Buying all #332 Tony Bartirome 1952 Topps cards + his Gold Canary + Griffey + Tiger

[mooch]

This is a fascinating thread, and surely it is an economic experiment. The buyer "announces" that he will be buying X card at above-market prices. How will the market react? Will price move? How many cards exist (supply)? I think it would be fun to try this myself if I had already cornered the market and were really a seller (as some have hinted); rationally, one oughtn't buy the cheap talk and assume this is a best response to a previously assemble position. Beyond this, this experiment is generating a lot of information that was not previously available to all. What is the true supply of high numbers from 1952? I hope that we all continue to track this, preferably, in the post-war forum. It is a nice extension of the Curt Flood experiment, where the buyer was a real buyer but did not announce his intentions in advance.

My contribution to the experiment: A key supply indicator is the PSA pop reports. So, why not take the OP's 20-25% of the PSA supply, crack them, and resubmit. Then, you will have about 50% of the published supply. All buyers will then see high pop reports but zero/low supply on EBAY and elsewhere. This would look like an anomaly to market observers, and it might generate interest. Perhaps, more velocity in the #332 turnover/marketing out of collections.

[dollarscholar]

Originally Posted by mooch

My contribution to the experiment: A key supply indicator is the PSA pop reports. So, why not take the OP's 20-25% of the PSA supply, crack them, and resubmit. Then, you will have about 50% of the published supply. All buyers will then see high pop reports but zero/low supply on EBAY and elsewhere. This would look like an anomaly to market observers, and it might generate interest. Perhaps, more velocity in the #332 turnover/marketing out of collections.

Interesting. Well, I could crack all PSA 1's - 4's & resubmit, but that is costly, & since I am in it as a collector & not to manipulate the market, there is no incentive unless I just like chaos & anarchy.

I won't risk cracking 5's & up & getting them a lesser grade.

I've asked a few #332 owners to sell me theirs (at double the market price) & they have refused because it was part of their set. So some just cannot be bought right now. Even the recent PSA 5 that had a $450 buy it now with best offer that went for $360, could not be re-bought for $500 when I asked the seller to tell the buyer to contact me if he wanted to make a nice quick profit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-3...-/111785024544 I won't pay $500 for a PSA 5, but the seller kept saying he passed my message on to the buyer at $400 so I just tried to smoke him out with a $500 offer, but still no response. $400 is the max I will pay for a PSA 5. I'm young - I can wait out some of these owners until they set break or fall on hard times.

I was going to wait until I had 100 ungraded #332's and then submit all for grading so I can get the $8 per card grading fee.

I will take a new group shot of all the #332's and update here once the PSA 8 from REA arrives.

I find it strange that I have never seen any of the 11 BGS graded #332's offered online anywhere:



There were 11 last week, now 12. Even the 2s, 4s, and 4.5 has never been seen. They aren't high grades so maybe not in sets? I still have zero BGS #332's.

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by dollarscholar

Interesting. Well, I could crack all PSA 1's - 4's & resubmit, but that is costly, & since I am in it as a collector & not to manipulate the market, there is no incentive unless I just like chaos & anarchy.

I won't risk cracking 5's & up & getting them a lesser grade.

I've asked a few #332 owners to sell me theirs (at double the market price) & they have refused because it was part of their set. So some just cannot be bought right now. Even the recent PSA 5 that had a $450 buy it now with best offer that went for $360, could not be re-bought for $500 when I asked the seller to tell the buyer to contact me if he wanted to make a nice quick profit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1952-Topps-3...-/111785024544 I won't pay $500 for a PSA 5, but the seller kept saying he passed my message on to the buyer at $400 so I just tried to smoke him out with a $500 offer, but still no response. $400 is the max I will pay for a PSA 5. I'm young - I can wait out some of these owners until they set break or fall on hard times.

I was going to wait until I had 100 ungraded #332's and then submit all for grading so I can get the $8 per card grading fee.

I will take a new group shot of all the #332's and update here once the PSA 8 from REA arrives.

I find it strange that I have never seen any of the 11 BGS graded #332's offered online anywhere:



There were 11 last week, now 12. Even the 2s, 4s, and 4.5 has never been seen. They aren't high grades so maybe not in sets? I still have zero BGS #332's.

right many of the set collectors aren't going to break up their sets.. you will need their kids to sell it after the death of the collector...most of the 52 collectors are over 50 years old....about the time when you see all the sets get broken up is when prices should fall...supply and demand..