High Grade Ruth Rookie

[JustinD]

Bonham's or Sotheby's are likely tied for second to Christie's in historical auction houses and I cannot imagine it is not top notch. I used to have a friend that was an auctioneer for the Bonham's Concourse auto auctions.

That said, using any of these for sports cards seems like a high dollar investor picking only name recognition and not expertise. The buyer's for this card will find it, but I would definitely agree it was not the best consignment decision.

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by JustinD

Bonham's or Sotheby's are likely tied for second to Christie's in historical auction houses and I cannot imagine it is not top notch. I used to have a friend that was an auctioneer for the Bonham's Concourse auto auctions.

That said, using any of these for sports cards seems like a high dollar investor picking only name recognition and not expertise. The buyer's for this card will find it, but I would definitely agree it was not the best consignment decision.

the bigger issue is many potential bidders may not even know it is availabie so then they cannot bid on it and that could hurt the consignor from getting potentially more bids and higher sales results.
The last Christie auction had some amazing items and i did not find out about it until the day before

[nolemmings]

Sorry, but I have to chuckle a little at many of the responses here, and the no doubt heartfelt sympathy expressed for the consignor.
What happened to the days when there was some sort of general understanding that one should not "out" auctions and thereby spoil the opportunities of some here to perhaps find a card at a good price in reward for their vigilance and investigation? Now we learn of a card that fewer than a handful on this board could ever hope to land on their best day and seem annoyed that it was not given full-throated exposure on our favorite auction sites, plus we applaud the fact that it is now outed. Please provide a show of hands-- who here plans now or ever did plan to bid on this card? Oh wait, I'm sure that was not the point

[brianp-beme]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Please provide a show of hands-- who here plans now or ever did plan to bid on this card?

No bid from me...this is the only type of Bonham card I could afford to win.

Brian

[brianp-beme]

At least for the most of us we can have, for free, the below portion of the Bonhams writeup about the Gimbels set, the majority of which originated from an article in the Sports Collectors Daily website in 2015:


In April of 1916 Gimbels Department Store launched a promotional campaign advertising a free giveaway of 20 baseball cards to kids who came in person to the Boy's Clothing Section (Sportscollectordaily.com, March 21, 2015). The ad published in the Wisconsin papers reads: "Attention! / Boys of Milwaukee / Especially—You Baseball 'fans' / How would you like to have Photographs of 200 Major League stars and other "Stars of the Diamond"? You can have them in lots of 20—each Saturday. / First bunch of 20 photographs on Saturday FREE / These are actual photographs of the players in their favorite action, and in ten Saturdays you will have the entire 200 players. Won't that be great? / Just sign your name and address below and present this 'ad' in Gimbels Boys' Clothing Section on Saturday, the 15th, and receive the first 20 pictures FREE."

As the promotion went on, fans late to the party could buy the previous sets for a nominal sum, except series #2, which featured superstar Ty Cobb and sold out early. The present owner's grandfather was a 10-year-old Milwaukeean in 1916 who took advantage of the Gimbels promotion, holding on to his beloved Babe Ruth card until the end of his life, when he left it to his descendants.


Brian

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Sorry, but I have to chuckle a little at many of the responses here, and the no doubt heartfelt sympathy expressed for the consignor.
What happened to the days when there was some sort of general understanding that one should not "out" auctions and thereby spoil the opportunities of some here to perhaps find a card at a good price in reward for their vigilance and investigation? Now we learn of a card that fewer than a handful on this board could ever hope to land on their best day and seem annoyed that it was not given full-throated exposure on our favorite auction sites, plus we applaud the fact that it is now outed. Please provide a show of hands-- who here plans now or ever did plan to bid on this card? Oh wait, I'm sure that was not the point

Todd--I'm not sure there was a "general understanding". I have always advocated for letting people know about auctions that they might be interested in but possibly could have missed.

[MattyC]

Was going to bid. Not anymore.

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Was going to bid. Not anymore.

Ditto. I already put my house on the market hoping I could get it for the minimum.

Secrets out now.

Wife’s gonna be soooooo pissed when she finds out.

[YankeeCollector]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Todd--I'm not sure there was a "general understanding". I have always advocated for letting people know about auctions that they might be interested in but possibly could have missed.

Unless you are bidding

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Sorry, but I have to chuckle a little at many of the responses here, and the no doubt heartfelt sympathy expressed for the consignor.
What happened to the days when there was some sort of general understanding that one should not "out" auctions and thereby spoil the opportunities of some here to perhaps find a card at a good price in reward for their vigilance and investigation? Now we learn of a card that fewer than a handful on this board could ever hope to land on their best day and seem annoyed that it was not given full-throated exposure on our favorite auction sites, plus we applaud the fact that it is now outed. Please provide a show of hands-- who here plans now or ever did plan to bid on this card? Oh wait, I'm sure that was not the point

one has to protect their "investment(s)!"

[YankeeCollector]

Thanks for the heads up. I am certain you are not bidding on it bc if you were, you would not have alerted us. Thanks for the public service!

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

one has to protect their "investment(s)!"

There are two likely/practical reasons someone would "out" an auction: (i) its their item, or (ii) they have an example of the item being auctioned and they dont want the outed item to go cheap and create a "bad comp". In both cases, there is personal motive. And nobody outs an auction they are hoping to win.

I own a rare-back Ruth rookie and I like to see all Ruth rookies go for as much as possible. At the same time, this is a card I could bid on, especially if it was cheap, which it is right now. So, if I would be annoyed if I was a bidder, but am happy since I own one, am not a bidder, and like high comps. Purely selfish, admitted!

All that said, I was "taught" that (as a general rule) not to out an auction. But I figured it was ok to post the link since it was already outed in this, and another, earlier thread that contained a link.

It will be interesting to see where this thing lands. Its gorgeous, and its a rare combo (Gimbels is not all that rare but not may Ruths). I would think its a $1mm card in more typical sports auction house.

[mechanicalman]

I’ll admit that when I first read that that card was being sold by an auction house that didn’t have a sports focus, I was a bit perplexed/dismayed, and I don’t own a Ruth RC. But that’s a huge card for the hobby, and a large, newsworthy number on that could help drive additional interest/value in some of the vintage cards most of us own. Hoping it goes big tomorrow!

[Lorewalker]

That this is the only sports card in their auction, it is safe to assume the consignor picked it up as a trinket to go with his/her/their 200 million dollar art, vintage car and whatever else they collect. With or without the members of this board, the card would likely have done just fine.

I am in the camp that you do not out an auction and nobody would ever do it is they had interest in bidding but would if they had interest in the final price being as high as possible.