why did this program sell for so much?

[RedsFan1941]

going by the 8-7 score of the game in the program it was the first game of a doubleheader on august 16.

[1880nonsports]

was it an exchange ticket/coupon?

[benjulmag]

That is one nice program! Condition looks really good, height of the dead ball era, two important teams with many HOFers, and an aesthetically pleasing Coke ad. Plus the program is scored which to me makes it more valuable. So if I were to start collecting programs, this one would be a great place to start.

It can be tricky to try to draw conclusions from one transaction as there could be special factors at play (e.g., two well-heeled collectors who each for reasons unique to him/her had to have this particular program), but based on what other memorabilia sells for, the price doesn't strike me as that crazy. For those familiar with the program market from this period, are you saying that the programs that sell for $1,000 - $1,500 have all these attributes? I'm not suggesting they don't, but if they do, they seem to me to be undervalued.

My experience with the memorabilia I do collect is that, as with baseball cards, slight differences in attributes (e.g., condition, teams, players, year, etc.) can make a big difference in price.

[MCyganik]

It’s visually striking, seems to be in good condition, a great image of Lajoie, and while programs from that era are in general hard to come by, Cleveland ones seem to show up less than say, Boston, New York or Pittsburgh. As said before it was probably just a handful of rich bidders who got carried away but for advanced Lajoie collectors it’s a pretty great item.