD. Can't really do that with the card.....

Since this guy is a financial adviser, I wonder what his advice would be to a client who came in and proposed to do what he just did?

David

[Leon]

Originally Posted by ctownboy

I don't know what type of financial resources the buyer has BUT, if I had a sick child that needed a lot of hospitalizations I don't think I would be dropping over $90,000 dollars on a nearly one of a kind card in HOPES that it triples in value. No, I would take that $90,000 and put it in a mutual fund (or a Certificate of Deposit) and just sit back and watch it.

Those might not be sexy purchases or "investments" but they ARE liquid and somewhat safe. Need cash quick for a medical emergency? Sell the mutual fund or cash out the CD. Can't really do that with the card.....

Since this guy is a financial adviser, I wonder what his advice would be to a client who came in and proposed to do what he just did?

David

I too think he is a collector and might be using the "for sale" gig as a way to avoid taxes legally. Just an opinion and I most certainly could be wrong. But betting that much on an unknown, and my understanding is to pay medical bills? Sounds kind of crazy to me....but hey, I too am crazy so who's to say!!

[slidekellyslide]

Hey Peter, in my other life as a postcard collector I recently ran across this little gem in my collection. Send me your address in PM and I'll get it in the mail to you.

It is circa 1910 from Germany

[benchod]

Cool postcard
What city is that?

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

I guess I don't understand the criticism here...a nearly unique card of a very important team sells for $92,000 which is chump change to the high rollers in this hobby and for the most part this is bringing ridicule in this thread.

It just happened and it was a big deal. We've been anticipating this auction for a long time, and if you look at the estimates given by board members (some, at least, I think you would agree whose opinions we all respect), they are not generally up in the $80K + range. Given that, you might expect some eyebrow-raising, which might come across to you (and I'm sure Don and Jim) as criticism or ridicule.

I like the fact that we have a discussion forum like this to throw our thoughts out, even if they might not always be politically correct, well-written, publishable or even 'fair' to the 'victim'. I also like the fact that, even though you are a moderator, you are one of the more opinionated board members and don't feel the constraints that some forum moderators on the internet might feel. Keep it coming!

The tax thing makes sense - I hadn't thought of that. In addition, this guy is more of a collector than he let on. Perhaps he just has a huge wad of discretionary income and simply wanted this card - we've seen that happen plenty of times on this board (and we've sometimes ridiculed it )

[slidekellyslide]

It doesn't really bother me and I kind of thought the hounding this board did on that photo really helped it in the end...IMO Saco owes a few people over here a thank you. I just don't understand the ridicule of the buyer in this instance because it basically is a one of a kind item of one of the most important teams in the dawn of the game. The predictions were meaningless and always will be when it comes to rarity.

[Runscott]

I might be remembering this wrong, but I think the winning bidder stated that he knew nothing about this sort of item. To me, if you put that together with the lower final value predictions, and his stated reason for purchasing it, and you have kind of a questionable expenditure of money that would invite what you are calling "ridicule" (I wouldn't call it that). That's just my opinion - again, thanks to the moderators for allowing me to express it without....being ridiculed.

[packs]

I don't see how its questionable though. It's one of a kind with the prestige of the only other copy being in the Library of Congress. Plus the cdv got a ton of press before the auction went live too, just like that Peck and Snyder that surfaced a few years ago. Even if a guy didn't know much about sports memorabilia, he'd still purchase a Wagner if it came around and he had the money. In my opinion this piece is a lot more special than a Wagner.

[Jewish-collector]

The 92+ K wasn't "pocket change" to him. In one of the news articles, he said that if it was went for much more, he would not have been able to afford it.

[Runscott]

If you followed it 'live' via the Youtube thing they had set up, there were some long pauses where the bidders were apparently giving their next bid some serious consideration. Don could probably tell us how many bidders there were, but when this item hit something like $40K, 'fair warning' was issued several times.

My speculation is that if the eventual winner hadn't been bidding, it would have gone for an amount much closer to the predictions given by board members. But if there were three bidders at the end, then it's a different story.

The guys here who gave their estimates (yesterday and previously), include some serious collectors and historians who know their stuff - I would not just toss their opinions aside. As I've mentioned previously, but it got lost in the wash - we've seen rare pieces go for huge amounts before, despite board member opinions. We've seen the same pieces sell for much less later on, indicating that perhaps we knew what we were talking about, and the winning bidder was indeed overzealous (or whatever).