T206 Eddie Plank prices finally take off?

[bounce]

Here is some more info on these, I imagine there are some who are interested so I'll be the "gopher" today.

PSA pop report shows 78 graded total.
58 of them are PSA 3s or lower.
54 of them appear in the "detailed" pop report, meaning it specifies the back series.
Only 2 are Piedmonts according to the "detailed" pop (both of those are "A"s, so it's not tough to infer that there can't be too many more Piedmont's out there).


Card on the left is the first Goldin Plank, a Sweet Cap 350 Series back, which is the most common.
This card sold for $162,360 including the buyer's premium.

Compare that to the card on the right, which is from Heritage in 2019, which is a 150 Series back. This back is quite a bit more rare and is actually the highest graded of these in the "detail" pop report which some might argue warrants a premium.
It sold for $252,000 in 2019. I guarantee this card would sell for quite a bit more today.




Card on the left is the other Goldin Plank. It is a 150 Series back. The "Authentic" grade makes sense, and I agree with the above assessment this card was likely printers scrap in actuality.
This one sold for $34,440 including buyer's premium.

Compare it to the one on the right, which is from REA in April of this year. It is a Series 350 back (so more common), also graded "Authentic" but also "Altered" due to the bottom right edge (more on that in a moment).
This card sold for $33,600 in April (I own it).




I am far from an expert on this card, however here are some reasons I think these prices are not actually suspect at all. First, there are only 78 of these in slabs - compared to 36 Wagners which most would estimate are all $1,000,000 or more in value at this point, so Plank becomes an "affordable" second choice. Also, there are easily at least 78 collectors out there either (1) working on the "monster" set, or (2) working on a HOF portrait subset, or (3) Plank player collectors - all of these people would want this card, in addition to all the other people who would just buy it because of its rarity.

This is definitely one of the hobby "grail" cards, and when taken in perspective to the price of some of the modern cards, it comparatively is quite "cheap" on the particularly considering the overall supply. When you then consider "eye appeal", population gets even smaller.

Anyway, that's my two cents...

[chriskim]

Appreciated your detail analysis, David.

Congrats of owning a Plank as well. Your Plank definitely has strong appeal, too bad that it was trimmed on the bottom.

I was told people prefer to have the 150 series version because the image on the front and the background blue color is a lot more focus and sharp.

I totally agree t206 Plank are way undervalued, their prices had been lack of "excitements" in the past 15 yrs, until that sudden pop of quarter $mil sc150 plank sold by HA last yr.

[chriskim]

Really love that Planks side by side comparsion!

[Pat R]

Originally Posted by bounce

Here is some more info on these, I imagine there are some who are interested so I'll be the "gopher" today.

PSA pop report shows 78 graded total.
58 of them are PSA 3s or lower.
54 of them appear in the "detailed" pop report, meaning it specifies the back series.
Only 2 are Piedmonts according to the "detailed" pop (both of those are "A"s, so it's not tough to infer that there can't be too many more Piedmont's out there).


Card on the left is the first Goldin Plank, a Sweet Cap 350 Series back, which is the most common.
This card sold for $162,360 including the buyer's premium.

Compare that to the card on the right, which is from Heritage in 2019, which is a 150 Series back. This back is quite a bit more rare and is actually the highest graded of these in the "detail" pop report which some might argue warrants a premium.
It sold for $252,000 in 2019. I guarantee this card would sell for quite a bit more today.




Card on the left is the other Goldin Plank. It is a 150 Series back. The "Authentic" grade makes sense, and I agree with the above assessment this card was likely printers scrap in actuality.
This one sold for $34,440 including buyer's premium.

Compare it to the one on the right, which is from REA in April of this year. It is a Series 350 back (so more common), also graded "Authentic" but also "Altered" due to the bottom right edge (more on that in a moment).
This card sold for $33,600 in April (I own it).




I am far from an expert on this card, however here are some reasons I think these prices are not actually suspect at all. First, there are only 78 of these in slabs - compared to 36 Wagners which most would estimate are all $1,000,000 or more in value at this point, so Plank becomes an "affordable" second choice. Also, there are easily at least 78 collectors out there either (1) working on the "monster" set, or (2) working on a HOF portrait subset, or (3) Plank player collectors - all of these people would want this card, in addition to all the other people who would just buy it because of its rarity.

This is definitely one of the hobby "grail" cards, and when taken in perspective to the price of some of the modern cards, it comparatively is quite "cheap" on the particularly considering the overall supply. When you then consider "eye appeal", population gets even smaller.

Anyway, that's my two cents...

Good info David and nice Plank.

Here's the information available on the backs and factory numbers.

