Importance of Provenance

[brian1961]

Lots of answers with various lines of thought.

As someone who personally knew Mr. Lionel Carter, I would most assuredly pay more for a card from his personal collection. Not a lot more, but there were some of Mr. Carter's cards that were WOW. Three examples come to mind----an SGC 98 '34 Goudey Hank Greenberg, an SGC 96 '51 Bowman Mickey Mantle, and an SGC 84 '53 Glendale Franks Art Houtteman. Being from Mr. Carter's personal collection was truly icing on the cake. He was an absolute fanatic about condition during his years of collecting, when the far majority of his fellow collectors were simply content just having the card, regardless of its condition.

For the vast majority of cards, I am with the collector who insists he does not care in the least.

However, for the creme of the creme, provenance spells authenticity, genuineness, and allure to the point of DEEP, GOTTA HAVE IT DESIRABILITY. Now, let me say when I think of provenance, I refer to the entire history of the item---the promotion from whence it came, how challenging it was for kids to get a hold of one during the brief window of opportunity at the time, and if possible, who owned the piece along the way.

Taken collectively, you build either an appealing sea story, or a "SO WHAT!" A lot of people don't get into good sea stories, but then they might have an infantile attention span, and the understanding and appreciation for the finer things of a crum bum. That's perfectly fine; they have their own highly desirable cards and sets, and it means less competition for the few who recognize the merits and beauty of the profoundly rare.

To sweep all that precious information and background story aside as hogwash is pure idiocy. For some highly desirable cards and items that could command boo coo from an auction dogfight or private sale, provenance is essential if not downright mandatory.

Most of you probably are aware of how important provenance is to the fine art world, or collector car world, rare gems, or rare coins and stamps. Perhaps you think for our world of sports cards, it isn't worth the trouble. Again, for most trading cards, and cars, coins, stamps, and so on, they are merely E Pluribus Unum.

For the creme of the creme, I want and need the provenance. ---Brian Powell