Thoughts on state of memorabilia market?

[bigfanNY]

I would agree that all PF Flyer signs are created equal. The addtion of Mantle on the ad has a strong impact and Bob's die cut with Mays is all the more rare in nice condition. The Mays image is easily damaged. And some of the ads just turn up more often.

[bobfreedman]

I have discussed this with several people in the past and what it comes down to is that memorabilia has a much smaller collector base. Because of the smaller collector base, prices fluctuate more drastically. For example, if an item sells for $10,000 in one auction, it may sell for only $2000 in a different auction because of the thinner collector base.

Also,condition in memorabilia is everything and it’s very subjective. You don’t have a grading company to commoditize memorabilia. Just my two cents.

[Jewish-collector]

The trick is to make those auction house reps drool

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Jewish-collector

The trick is to make those auction house reps drool

Sure, but they have all those auctions to fill so they drool a lot, or pretend to. Based on their databases and experience, they can predict a range for most upper end pieces, i.e. HOF awards and GU equipment, etc., but for many others they are guessing along with us. As a memorabilia dealer for many years, only lots of buying and selling and paying attention to the market gives you some feel for what might be truly special and what is not. When you do shoot the moon successfully, it's a great feeling, making up for all the times you're wrong. And of course, when a unique item does jumps off the table immediately, especially to another dealer, the tendency is to second-guess yourself for letting it go so low. Unlike cards or autographs, the 800 pound gorillas in the hobby that are pretty fungible and somewhat predictable, memorabilia is a tricky business.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by bobfreedman

I have discussed this with several people in the past and what it comes down to is that memorabilia has a much smaller collector base. Because of the smaller collector base, prices fluctuate more drastically. For example, if an item sells for $10,000 in one auction, it may sell for only $2000 in a different auction because of the thinner collector base. Also,condition in memorabilia is everything and it’s very subjective. You don’t have a grading company to commoditize memorabilia. Just my two cents.

+1 all the way, Bob. Memorabilia is such a crapshoot from both ends, one of the things that makes it so much more interesting, IMO. I would say, though, that in general, memorabilia has shared much of the recent appreciation (in both senses of the word) of cards.

[bigfanNY]

Originally Posted by bobfreedman

I have discussed this with several people in the past and what it comes down to is that memorabilia has a much smaller collector base. Because of the smaller collector base, prices fluctuate more drastically. For example, if an item sells for $10,000 in one auction, it may sell for only $2000 in a different auction because of the thinner collector base.

Also,condition in memorabilia is everything and it’s very subjective. You don’t have a grading company to commoditize memorabilia. Just my two cents.

100% agree on your two points. First when selling any piece of Memorabilia getting not just as many eyes on it as possible but the right eyes on it is key. And second condition is extremly important. For most Memorabilia collectors including myself displaying items to share with Family and friends is part of the fun of collecting these items. I have a couple very rare items that although I enjoy I do not display due to condition issues. And because of that do not get as much enjoyment out of them. I have included an example.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by bigfanNY

100% agree on your two points. First when selling any piece of Memorabilia getting not just as many eyes on it as possible but the right eyes on it is key. And second condition is extremly important. For most Memorabilia collectors including myself displaying items to share with Family and friends is part of the fun of collecting these items. I have a couple very rare items that although I enjoy I do not display due to condition issues. And because of that do not get as much enjoyment out of them. I have included an example.

I call it the "cringe test." If you look at something and the first thing that draws your attention is the flaw or flaws instead of the positive factors, I'll pass no matter how cool otherwise. Different with cards, where if you need to fill a hole, condition doesn't matter as much.

[perezfan]

Very true for me as well. Condition is (almost) everything.