Waste.

[nat]

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

[rjackson44]

Old saying there's a sucker born everyday

[vintagerookies51]

Very surprised by some of these responses. You guys act like the guy who bought it is some average joe who spent his life savings on it, which is obviously not the case. Clearly some millionaire who has all kinds of cash to throw around. I also thought people had more understanding for modern card collectors. I've always been a vintage guy, but I'm sure some of the modern collectors wonder why in the world we buy cards of guys that we'll never see play or have the oppotunity to idolize. I do agree on how ridiculous it is that this card goes for 6 times what an entire game used jersey goes for... I'd take the jersey over this card any day of the week

[Scocs]

And as someone already said, it's not like LeBron hasn't signed hundreds of thousands of items before. What is the difference between this "manufactured" card "product" and something signed by James during his rookie year?

I guess $300,000 is the answer.

That's just stupid -- and doesn't matter how much money you have....

[Mdmtx]

Originally Posted by Scocs

And as someone already said, it's not like LeBron hasn't signed hundreds of thousands of items before. What is the difference between this "manufactured" card "product" and something signed by James during his rookie year?

I guess $300,000 is the answer.

That's just stupid -- and doesn't matter how much money you have....

Because it is clearly sane to buy cards with minor deviations. Different factory number. Missing bits of ink. 'Cause those are old. This whole hobby makes a clear case for beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

[iwantitiwinit]

Originally Posted by Mdmtx

Because it is clearly sane to buy cards with minor deviations. Different factory number. Missing bits of ink. 'Cause those are old. This whole hobby makes a clear case for beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

There is one difference here LeBron could produce more of the same type of product if he chooses. This is beyond insane. Having stupid money is one thing but u tell me how much you'd have to have to spend 300k on this. 1 billion wouldn't be enough. This is nuts but that's just my opinion.

[Mdmtx]

Originally Posted by iwantitiwinit

There is one difference here LeBron could produce more of the same type of product if he chooses. This is beyond insane. Having stupid money is one thing but u tell me how much you'd have to have to spend 300k on this. 1 billion wouldn't be enough. This is nuts but that's just my opinion.

Just an FYI. If you placed 1 billion in the bank and could only get 4% compounded ANNUALLY you would earn $109,589.04 in interest daily. Let that sink in. Daily. Plus whatever the person did to create the billion to begin with. To assume a billionaire wouldn't/couldn't make this kind of purchase is short sighted. Looks to me like he/she could buy 2 a week and never touch their principal, including shipping.

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by scocs

that's just stupid -- and doesn't matter how much money you have....

qft

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by Scocs

And as someone already said, it's not like LeBron hasn't signed hundreds of thousands of items before. What is the difference between this "manufactured" card "product" and something signed by James during his rookie year?
I guess $300,000 is the answer.

That's just stupid -- and doesn't matter how much money you have....

It has the miniscule game-worn NBA patch (Hi Jerry West!)

[Klrdds]

As a baseball card collector with a collection going from present day back to Old Judge and a baseball autograph collection with examples to the 1870s and other memorabilia, I have yet to grasp the allure of manufactured memorabilia and inserts and the understanding of why they sell for so much more at times than other available and appealing pieces of memorabilia .
But I figure like all collections it is a matter of taste and wants. I always wonder however will they ever recoup their money if they try sell it .

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by rjackson44

Old saying there's a sucker born everyday

Octavio, you are slightly off - the old saying actually is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There%...n_every_minute
But in this day and age, I think the saying should be, "There's a sucker born every second."
Val

[Eric72]

I say, "buy what you like, like what you buy, and leave the rest for everyone else."

If I had $300,000+ to spend on this hobby, it wouldn't be used to purchase a modern card of LeBron James. However, my acquisitions, whatever they might be, would likely be viewed upon as wasteful spending by a great many people.

[itslarry]

Originally Posted by nat

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

I think eminence came out at like 5k a pack a few months ago. Something like 7 cards...

Lebron has an exclusive with UD, panini had an exclusive with the NBA. He hasnt signed anything in uniform in a hot minute.

[glchen]

I'm not going to go into whether the Lebron card is actually worth 300+K too much. Like most everyone else, I think the card went much too high. I think the somewhat analogous comparison would be how much a complete Lebron James rookie game used uniform that he signed would go for. It seems reasonable to assume that the signed rookie uniform should go substantially more than the card.

Back to the card. It's not just any signed Lebron James card. It is a signed ROOKIE card. I don't want to get into a debate on why rookie cards should be much more valuable than other cards for a player. Let's just say that's the reality. (And I'm not going to go into those cases either where the card manufacturer issues the rookie card YEARS after the player's rookie reason. Not going there. Also not going into those cases where the jersey on the card wasn't even that player's jersey or wasn't truly game worn.)

