Supply & Demand vs. BOOK price

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I don't pay attention at all to the price guides, and I helped write a (tiny) bit of 'em. A card is worth what you want to pay for it, to you. Period. Past performance simply is not an indicator of future performance. It all depends on finding a willing buyer and seller at a given rate. Example: I passed on a 1927-28 Exhibit Babe Ruth at $500 and picked up the same card with a Gehrig, a Foxx, a Grove, a Simmons and a Haas from the same set for $500 later on. Another example: I paid 2x book for a Joe Wood card because he was a major missing element from my pre WWII collection, and I paid way "over" book for a Zeenut Jimmy Reese for the same reason. I also bailed out of the bidding for a Zeenut Thorpe that was priced well but that I just did not feel comfortable with. It is all subjective. Some of my cards are things I would not sell for multiples of "book", simply because it took me so damned long to find them.