SC150/25 - 2
SC150/30 - 9
PD150 - 5
SC350/30 - 35

Scott B has/had a nice example of one of the two SC150/25's

[Rhotchkiss]

Good Gophering David. I agree with your analysis, including that the Plank A from Goldin is scrap and missing a color; in fact, I think Goldin messed up a bit by not describing it correctly as scrap, considering errors and "freaks" are their own little subset and fun to collect. I will start a thread....

[iwantitiwinit]

Without a doubt the reason these have escalated is that they are still attainable for many collectors at the $150,000 level or lower. Actually, I'm surprised that it took so long for them to reach this level to be honest.

[bounce]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Good Gophering David. I agree with your analysis, including that the Plank A from Goldin is scrap and missing a color; in fact, I think Goldin messed up a bit by not describing it correctly as scrap, considering errors and "freaks" are their own little subset and fun to collect. I will start a thread....

On the scrap topic, as I look again it’s probably not just missing one color, it may be missing a couple or more. His face pigment isn’t there and it’s obviously missing another round of blue. Plank in particular had several of these type of cards, which is why I think the broken printing plate idea had such traction.

I’ll try and find that link in the morning, as well as a link the black and white Plank. That one was originally the first Plank I wanted, saw it at the National one year but couldn’t afford to be in that game at that time.

But I agree, it seems Goldin didn’t really know exactly what they had in that card; it could have possibly done much better with a more thorough analysis of the card and what it likely was. BUY THE CARD - not just the case!

[bounce]

A few additional thoughts on the pricing - and here are the 350/30s next to each other.




At least for me, at the lower grades for rare cards like this I've changed my thinking over time. I wouldn't chase "authentic" cards or even cards with "marks", because they weren't totally original in my way of thinking. Similar with cards with paper loss, even on the backs or corners - they weren't fully original, which made them less valuable and less desirable - and the market has and continue to reflect that.

What I've come to terms with, however, is that if I want to own any of these cards I'm very likely NOT going to be able to get a number grade above a 1 or so, unless I'm willing to spend into 6 figures, which is just not somewhere I'm not comfortable being on most of them. Thus, if I want to own an attractive version of the card, I am probably going to have to settle for some "authentics" in my collection. In this specific instance, with all the various printers scrap etc on this card, the trimming didn't bother me as much because of the eye appeal. I've seen other 1s and 2s that are creased beyond belief, and I just can't look at those and feel any desire to own them. As with any of these cards, I could end up being wrong certainly, but I just felt there was great value long term in this particular card, because it shows pretty well even against higher number graded cards. It's definitely a card by card analysis for me, just thought I'd share this specific thinking.

In my weird card math, for 20% of the price I got 90% of the card. That seems like a good trade to me.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

Good Gophering David. I agree with your analysis, including that the Plank A from Goldin is scrap and missing a color; in fact, I think Goldin messed up a bit by not describing it correctly as scrap

Ironically, this scrap Plank with the missing colors was also incorrectly described as just a regular Plank by Sothebys in 1999. It was part of a two card lot, along with the all-white Plank. Sothebys referred to them as a missing color Plank and a standard Plank.

This was the Barry Halper auction, and both cards were ungraded at the time. When it was resold in 2006 it had been graded, and Heritage correctly called it a missing color scrap.

IMG_1342.jpg

[chriskim]

Originally Posted by Sean

Ironically, this scrap Plank with the missing colors was also incorrectly described as just a regular Plank by Sothebys in 1999. It was part of a two card lot, along with the all-white Plank. Sothebys referred to them as a missing color Plank and a standard Plank.

This was the Barry Halper auction, and both cards were ungraded at the time. When it was resold in 2006 it had been graded, and Heritage correctly called it a missing color scrap.

Attachment 460466

Very nice! Thx for sharing! Are you also the winner of that Plank missing color scrap from Goldin?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by chriskim

Very nice! Thx for sharing! Are you also the winner of that Plank missing color scrap from Goldin?

No, I have a friend who was the underbidder, but I don't know who won that one.

[PhillyFan1883]

I have noticed strong prices for Plank t206’s also recently. Underrated card. Great card with upside.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Pat R

Good info David and nice Plank.

Here's the information available on the backs and factory numbers.

SC150/25 - 2
SC150/30 - 9
PD150 - 5
SC350/30 - 35

Scott B has/had a nice example of one of the two SC150/25's

Wow I never would have thought of looking at it this way and the side by sides are great.
Very Detailed analysis.
Thanks
Wish I had one. Passed my chances in the past and probably to late going forward.

[Jobu]

I just went to look at the Goldin Plank and it doesn't show up anywhere, apparently bc I didn't bid and it didn't hit the reserve. Can someone post a screenshot of the final top bid here for posterity?

[Schlesinj]

I think after auction ends tonight the items that sold last night will show up with prices.

[Rhotchkiss]

Bryan, here is a screenshot of my watched items that shows the Plank at $260,000 - this is before buyers premium