T206 John Titus Price Bubble

[Mick_7]

It's gotta be the mustache, and the fact that's MILDLY tough. It's also arguably the best T206 portrait in the set. This card is definitely not as common as a lot of other T206s. When I was searching for my example last year there was almost never more than 2 or 3 for sale on Ebay at any particular time. Prices have definitely been surging for the past year now which is probably tied into the whole surge in T206 prices as a whole.

I still check the current prices every now and then on ebay for the Titus card. Even if you search the BST section here, they even somewhat rarely show up here for sale. Of course as I type this there's one for sale right now, but it is few and far between.

[Tao_Moko]

This card is unique within the set due to the stache and has had interest as far back as I can remember. Between being held in collections and hoarding, it's less common and probably comparable to Tenney and Ganley but typically in better shape. $100 is not that inflated unless a slew of them become available from a hoarding scenario.

[Craig M]

Buying up a common T206.

This (MAY) work only if you keep it to yourself and are completely smart about it. Once word gets out that you are doing it to a particular card, everyone will start asking 5 - 10x the value for that card knowing that you are trying to buy all of them up.

Has anybody suspected a certain T206 common besides the Titus example that this was being done to?

[Tao_Moko]

Originally Posted by Craig M

Buying up a common T206.

This (MAY) work only if you keep it to yourself and are completely smart about it. Once word gets out that you are doing it to a particular card, everyone will start asking 5 - 10x the value for that card knowing that you are trying to buy all of them up.

Has anybody suspected a certain T206 common besides the Titus example that this was being done to?

My thoughts are that if one person holds an estimated 10% of any given common card that it would impact the value. However, if they are not being destroyed, it shouldn't drive the value up beyond the percent being held. Not very smart to try this on a set as abundant as T206 unless you're going to hoard a Demmitt, O'hara or one of the other scarcer cards. Could be more easily accomplished with a front/back combo if you are trying to control price.

[z28jd]

Originally Posted by Craig M

Buying up a common T206.

This (MAY) work only if you keep it to yourself and are completely smart about it. Once word gets out that you are doing it to a particular card, everyone will start asking 5 - 10x the value for that card knowing that you are trying to buy all of them up.

Has anybody suspected a certain T206 common besides the Titus example that this was being done to?

I have heard it for Rocky Colavito rookies. I believe his family was buying them up. I think once ebay came around though, it made it so much easier to find, that a newer card like that would be impossible to hoard and drive up prices on, or would really take an extremely long time.

There is a person on the board who collects cards of his great-grandfather from the Obak set and that really drove up the price once he had a lot. Miller I believe. I'll try to find it...

Found it, the player is Frank Miller. While looking for it, I found out another player I heard about and it happens to be a t206 card. Someone has a huge Hans Lobert collection, I believe it was 50+ back in 2006. Not sure if he kept on going with it

[ullmandds]

in my opinion...buying a common card in mass qty trying to corner the market is a foolish endeavor...UNLESS...the card is more desirable than just a common for some reason. for example...there have been hoarders of shaugnessy cards as well as the aforementioned titus...both of which are more desirable than just any common for apparent reasons. still...there are so many out there that it is still a common card...just the only moustached one!

[insccollectibles]

Thank you for eveyone's input.

[CardTarget]

Coming from our background in eTopps this is an interesting discussion. Most eTopps cards had a print run of 1000-5000 which has to be somewhere close to the known number of T206 cards? Anyway, eTopps cards can be bought and sold on eBay without ever having to take possession of the cards.

So accumulation of the cards was a very interesting concept that many many people tried.

In 2002 a user attempted to purchase every Bret Boone card and he got over 800 out of the 2000 before he had pushed the price beyond reason (I think it was about $40 then). He started selling some and now the card is basically less than $1. Because there is absolutely no reason to have 2000 Bret Boone cards.

Now, T206 is a little different in that it is kinda cool to have that many of one player and compare them, etc. But it's still going to have the same drawbacks. There is an unknown number of cards out there. If he has 200 of the Titus card, there could be 5000 more out there. It's a long term "play" that will get out of hand quickly if he starts paying $100+ for each card. The supply will come out to take advantage of the market and people will bid him up just to make him pay more.

[bigwinnerx]

I'm almost done with my Philly T206 set (subbing a E95 Plank) so, I needed to get a Titus anyway. Ended up paying not too terrible a price, it's just going to sit in my collection for 30 years until my daughters consign it.