1953 Topps PSA 10 Mickey Mantle IPO on Collectible App a Game Changer

[benjulmag]

IMO there is a significant difference between investing in a rarity as opposed to a condition rarity. In contrast to a T206 Wagner (or unique works of art), in the case of the '53 Mantle one is investing in the perfect grade. As has been discussed ad nauseum, one person's 10 is another person's 9. On top of this one is also investing in the long-term credibility of PSA, which IMO entails its own risk. I think at $2.5M it is a very risky investment.

[icurnmedic]

Per Wikipedia( I know, I know)" In 1991, Copeland sold the card to ice hockey figures Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall for $451,000. " Not sure what the difference is except of course more "shares" and "investors". My concern would be , who is housing and handling the card and can I trust them.

For the record, I probably wouldn't but it is tempting.

[sbfinley]

Sean, what’s the commission on the final sale?

[Sean1125]

Originally Posted by sbfinley

Sean, what’s the commission on the final sale?

I inquired about submitting some of my items and they range from 5%-7% on the actual sold portion. minimum values they take are about 30k+ I'd think that owner negotiated a better rate.

[hcv123]

Overall interesting concept. As others have raised - the "ipo" price is very relevant - is the 53 Mantle a 2.5M card? Not in my book. Would definitely need a high degree of transparency.

Per OP - "There is also the element of stocks and bonds where they are really just pieces of paper"

By that logic so is every business contract, mortgage, eviction notice, lease, etc. With Stocks those "pieces of paper" are shares of ownership in an ongoing underlying business. Bonds - a legal obligation of an underlying company to return the investment with interest.

Not poo pooing, just approaching realistically - it has possibilities. Not of particular interest to me, but if it were, would need to do much more due dilligence.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by hcv123

Overall interesting concept. As others have raised - the "ipo" price is very relevant - is the 53 Mantle a 2.5M card? Not in my book. Would definitely need a high degree of transparency.

Per OP - "There is also the element of stocks and bonds where they are really just pieces of paper"

By that logic so is every business contract, mortgage, eviction notice, lease, etc. With Stocks those "pieces of paper" are shares of ownership in an ongoing underlying business. Bonds - a legal obligation of an underlying company to return the investment with interest.

Not poo pooing, just approaching realistically - it has possibilities. Not of particular interest to me, but if it were, would need to do much more due dilligence.

Common stock is just paper. Companies create more of it each day and sell it and dilute investors at all times.

My point was it is just a line item on a statement. You can't touch it or feel it and can only see it trade on an exchange or see it in your account.

I have a huge collection so I have plenty I can touch and feel. What others are missing is cards that are being sold on EBAY right now are being shipped straight to the PWCC vault. I did one a week or so ago. Investors whether one likes it or not are coming in droves and this is just an extension of that.

[sbfinley]

I was interested until I read the legal. Sean stated he knew the provenance, which I don't doubt as he's always been a straight shooter, but there are two words in that document that raise the risk. It's a cool concept and the app is smooth to use, but I'll wait for other offerings.

[JeremyW]

"Overall interesting concept. As others have raised - the "ipo" price is very relevant - is the 53 Mantle a 2.5M card?"

Maybe? The Trout card blew my mind.

[Exhibitman]

Where is the prospectus? The investor qualification materials? What exchange is trading these shares? Anything that would make this other than what appears on its face to be an illegal offering of unregistered securities?

[Rhotchkiss]

Anyone know who is behind the company and/or where they are getting their cards from? I think that info is very relevant in determining the viability of the company and the valuations of the underlying cards.

Here is my concern- I have some very expensive cards, including a t206 wagner. I could start a company and start with my wagner, selling 25000 shares at $100/share and turn my $1mm wagner into a $2.5mm card. Better yet, I could sell off only 12500 shares, keep 50%, and be totally cashed out with no risk to me. The point is, there is tremendous potential for abuse and I would be very interested to know who is behind the company, whether they own the cards they selling shares of, how they are valuing these cards, etc.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Anyone know who is behind the company and/or where they are getting their cards from? I think that info is very relevant in determining the viability of the company and the valuations of the underlying cards.

Here is my concern- I have some very expensive cards, including a t206 wagner. I could start a company and start with my wagner, selling 25000 shares at $100/share and turn my $1mm wagner into a $2.5mm card. Better yet, I could sell off only 12500 shares, keep 50%, and be totally cashed out with no risk to me. The point is, there is tremendous potential for abuse and I would be very interested to know who is behind the company, whether they own the cards they selling shares of, how they are valuing these cards, etc.

I was alerted to this by Evan recently and found it to be very intriguing and said hell yeah I will buy some shares and give this a shot.


https://collectable.com/cardboard-perfection/

Here is the link to the information on the card and below is the link to the management team. It will come as no surprise the CEO is an ex hedge fund manager.

https://collectable.com/about-us/

Just like an IPO the underwriters and the seller try and come up with a price and see if there is interest. If over 62% of it is sold out in less than 12 hours there is obviously interest at the 2.5 million price tag.

There is nothing stopping you from trying the same. You just have to be willing to turn your card over and it is no longer in your possession. For many that is something they have no interest in.

That said it is a perfect scenario where you can "take profits" and still have a shot at the upside.

In this case Evan is maintaining a huge equity stake in this card. Years ago when he bought this he told me how much he had in it. It was obviously not cheap and there is some margin in the sale price for him.

Quite frankly if you put your Wagner up in one of these scenarios I would love to buy in. Find me a period of five years where that card hasn't gone up and over time it has crushed the stock market. Has the easy money been made? Sure but with the money printing that is taking place and the vast wealth disparity globally the very well off just keep getting even more well off. Obviously this is a bone of contention for many but the Wagner card doesn't care.

On a long term basis I personally see no scenario where a Wagner goes down. It is priced in dollars and so if the dollar gets weaker and inflation hits like many believe will occur it goes up. If the economy bounces back and we continue the expansion it goes up. It is a status symbol and while you and others may have purchased it for the love of collecting there are plenty of others who will buy it so they can say they have a Wagner and they think it is a good investment.

Like someone mentioned the Trout card. From $400,000 to nearly 4 million a few years later. Some college kid could have set aside 2k and turned it into a much greater sum investing in something he likes and thinks is cool. It is coming.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Anyone know who is behind the company and/or where they are getting their cards from? I think that info is very relevant in determining the viability of the company and the valuations of the underlying cards.

Here is my concern- I have some very expensive cards, including a t206 wagner. I could start a company and start with my wagner, selling 25000 shares at $100/share and turn my $1mm wagner into a $2.5mm card. Better yet, I could sell off only 12500 shares, keep 50%, and be totally cashed out with no risk to me. The point is, there is tremendous potential for abuse and I would be very interested to know who is behind the company, whether they own the cards they selling shares of, how they are valuing these cards, etc.

Nailed it

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by benjulmag

IMO there is a significant difference between investing in a rarity as opposed to a condition rarity. In contrast to a T206 Wagner (or unique works of art), in the case of the '53 Mantle one is investing in the perfect grade. As has been discussed ad nauseum, one person's 10 is another person's 9. On top of this one is also investing in the long-term credibility of PSA, which IMO entails its own risk. I think at $2.5M it is a very risky investment.

It might be risky. Time will tell.

That said the perfect grade goes for huge money. A PSA 9 Gretzky OPC is say 35k. A PSA 10 is at least 700k. You and I may not agree on which we like more but the market always agrees the 10 is better.

In terms of PSA. There were people trying to short the stock at $18. Just looked at it and it closed over $46. The line is not just around the building but around the block and down the street.