Restored Honus Wagner at SCP Auctions

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by rats60

Disagree. By this logic starting any card with an opening bid of more than .01 is shill bidding. There is very little difference between starting a card with a high opening bid and having a reserve. I have seen cards get no bids or one bid in auctions. I prefer the reserve being posted at sometime before the auction and not remain hidden.

Reserves should be posted and represent the starting point for bids. All subsequent bids should be by potential buyers prepared to pay that amount plus the vig. Any other method could only be for the purpose of creating false impressions among buyers: either that they could win the item with a bid less than a secret reserve, or in the instance at hand, that bids are coming from real collectors but are actually the AH bumping the bidding up toward said reserve. When secrets are only kept from the buyers, that strikes me as shady business. Just my opinion.

[Hankphenom]

And I would MUCH rather own the unrestored version of this card, not even a close call, IMO. Considering the rarity and iconic status in the hobby, it looks fine, in fact it's a compliment to its appeal that it survived 100+ years in that condition without being tossed away at some point.