Any tips on valuing a card that doesn't sell often

[Snowman]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

I usually go the auction house route. With a card of that quality, you will find a good quality AH that is willing to take it with no seller's commission. I can attest that sometimes things go for less than they should, but most of the time they prove out fine, often exceeding expectations.

"No seller's commission" is a garbage offer. They better be willing to give you a significant chunk of the buyer's premium for a card like that, or you should tell them to go pound sand. There are plenty of options for you to sell that card with about 12% or less in true selling fees.

[Snowman]

As far as predicting what a card like this would go for when there are no "comps" for it, you can still arrive at a pretty good estimate for what it is likely to go for at auction by looking at other Honus Wagner prices and other CJ prices over time. Basically, just create a spreadsheet of several different Wagner cards that you can find data for which have sales over the past 3 to 5 years. Write down those sales in your spreadsheet. Do the same with other CJ cards that have sales records over that time. You should be able to create an ad-hoc simple regression without knowing how to actually do one. Just estimate the "Honus multiplier" effect and the "CJ multiplier" effect and apply those to your Wagner card. It will be directionally accurate.

My slightly ignorant, though not entirely uninformed guess would be that it's probably about a 12k card today. But I would certainly crunch some numbers if it were mine. But as others said, ya, put it up for auction at a good auction house and you'll get a good price for it. But be sure to negotiate some of that buyer's premium back into your pocket before you consign it to them.