What's it Worth

[murphusa]

Never understood why some dealers considered themselves celebrities either

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by murphusa

Never understood why some dealers considered themselves celebrities either

Whoa! Mr. Mint is a celebrity (in his own mind)...

[drcy]

A collector doesn't have to apply a premium to provenance if he doesn't want to, and provenance in and of itself doesn't prove authenticity.

But the history that a a Salvador Dali painting belonged to Albert Field, the world renowned Dali expert who know Dali personally will impress most potential buyers as it should. And that a game belonged came from the collection of a respected old time collector is not entirely irrelevant.

Besides, old items are historical artifacts, their history should be of interest to the collect. I would seriously wonder about a collector of historical artifacts who had no even passing interest in where they come from or who (famous or not) owned them. Why wouldn't it be of interest and premium in value that a hair brush belonged to Greta Garbo. But if you have no interest in an old brush or movie star provenance, that is fine. Autograph collecting comes across as rather stupid to me when I think about it. Thousands of dollars for an ink squiggle an old piece of paper. But to each his own and who am I to judge. And, besides, there are autographs I'd think it would be neat to own.

Next time a non-collector says "I don't understand baseball card collectors? How can they financially value and pay money for a piece of cardboard?," point out that a $100 bill is a piece of paper.

[sporteq]

Originally Posted by Scott Garner

Whoa! Mr. Mint is a celebrity (in his own mind)...

Mr. Mint the Richard Simmons of sports cards.

[Scott Garner]

Originally Posted by sporteq

Mr. Mint the Richard Simmons of sports cards.

Perfect!!

[Exhibitman]

Collect what you want. If you don't care for hobby history or provenance that is your right. Me, personally, I think it is really neat to own a card that used to belong to Jefferson Burdick:

[Bestdj777]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Collect what you want. If you don't care for hobby history or provenance that is your right. Me, personally, I think it is really neat to own a card that used to belong to Jefferson Burdick:

Agreed. I paid a premium for my one Burdick card and would probably pay a premium for a F. Scott Fitzgerald card if I were to come across one. Might even pay a premium for a Lionel Carter card if one fit my collection.

[Topnotchsy]

I find that for me it depends on the item and the person. There are a collection of Moe Berg cards online that came from his personal collection and were slabbed as such and I think I'd pay a (small premium) if I ever chose to go after those cards. On the other hand, cards from someone like Dmitri Young's collection don't do anything for me.

When it comes to other items, as mentioned there's a provenance component. I loved following the Stan Musial auction a little while back and thought the team-signed baseballs were much cooler for having been in his collection (I picked up a couple of WWII team signed balls...)