1914 Baltimore News Babe Ruth sells for more than the T206 Wagner

[Zone91]

I believe this is the way it should be....to me the Ruth is WAY more important!!!

Results:

Ruth 380 000$ + juice = 450 300$

Wagner 340 000$ + juice = 402 900$

I believe this is a new record for a PSA 1.

Post # 2

[barrysloate]

Wagners come around several times a year, every year. Baltimore News Ruths don't.

[Cardboard Junkie]

I think it's a good time to sell. Dave

[Shoele$$]

Originally Posted by Cardboard Junkie

I think it's a good time to sell. Dave

Yeah, I'm probably gonna pull the three I have hidden away and consign them

[g_vezina_c55]

Imagine if a psa8 BN Ruth surface ...imagine the final bid ... Probably more than the 2 800 000$ of the psa8 wagner

I think We can now said the BN Ruth is the most valuable baseball card ?

[e107collector]

Originally Posted by g_vezina_c55

Imagine if a psa8 BN Ruth surface ...imagine the final bid ... Probably more than the 2 800 000$ of the psa8 wagner

I think We can now said the BN Ruth is the most valuable baseball card ?

Nelson,

The final price on a "8" BN Ruth would be insane!!

I guess there is a new king in town - move over Honus!

Tony

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by g_vezina_c55

Imagine if a psa8 BN Ruth surface ...imagine the final bid ... Probably more than the 2 800 000$ of the psa8 wagner

I think We can now said the BN Ruth is the most valuable baseball card ?

no its not because a BN ruth grade 8 has NOT surfaced. it cant be a theoretical most valuable card. the card that has sold for the most in real life is the most valuable baseball card.

[tennisguy]

Well, what did you think of the auction overall Adrian? Any luck yourself? Hope you enjoyed it!

All the Best,

Ryan H.

[Zone91]

tennisguy

It was GREAT!!! I did not win but that is fine I will simply buy a few PSA 8 Mantle cards for my master set instead. When is the next REA suppose to happen and how many REA auctions are there per year?

Wish I could have staid up longer....my medications just knocked me out at around 10h45pm last night....just passed out.

Post # 3

[Zone91]

A PSA 8 BN Ruth should be a 5$ million dollar card easy I am thinking over 7$ million dollars maybe with all the hype the very 1st 10$ million dollar card. But I believe the highest graded is a 4???

Post # 4

[Cardboard Junkie]

Yes, but they are not all graded.

[e107collector]

In December 2012, I was at the Valley Forge Show, and the news that REA would be selling this card was being discussed.

I said I wouldn't be surprised if the card sold for close to $400K, and most said $300K was almost certain. One guy who was standing near the table said - "No way that card sells for over $250K, it's graded a 1 for crying out loud!"

After reading the REA description for that card, who knows when another BN Ruth will come to auction? Unless another example is discovered, the other cards seem to be entrenched in huge collections that probably won't see the light of day for quite some time. We may not see another Ruth rookie come to auction for many years.

Tony

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by e107collector

In December 2012, I was at the Valley Forge Show, and the news that REA would be selling this card was being discussed.

I said I wouldn't be surprised if the card sold for close to $400K, and most said $300K was almost certain. One guy who was standing near the table said - "No way that card sells for over $250K, it's graded a 1 for crying out loud!"

After reading the REA description for that card, who knows when another BN Ruth will come to auction? Unless another example is discovered, the other cards seem to be entrenched in huge collections that probably won't see the light of day for quite some time. We may not see another Ruth rookie come to auction for many years.

Tony

Tony, I was quietly standing behind you during that exchange, and I distinctly heard you predict $450K with the juice. I think you also correctly predicted the time that the final bid was placed within 10 seconds.

Very well done.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by Zone91

A PSA 8 BN Ruth should be a 5$ million dollar card easy I am thinking over 7$ million dollars maybe with all the hype the very 1st 10$ million dollar card. But I believe the highest graded is a 4???

