New Negro League memorabilia collector(s) in the market?

[bcbgcbrcb]

Nice to see some new blood entering this segment of the hobby. At the same time, sad to hear, Derek, that you are letting go of all your Negro League team items, you had some really good stuff there.

When I was still doing the Hall of Fame Rookies collection, I actually took the opposite position when it came to looking for the ultra-scarce Negro League guys. I saw the Negro/Cuban/Puerto Rican team photo/postcard collectibles as an opportunity to fill multiple holes in my Hall of Fame collection with one purchase. As someone who had some disposable money to spend, but far from unlimited resources, this provided a solution for me to eventually reach my goal of having a career-contemporary item for every single member of the BB HOF. While I never quite reached the ultimate Rookie Card for each, I had some pretty early stuff as many of you know.

In my opinion, the team items still provide a great investment opportunity today with potentially multiple HOF'ers as well as the possibility of a big payoff in 2020 when it is believed that another group of Negro Leaguers could be enshrined in Cooperstown. Imagine, you have an early 1920's team photo with Dihigo, Torriente & Pop Lloyd and now, in 2020, Cannonball Redding is elected to the HOF and he's included in your team photo as well. Can you see some pretty significant immediate appreciation in value there?

[packs]

How about Perucho Cepeda? Think he'll ever get in?

[Scocs]

I don’t have that much experience in collecting Negro League cards, but over the course of several years I have found that many transactions of important cards and memorabilia are often not done publicly and out of the limelight. Collector to collector. And this is a great place to meet those collectors....

At least I’ve found this to be true since the Hake’s auctions of 2012-2013 where a lot of big ticket items were sold.

[bcbgcbrcb]

You’re exactly right, Scott. However, it came to light afterwards that the vast majority of those Hakes items that you mentioned all wound up in one collection. This collection was subsequently sold at Christie’s in two separate installments over 2016 and 2017.

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

You’re exactly right, Scott. However, it came to light afterwards that the vast majority of those Hakes items that you mentioned all wound up in one collection. This collection was subsequently sold at Christie’s in two separate installments over 2016 and 2017.

I hope the seller at Christie's wasn't too disappointed. I felt like many of the listings were done extremely poorly. I was glad to pick up a couple of items (Perucho Cepeda contracts and Alejandro Oms signed passport) but felt like if I had been the consignor I would not have been thrilled.

[aljurgela]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

I hope the seller at Christie's wasn't too disappointed. I felt like many of the listings were done extremely poorly. I was glad to pick up a couple of items (Perucho Cepeda contracts and Alejandro Oms signed passport) but felt like if I had been the consignor I would not have been thrilled.

I ended up with a lot of the items that I missed the first time around. Most were at discounts to what they went for at Hake's!... which was great for me (and most others as well)... I think that the consignor took a bit of a bath, but given the league and $ involved, I doubt that it really "matters" too much to someone with those deep pockets to start that collection in the first place.

[bcbgcbrcb]

You got it, Al. Kinda takes the challenge out of collecting when you can just buy everything that you want, no matter what the cost.

Based on what I read in the news before the first Christie's auction, the items were owned and consigned by a not-for-profit museum. It wasn't mentioned, and I truly wonder, how much of those funds that were spent accumulating that collection were grants from Major League Baseball and the like. That would make it all the more troubling, especially for those bidders competing against the whale and always coming up on the short end of the stick.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by bcbgcbrcb

You’re exactly right, Scott. However, it came to light afterwards that the vast majority of those Hakes items that you mentioned all wound up in one collection. This collection was subsequently sold at Christie’s in two separate installments over 2016 and 2017.

It sounds like the buyer/seller would have been well advised to consign back to where he/they acquired the stuff. It sounds like Christie's didn't do the collection justice. And in this space I think it only takes a few collectors to rock the world with respect to prices.