Value of Cut 4-in-1 Cards

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by todeen

So, right now there are two cut Babe Ruth cards that are cut from a 4-in-1 on ebay. One for $600, one for $150. Are they grotesquely over priced or is the Babe an anomaly?

$600 for the Ruth sounds silly high, while someone who freely and foolishly dispenses their money might go for the one at the $150 level.

[darwinbulldog]

Could be some upside there.

https://sports.ha.com/itm/boxing-car.../50004-50899.s

[Chris-Counts]

I think $100 is fair for Ruth, so I guess that makes me a fool. It looks way better than some of his strip cards that sell for big bucks, all of which, it can be argued, were trimmed by somebody.

"Some advice I will give here is that if you do buy one, you should assume you will never see that money ever again."

My dupes have sold easily for at least what I paid for them, and I've turned down multiple offers for my Hank Greenberg north of $100. The Greenberg, it turns out, is one of the key cards to his type set, and it's particularly tough to find.

I've been in this hobby a long time, and I can't tell you how many cards I've seen that were once considered virtually worthless — like strip cards — that are now sought after.

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I think $100 is fair for Ruth, so I guess that makes me a fool. It looks way better than some of his strip cards that sell for big bucks, all of which, it can be argued, were trimmed by somebody.

"Some advice I will give here is that if you do buy one, you should assume you will never see that money ever again."

My dupes have sold easily for at least what I paid for them, and I've turned down multiple offers for my Hank Greenberg north of $100. The Greenberg, it turns out, is one of the key cards to his type set, and it's particularly tough to find.

I've been in this hobby a long time, and I can't tell you how many cards I've seen that were once considered virtually worthless — like strip cards — that are now sought after.

Well said and pretty similar experience with this type of thing.

Once cut the item becomes less a true baseball card with a set value but at that point it is a “novelty” and if the right person finds eye appeal in a novelty then there is still value in the item beyond what makes sense from our perspective as baseball card collectors as there may not be another option to obtain that item, especially if the item itself is difficult to rare.

I would also argue that in some ways having single player items like the Gehrig Chris posted above is actually a better looking stand alone item than as part of a 4-on-1 card.

[darwinbulldog]

I've never tried to price them, but it's strange that a W590 should be worth about the same after it's been cut up as when left intact whereas a W463 is worth a small fraction of its original price after it's been cut into the individual cards. Clearly that is the case, but I don't think it's something that one in the 1930s would have predicted if you'd told him that baseball cards would become very valuable some day.

[Exhibitman]

There are a few that have some value, mostly to collectors of specific players or rare issues, but nothing like mid-three figures. The 4 on 1 mixed sports issue cuts sell OK when they come up because the actual cards are so HTF anyway. It is kind of like the cut panel on a T202. There's a market but not one that will make you rich.