The 1932 sanella margarine Ruth...

[fkw]

it used to sell for $1500-$2000 20 years ago... when it was actually considered rare.

eBay brought thousands of them out of German attics, and they are easily removed from the album, supply and demand will keep it low forever now.

the exception is the Astra backed cards, they are rare!

[HRBAKER]

Oversized, non-mainstream and if I didn't know better I would swear they are still printing them.

BTW, I like the card but I understand the lack of perceived value.

[phikappapsi]

I know there was a huge influx of them, but even with the increased supply, there still aren't more of them than the goudeys... I dunno, guess it just seems like a card poised for a comeback, once the systemic oversupply wears off.

[yanksfan09]

I like the card and own a couple myself. For the prices they go for you can't beat grabbing a period Ruth with a nice image like he just homered!

It seems like there are more Goudeys especially when you combined all 4 different cards from the set and the WWG canadian versions. I would still rather have a Goudey any day but I do think the Sanella gets almost no respect. My advice would be to pick one up if you don't own one already. Very nice image.

[phikappapsi]

I actually already have 2, a 7.5 and an 8

I bought them both, hoping one day the value would spike, thinking I'd keep the 8 and trade out the 7.5 for something.

Just seems illogical that the one specific card would be the only period piece with such a radically different value than it's peer cards.

Especially when you consider the vast majority of these "pre-war" Ruths actually lived and survived through the real war. The story behind each one of them surviving seems almost surreal.

[yanksfan09]

from what I've heard, ebay and the internet has had a lot to do with it. I think their popularity in Germany was probably nothing compared to US and before the internet auctions not a whole lot found a way over to the states.

So the supply in the US was very low back in the day but overseas people were sitting on quite a few untouched cards. The internet and ebay really changed that and many more found there way over here. Since you went from such percieved scarcity to a big "surplus" (relatively speaking) the value went down a lot.

Even with all that, I would expect a slow gradual increase in price over the years, but it does have a lot to do with collector perception which also needs to become more favorable over time. In my opinion it should as it really is a nice looking card.

i really don't think they're printing them over there , it's just that a lot found their way into the market in a relatively small amount of time. I think over the years they'll gradually gain more respect as less come from overseas in auctions and maybe a price revaluation will occurr then. But then again, maybe not?

[yanksfan09]

It's kind of similar to what happened to the Tiger Woods Sports Illustrated for Kids "Rookie' card.

Early on it was his only real card from 1996 and was seen as being very scarce as many had been thrown out or wrecked by kids.

The value skyrocketed with a couple going for tens of thousands for high graded cards. Then slowly more and more found there way into the market as people heard of its "value" and people searched their piles of old magazines, which were previously looked at as worthless.

Then the value really dropped and is still very low compared to what it once was. I don't follow the sales prices that close, but I would think a slow gradual increase in price for that card could happen too as it still is a fairly scarce card of maybe the best golfer ever.