Recent Chicle Auctions

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by pawpawdiv9

LAST NIGHT-- MEARS auction ended. Well i told 2 great members of the 35 CHICLE items, which said was from the BRONKO NAG collection.
I was told to mention this as many of you guys might of missed it last night.
Many of the 35 chicles were in "RAW" and there was not many bids when i notified them.
I know i posted about 2 other AH that will have some Nice 35 Chicles as well ( Memory Lane and MileHigh)
BUt like Dez and JP says-- It did not get much advertisement beinbg from the Bronko Nag collection and one mention why there wasnt more items from him.
Which i brought up the idea, why they didnt grade the cards and use the from the Bronko Nag collection, like you see on other baseball slabs.

http://sports.mearsonlineauctions.co..._cards-83.html
I am not a Nag collector, but i saw some neat items-like the 55 parkhurst

Probably one of several reasons why these weren't graded saying they were from Bronko Nags collection.

1) They don't have any hard evidence that they are ... never trust an auction house description as sometimes they are "puffed" a bit or even speculative.

2) The auction house is lazy.

3) The cost of getting them graded would have made the consignment not worth the $$$ they spent on these.

jeff

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Chris for bringing this up. I mentioned some concerns via IM, so just to play devil's advocate this time - it's pretty cool to think that Bronko Nagurski may have collected cards. What I recall from the auction was that the Chicles were beaters, I don't think I saw one that had a chance of pulling more than a "1"/"10"/Poor, so that could've been a rational for not grading them. He didn't have a Nagurski either. Also, the set was pretty far from complete, but interestingly included a few high numbers. There was a wrestling card included that wasn't in as bad of a shape as the Chicles and also a matchbook, but it was the 36, not one of the earlier ones that don't come around often. What was lending credence to this being his real collection for me was that there were two checks and a a few modern throwback type items that it seemed plausible companies may have mailed to Nagurski as a thank you or courtesy.

All in all very interesting and I'm glad I saw it, but some red flags - would have liked if the LOA from the family member had been revealed... wondering if it could've been a distant family member? And definitely interesting to think of guys from the 30s wanting a card of themselves as that would seem a more modern phenomena.

[TanksAndSpartans]

It was nice to see a mid-grade set break. Most of the recent ones have been high grade. I decided not to go for upgrades, so I just focused on the 5 I needed (plus the Nagurski just because its hard to ignore. And it didn't disappoint - 10K in a PSA 4! - I don't have VCP, but my guess would be that's a record).

I assumed that the 2 high numbers would soar out of my price range early, so I focused on the 3 low numbers I needed. I soon eliminated the Montgomery because it looked like it might have been "worked on" (the second opinion I asked for agreed). Fast Forward to the last day and the Shipwreck had gone above my valuation for the centering (and I’m not even picky about centering) and the Dutch Clark was really close to my max, so I figured I would come away empty…. But then I looked at the Ernie Smith and Dell Isola and since they weren’t that high yet, I figured what the heck and set a snipe. To my surprise… I won both! I’m happy with them - they look nice in hand (even the holders are in great condition) and it means I’m done with the high numbers. Three cards to go! Here are the new ones:

[sockwell123]

Very nice cards. Congrats.

[jefferyepayne]

Nice snags, John! Yes, the 10K for a PSA 4 Nags is definitely a record. As I've said many times, anyone who wants one should get it soon as they can. It will continue to go up as the Chicle Nags is the perfect card storm in football. Prices always jump up and down a bit but the trend here is definitely up.

jeff

[revmoran]

Nice coloring and contrast on both those Chicles - clean and pretty!

[TanksAndSpartans]

Thanks Shawn, Jeff, and Mike - I appreciate it.