Post # 4

the problem is that if all other are 4's, then an 8 doesnt get the comparison it deserves, as it would be worth a lot more than a 7, which is worth a lot more than a 6. since there arent any 5, 6, 7's? then how much to stick on an 8 all by itself?

like the black swamp find. bunch of pristine cards by themselves with most other examples already in the hobby in much less shape. they didnt sell for as much as some people hoped. i am not saying a bn ruth 8 wouldnt sell for 5 or 7 million, but who knows. since one will probably never be found, its all conjecture,

what if a grade 10 wagner were to be found, then what? the answer is so what? it hasnt and almost certainly will never be anyway so who cares? it would be the worlds first 20 million dollar card. but reality gets in the way.

[travrosty]

Originally Posted by Zone91

I believe this is the way it should be....to me the Ruth is WAY more important!!!

Results:

Ruth 380 000$ + juice = 450 300$

Wagner 340 000$ + juice = 402 900$

I believe this is a new record for a PSA 1.

Post # 2

there are more wagners than BN ruths, if there were only 7 or 10 wagners, then i believe wagners would dwarf the ruth then. its apples and oranges if the populations is 10 to 80.

[g_vezina_c55]

Its the first time in the history of the hobby of a graded 1 baseball card sell for more than a graded1 wagner ?

[Runscott]

All we know is that at least two wealthy collectors wanted a rare card very badly. All sorts of personal factors could also have been part of the equation - tons of disposable income, alcohol, late- night auction high that's probably similar to gambling, etc.

It's a minor league card, the Wagner is in a different league...so to speak. Just a fluke I bet we don't see again.

[joeadcock]

What is this darn country coming to, something low grade for more than a Wagner? Like everything else, things are a changin.

[deadballfreaK]

I'm way in the minority, but an obscure minor league Babe Ruth doesn't compare to a Wagner for me. I guess it does for others. To each his own.

[travrosty]

comparing the babe ruth if it were an 8 and trying to extrapolate prices is like the comparisons of a pound per pound champion in boxing. saying that if sugar ray robinson were a bigger man, heavier man, etc. he could have beaten joe louis or muhammad ali so pound for pound he was better. It's fantasy, and an excercise in futility. until there is a grade 8 BN Ruth, we will never know if it would have sold more than the Wagner. All grade 1 Wagners or grade 2 Wagners are not made the same either. Same with BN Ruths, and one a collector with that type of money has one, doesnt necessarily mean he will buy another, or that another will take his place. You need two or more to drive it up to stratospheric prices. If bidders take a bit of a break you might see a Wagner go for a little less or a BN Ruth go for a little more, or vice versa, who knows.

[glynparson]

Higher grade unaltered Wagner outsells higher grade bn Ruth. On a 1 it all depends on timing etc. the demand outside the hobby is more for Wagner t206 then the bn Ruth.

[Bored5000]

Originally Posted by deadballfreaK

I'm way in the minority, but an obscure minor league Babe Ruth doesn't compare to a Wagner for me. I guess it does for others. To each his own.

Agree with this. If I was ever in the position to afford either card, I would rather have a Wagner T-206 card than a Ruth Baltimore News card. The Ruth card is far more rare, but there is a panache to the Wagner card that extends far beyond the hobby: It is from perhaps the most iconic set of all time, and there will probably never be a definitive answer as to why it is so scarce in comparison to most of the rest of the T-206 set.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Runscott

All we know is that at least two wealthy collectors wanted a rare card very badly. All sorts of personal factors could also have been part of the equation - tons of disposable income, alcohol, late- night auction high that's probably similar to gambling, etc.

It's a minor league card, the Wagner is in a different league...so to speak. Just a fluke I bet we don't see again.

I agree. I also wonder if these two high bidders already own Wagners, so they have no reason to bid on this one, but will go as high as they possibly can for a Ruth that may not come around again for years.

[Runscott]

With rare cards like this, it's tough to predict things. Tony got it right, but some of the rest of us were baffled. People tend to forget that it only takes two bidders to give us this result - if one of them had dropped out for any number of reasons, it might be that no one would have taken his place and driven the price up.

There were crazy-high prices on a number of items last night (and in past auctions) - you could easily argue that this was a fluke, and there would be no evidence to go against you.