If you had exactly $117,603.60 to spend on a Prewar Ruth/Gehrig item, which one?

[JustinD]

Another vote for the bat here too.

Just like others said, it’s certainly rarer and just is a showstopper for anyone whether they collect or not. I find the carving distracting, but in the same breath it’s a large part of the story and provenance.

[Topnotchsy]

The market for cards and the market for memorabilia are pretty distinct markets. Sure there is some overlap, but not a ton.

For people who like memorabilia, I think it is pretty much a given that the 'value per dollar' in terms of scarcity and history is far higher. There's a reason that when considered side by side but the buying is theoretical, that the bat will be the item selected 90% of the time (or some other high number). But practically, the card sold for as much, and could easily increase in value at a faster rate. Because the audience of people pursuing a Gehrig rookie functions largely independently from the audience who pursues a GU bat, even of Babe Ruth. And the card audience is much, much larger.

I was first clued into this when I bought a Roy Campanella minor league contract from his first Minor League season (the year that he integrated the Minor Leagues for a team in the United States) for much, much less than a high-grade rookie card. Despite him signing the contract in the same offseason as Jackie Robinson and being one of the first 4 black players to sign. Despite it being signed twice.

I would take the Ruth in a heartbeat for my personal collection. But as an investment, I would have to seriously consider the Gehrig rookie card.

[brianp-beme]

I have to admit, the Ruth bat does have the 'Sultan of Swat, all-time great touched and used it' allure. But since I have never have been a memorabilia collector, it would seem out of place with me. I might be tempted to modify it for use as a table lamp.

But that would undoubtedly turn the whole collecting world against me, so probably it is in my best theoretical interest to use that $117,603.60 toward the Gehrig card, as it is likely to continue to rise in value, and my temptation to turn it into a lamp would be dampened by daunting technical design issues.


Brian

[Kutcher55]

Did they really go for the exact same price or is it a misreport? Seems unlikely.

[Lucas00]

Originally Posted by Kutcher55

Did they really go for the exact same price or is it a misreport? Seems unlikely.

Assumingely they both sold for the same round dollar amount (say 97.5k or something random) so with bp they would come out to the same weird number.
But I’m not certain.

[mrreality68]

For me that is tough

Even though I am a card board person and that rookie Gehrig is a wow

To have a game used bat by Ruth from almost 100 years ago I would probably lean towards the bat

But either way cannot go wrong from an historical perspective or a wow factor

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by Lucas00

Assumingely they both sold for the same round dollar amount (say 97.5k or something random) so with bp they would come out to the same weird number.
But I’m not certain.

This above is correct. Both had $25,000 opening bids, each had 31 incremental bids to end at $98,003. The hammer add-on gave them the extra funky total amount seen in the title (which still does not include shipping/handling/insurance and taxes, mind you).

Brian

[Pat R]

I don't see any documentation from the estate in the auction and from some of his interviews with sports writers it's hard to believe that Ruth gifted the bat to koenig or that it came from his estate.

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