I don't collect modern cards or modern rookie cards. However, from what I can tell, in a player's rookie year, there are tons of different cards that are released. Therefore rookie card collectors look for that player's "best" rookie card. (You can often try googling this: What is best rookie card?) Typically, these are the characteristics that go into the player's best rookie card:

(1) Manufactured scarcity: the lower the print # the better (I know ppl hate this, but that's the way it is.)
(2) Is there an auto on the card? (Extra points if the player signed on the card rather than on a sticker that is put on the card.)
(3) Is there a game used patch on the card? Extra points if the patch is multi-color/jumbo-size, has laundry tag or logoman, etc.

Cards issued by a major manufacturer (e.g., Topps/Bowman, etc) are more valued than from a minor vendor. TPG grade and eye appeal also play a smaller part.

Therefore, this card has some of the top characteristics that say that this is probably one of the top LBG rookie cards if not the top one. Again, whether this means the card is worth 300+K is another story ...

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by nat

Here's what I found shocking:

"The highest price previously paid for any James item was the $95,000 venture capitalist Bill Lee paid for a 2003-04 card of James' from Upper Deck's Exquisite Collection, which retailed for $500 a pack.

The card that sold Sunday morning was pulled from Upper Deck's Ultimate Collection set, which were sold for $125 a pack with only four cards in a pack."

Somebody has the gall to sell a new pack of cards for $500??!??!!!?

It sounds crazy, but there is a lot of product out there now that costs even more. And there are high end collectors that break multiple cases of various issues as soon as they come out. Out of my league, but someone I used to work with did it frequently. He sells most of the cards right away, and keeps a few here and there for his collection. Occasionally he would take a big hit but it was amazing how often he'd break even or turn a profit despite keeping a couple cards.

And those $500 exquisite packs from 03 now go for about 10k. If you can find one.

[mechanicalman]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

It sounds crazy, but there is a lot of product out there now that costs even more. And there are high end collectors that break multiple cases of various issues as soon as they come out. Out of my league, but someone I used to work with did it frequently. He sells most of the cards right away, and keeps a few here and there for his collection. Occasionally he would take a big hit but it was amazing how often he'd break even or turn a profit despite keeping a couple cards.

And those $500 exquisite packs from 03 now go for about 10k. If you can find one.

I'd rather just put 10K on red. Seems like that would be more fiscally responsible.

[nat]

I'll second Charlie there.

One of the reasons that modern cards don't interest me is that they really are just a kind of gambling. Cardboard slot machines. There has always been some tomfoolery involved in baseball cards: think of the Goudey Lajoie; just skipping a number to get the kids to buy more cards is pretty sneaky. But, as far as I can tell, this is all that modern cards have become.

As for whether they'll hold their value, I don't know. But most collectibles that are made to be collectible are junk (think about things like the decorative plates that they sell on QVC). Vintage cards (this is actually a nice crossover point for another thread) weren't made to be collectibles, at least not in any modern sense, they were made to be children's toys. Bike spokes and all that. Now, it's permissible to think that adults shouldn't spend money collecting children's toys, but if there is a problem with it, it's not the same one as buying lottery tickets from Upper Deck.

[pokerplyr80]

I think the discussion over if the card is worth the price is similar to those asking if a PSA 10 63 Rose is really worth the 700k or whatever it sold for. For one it's irrelevant what we think, it was worth it to the guy who won it, and worth almost as much to the under bidder. It's a 1 of 1, and LeBron's most sought after rookie card. Or one of them. There are thousands of 63 Rose's out there, and perhaps 100s of thousands of LeBron rookies. But only one PSA 10 and only one 1 of 1 logoman auto.

I'd still rather have the signed 33 goudey ruth for 50k. But I wasn't bidding on either.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I think the discussion over if the card is worth the price is similar to those asking if a PSA 10 63 Rose is really worth the 700k or whatever it sold for. For one it's irrelevant what we think, it was worth it to the guy who won it, and worth almost as much to the under bidder. It's a 1 of 1, and LeBron's most sought after rookie card. Or one of them. There are thousands of 63 Rose's out there, and perhaps 100s of thousands of LeBron rookies. But only one PSA 10 and only one 1 of 1 logoman auto.

I'd still rather have the signed 33 goudey ruth for 50k. But I wasn't bidding on either.

By your definition nobody in history has ever overpaid for anything, because it was "worth it to the guy who won it."

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

By your definition nobody in history has ever overpaid for anything, because it was "worth it to the guy who won it."

People over pay for things all of the time. My point is that it doesn't matter if we think he did. And that it's very difficult to say when your talking about the only one in existence.