1952 Star Cal Complete Set Value

[UKCardGuy]

Originally Posted by raulus

Interesting VCP data.

For better or worse, with rare stuff like this, the price is whatever a seller is willing to let it go for, assuming they can find a buyer willing to pay that much.

And often the market doesn't clear for a long time, simply because either the seller wants more than interested buyers are willing to pay at present, at least until the right person comes along. And unless the seller is motivated to sell, there's often no pressure for them to be willing to compromise on price, so it goes back into the sock drawer.

If you're looking to buy stuff like this, then often your options are to be willing to overpay, or else plan for a really long road to pick it up, which could stretch for decades. But then again, maybe you'll get lucky and pick up a 67/70 set at auction for $5.4k! Assuming it doesn't go for $42k, that is...

Part of the reason why the VCP data is incomplete is because there are a number of very tough short prints that are so rare they don't come up often.

• For the Type 1's: Dick Gernert, Jim Busby, Sam Mele, Bobby Shantz, Richie Ashburn, Curt Simmons, Warren Hacker, Gerry Staley and Wally Westlake are all tough short prints.

• For the Type 2s, Zarilla/Busby and Richie Ashburn are the toughies.

Those short prints bring up the set price quite a bit. Then there's the stars. Mantle, Mays, Williams, Robinson attract premium prices. Mantles will easily bring $5000+. Mays $1500+, Robinson $1500 and Williams $750+

In my experience condition does matter on Star-Cals. Many decals suffer from parts that have rubbed off or purple stains. A Star-Cal in a pristine envelope, that moves freely in the envelope and with no visible defects (creases, stains, scratches, etc) will attract the highest price.

That 67/70 set for $5.4K includes a Mantle that was cut in half and it was missing the Mays and Robinson Type 1s. 8 of the collection were missing their envelopes and a number of the decals had condition issues. If I adjust the price for a Mantle was intact and adding the Mays and Robinson decals, the price might have been $6K higher. Add another $500+ for the missing envelopes and some adjustment for the lower grade decals and you can easily get to $13,000. I still think that was a really good buy for whoever picked that up.

By my calcs, the full Type 1 set in EXMT condition with envelopes would cost $20K+ to assemble.

I reckon the full Type 2 set in excellent condition with envelopes would cost between $8K to $9K to assemble.

I'd hazard a guess that in VGEX condition, that might be $15K for the Type 1s and $6K for the Type 2s.

As others have mentioned, you can assemble it for less money if you willing to put in the time and wait over a number of years. But the advantage of buying a set is that you don't have to do all that work.

[rand1com]

Interesting information.

Still wondering how that raw Type 1 set in 2018 brought $42K when REA had the high estimate at that time at $2500. I suspect the underbidder is happy he lost!!

[raulus]

Originally Posted by rand1com

Interesting information.

Still wondering how that raw Type 1 set in 2018 brought $42K when REA had the high estimate at that time at $2500. I suspect the underbidder is happy he lost!!

Could be. Although he might wish he had the full set.

Usually my go-to assumption is that you’ve got some Mantle collectors who were willing to go nuts just to get their man. But that might just be a lazy assumption, and we’ll probably never know unless the bidders come on here and share why they bid so much.

[REG1976]

It's only value/worth is what a collector will be willing to pay for that at the time of purchase, whether it be higher or lower of past sales