Babe Ruth $$$

[Kris19]

Hi James - Because he’s Babe Ruth. Even though there is a large supply, there is far greater demand. Scarcity alone does not equal value.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Kris19

Hi James - Because he’s Babe Ruth. Even though there is a large supply, there is far greater demand. Scarcity alone does not equal value.

Kris hit the nail squarely on the head back at the beginning of this truly revealing and interesting thread.

[Carter08]

I read an interesting article that non-scarcity in some instances can help drive value to a certain extent. 1933 Goudey was the focus. A lot of the HOFers are fairly plentiful and the availability draws more people in to giving it a go. I got suckered in by that I admit. Obviously a fine balance because scarcity will still create high prices (see eg T206 Wagner) and overproduction will create low prices (see eg a Mike Piazza rookie).

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by Carter08

I read an interesting article that non-scarcity in some instances can help drive value to a certain extent. 1933 Goudey was the focus. A lot of the HOFers are fairly plentiful and the availability draws more people in to giving it a go. I got suckered in by that I admit. Obviously a fine balance because scarcity will still create high prices (see eg T206 Wagner) and overproduction will create low prices (see eg a Mike Piazza rookie).

It definitely makes sense from an economic theory perspective. I would imagine that value likely follows some sort of an S-curve similar to an adoption curve with respect to scarcity/supply. If there are too few of something, it often doesn't have a strong demand simply because people are unaware of its existence, but if you make too many of them, then everyone has one. There is always an overall market cap for the current relative value of something (which, of course, changes over time with respect to market conditions that affect that item).

However, there's also an interesting phenomenon that comes into play where something that is extremely rare can still have remarkably strong demand if it is associated with something else that has high population counts & demand. A prime example of this is, of course, the T206 Wagner card. The reason that card is so valuable isn't just because there are only ~50 of them known to exist (or whatever the number is), but rather because there are ~50 from an otherwise massively produced and widely collected set. Contrast that with something like the 1929 Churchman's Cigarettes Babe Ruth card which is far more rare than many of his more popular and valuable cards (PSA's pop count is only 308), but because it belongs to a set that is otherwise not widely collected or known about, it has very little relative value today. This is probably pointing out the obvious, but it's still a fun exercise in market economics to me. It's the same thing with modern cards and the disparity between say a Prizm Gold basketball parallel card numbered to /10 and some other random gold parallel from a far less popular set. Both cards could be /10s, but it is the association with the widely collected Prizm cards that make the Prizm Gold 100x as valuable as a Gold parallel from some other random set that most people don't care about.

[ajjohnsonsoxfan]

some Ruthian eye candy

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by ajjohnsonsoxfan

some Ruthian eye candy

Great photo’s especially the first one

[jingram058]

Those are indeed eye candy. Excellent photos, sir!

[jingram058]

This thread has gained more traction than the old Saturn V crawler at Cape Canaveral, far more than I ever imagined, with some really cool and rare as all get out Ruthian stuff posted along the way. Thanks!

[Frankish]

So many great cards and photos and autographs in this thread. And so many great insights. I've really enjoyed following it.

It's funny...relative to the card market in general (and that's a big relative), I think Ruth stuff is pretty reasonable and some of it even underpriced.

Originally Posted by Snowman

It definitely makes sense from an economic theory perspective. I would imagine that value likely follows some sort of an S-curve similar to an adoption curve with respect to scarcity/supply. If there are too few of something, it often doesn't have a strong demand simply because people are unaware of its existence, but if you make too many of them, then everyone has one. There is always an overall market cap for the current relative value of something (which, of course, changes over time with respect to market conditions that affect that item).

However, there's also an interesting phenomenon that comes into play where something that is extremely rare can still have remarkably strong demand if it is associated with something else that has high population counts & demand. A prime example of this is, of course, the T206 Wagner card. The reason that card is so valuable isn't just because there are only ~50 of them known to exist (or whatever the number is), but rather because there are ~50 from an otherwise massively produced and widely collected set. Contrast that with something like the 1929 Churchman's Cigarettes Babe Ruth card which is far more rare than many of his more popular and valuable cards (PSA's pop count is only 308), but because it belongs to a set that is otherwise not widely collected or known about, it has very little relative value today....

Agreed. This also probably goes a long way toward explaining why one can pick up some really magnificent Type 1 Ruth photos (some of them one of a kind or one of only a handful of known examples) or even original glass negatives for less than the price of a dog-chewed playing days card. I've purchased quite a few over the years because they are really beautiful baseball artifacts, but they will probably always remain on the wrong side of that curve for someone in it for the money....

[Frankish]

A few Ruth photos I don't see every day (although admittedly, my photos probably aren't much to a serious collector). From 1923, 1927 and 1927.

[clydepepper]

Those Babes I no longer own:

1932 Sanella Margarine Babe Ruth SGC-80.jpg1928 W502 #6- BABE RUTH Sold for 2605 on 12-13-19.jpg

1934 Goudey #149- BABE RUTH Sold for 6872 on 12-13-19.jpg1928 Harringtons Ice Cream BABE RUTH BST 5000 Jan 20.jpg

1933 Goudey 144- BABE RUTH SGC-70 BST 16000.jpg1948 Leaf BABE RUTH PSA-5 BST 3700.jpg


And Those Babes I've kept:

Babes.jpg

BABE RUTH Single-Signed 4x5 Photo.jpg