How Important Is Provenance To You?

[ethicsprof]

The Lionel Carter and Nagy provenance have mattered a great deal in my type collecting. I have several of their E, T206, and T204 cards framed for my office.

best,
barry

[barrysloate]

There are so many trimmed and altered cards in the marketplace that collectors will always be willing to pay a premium for an original collection, especially one that has never been in the hobby before. That is true in all areas of collecting; fresh to the market is worth more than material that has been around.

[T206Collector]

I called Lionel Carter up on the phone after I got this one and talked to him about it. It really enhanced my appreciation for what I have.

From SGC Graded Cards

And with autographs, provenance is extremely valuable. That is why a signed T206 card from the Jeff Morey collection, like this Clarke below, will always be more valuable to me than one that was signed for a complete stranger.

From Autographed T206

[Leon]

For me the higher the grade of pre-war card the more important the provenance is. Ask any collector that has been collecting cards for 25-30 yrs and they will tell you that there is no way this many "minty" looking cards were around back in the day. Of course the argument about how the prices have brought them out comes up, and this and that, and....more excuses and theories. If your provenance leads you to "rawoysterman" on ebay, or Ohio in general, you might want to run the other way . For me, provenance on mid grade cards isn't all that important. Provenance on memorabilia and autographs is extremely important....all imho....regards

[scgaynor]

Provenance will mean more as the hobby matures. This is still a young hobby relative to other areas of collecting (coins, stamps, etc) where provenance actually means something. Right now provenance is more of a curiosity, but as technology gets better and items are easier to fake and alter, Provenance will be key.

Scott

[bijoem]

I couldn't care less who owned a card before me.

It means zero to me.

[kkkkandp]

There might be a certain novelty to being able to say that a hobby pioneer owned the cards before me (I have a couple of Old Judges with Buck Barker's chicken-scratch notes on the back), but that can work to the detriment of the value of the card as well (for those people who care about those things). In addition to writing on the card it was not uncommon for some of those guys to trim them to fit into "standard" holders, so the purists of today might even shun those items.

[Wesley]

Originally Posted by bijoem

I couldn't care less who owned a card before me.

It means zero to me.

It makes hardly a difference to me as well.

[quinnsryche]

Originally Posted by bijoem

I couldn't care less who owned a card before me.

It means zero to me.

I agree 100%

[chaddurbin]

Originally Posted by bijoem

I couldn't care less who owned a card before me.

It means zero to me.

+100...often overblown, overhyped, and over-premiumed!

[calvindog]

Originally Posted by bijoem

I couldn't care less who owned a card before me.

It means zero to me.

I beg to differ. I know that if a card is previously owned by Joe D there is a high likelihood I will want it.

[jcmtiger]

Certainly buying a collection such as yours would be easier than buying cards on ebay that have traveled through multiple owners. I bought many collections in the 70's and 80's boxed up, in metal cabinets or in dresser drawers. I was pretty certain that these cards were not messed with, trimmed, colored or whatever happens sometimes. And as Leon points out, there were not that many Mint cards in those collections.

Joe

[tbob]

I think cards with a provenance of Barker, Nagy and Carter do, and should, command a premium because they were pioneers in our hobby but I do not really recognize the provenance of any other cards I buy. I agree with Barry that it is nice to get cards which come from "finds" because the chances of alteration or tampering is negligible but it really doesn't matter to me otherwise where the cards came from.