Top Ten Icons in the "Topps era"...1952 to present?

[MCoxon]

Originally Posted by quinnsryche

1. Mantle
2. Koufax
3. Ted Williams
4. Aaron
5. Clemente
6. Mays
7. Ryan
8. Rose
9. Maris
10. Jeter

When selling cards, this is the order in which I'd like to have the players available to my customers. Strictly selling, not who's best, favorite, most popular etc.

Furthering the idea that buyer/collector enthusiasm reflects which players are most "Iconic" - at least in the market place: one observation I've had is that serious player collectors can "skew" auctions or prices for individual players. For instance, Clemente at auction goes significantly higher than SMR time and time again; Aaron usually at SMR. My sense is that Aaron's collectors are more broad, but not as passionate, whereas Clemente has a few super-passionate collectors who drive up demand/prices.

Put another way, Aaron may have 1,000 collectors interested, but none passionate. Clemente may only have 200 collectors, but 100 passionate (I'm making up the numbers to illustrate the point). In this case, while Aaron has broader support, Clemente has deeper support which will drive prices in a different way, have his BIN cards sold in hours, etc., while Aaron pieces languish (comparatively)

I also find that Ted Williams cards have less demand, can be had at BIN or auction prices close to SMR, with good availability.

Mantle pieces go much higher than SMR, have much higher demand, etc. That might be a case of both broad and deep demand.

Feller is often available below SMR (I'm a player collector), especially on common issues.

of course, if SMR is meant to be a reflection of market prices, it would imply that Clemente and Mantle prices are experiencing significant price increases (which I think is true), but I also think there's something in the nature of these serious player collectors that causes them to disregard SMR