Best auction house to use?

[jjbond]

(Sorry if this is in the wrong forum - but the question generally revolves around Joe DiMaggio, who had half his career in the "WWII & Older" period.)

So I have never sent a card to an auction house before, and before I did so, I wanted to make sure I was sending it to the right one. Is Heritage still the best bet for the number of eyes on auctions? I was worried as they seem to be spread out with fingers in every collectible niche market - so perhaps one of the smaller auction houses might actually have more baseball collectors? Would REA be better?

I've got a Japanese menko baseball card - but rather than putting it in Prestige Collectibles auction, I'd be looking for a cross-over audience, someone looking for an ultra rare Joe DiMaggio card. This is the final DiMaggio card from his playing days, from his All-Star Tour in Japan, weeks before he retired from the game.

[kmac32]

REA by a mile

[Shoeless Moe]

Best Western

[jjbond]

Originally Posted by Shoeless Moe

Best Western

Hah!

[Rhotchkiss]

A 1 of 2 Ted Williams sold in Heritage in May of 2020 for $9k. I found an SCD article that mentioned they thought it would fetch $30k, based on the fact that the other one (a lower grade) sold for $15k in 2018. My gut is the card is so niche that two people chased the original 2018 sale and one of them was gone in the 2020 sale, resulting in the card flopping. I don’t blame Heritage.

My gut is DiMaggio is similar and if this is the first sale in a while, it should do well (after it’s graded). I think Heritage will do fine, as will REA and many others - the right bidders will find that card. I think LOTG would do really well with a niche item like this.

[jjbond]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

A 1 of 2 Ted Williams sold in Heritage in May of 2020 for $9k. I found an SCD article that mentioned they thought it would fetch $30k, based on the fact that the other one (a lower grade) sold for $15k in 2018. My gut is the card is so niche that two people chased the original 2018 sale and one of them was gone in the 2020 sale, resulting in the card flopping. I don’t blame Heritage.

My gut is DiMaggio is similar and if this is the first sale in a while, it should do well (after it’s graded). I think Heritage will do fine, as will REA and many others - the right bidders will find that card. I think LOTG would do really well with a niche item like this.

Thanks for the info! Yeah, this would be niche, as PSA has 0 in the population, and the price guide lists the set as R5 (less than 5 copies are known to exist). Have found some pictures online of the card, but no actual sales.

Do I get it graded? Does the auction house?

[Rhotchkiss]

The auction house will get it graded for you. Who pays for it is part of the negotiation.