Any One Collect Pins?

[Chris Counts]

It seems like every pin I don't have is worth $500. That last Hakes auction was the final straw for me. Seeing all those pins go straight to eBay for even higher prices took away all the fire I had for chasing after them. I'm going back to collecting something that's fun ... like anything else.

I'm curious, though, it seems like there's about 50 PM10 player pins that are really easy to find, and at least 100 others that are completely impossible to find. Why is this? I'm wondering if the common pins were the ones sold at stadiums, mostly in northeastern cities, and the rare ones are salesman's samples that rarely were sold to the public, mostly in the midwestern cities. There are few common pins from midwestern cities.

Originally Posted by MK

Here’s another:

[MK]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

It seems like every pin I don't have is worth $500. That last Hakes auction was the final straw for me. Seeing all those pins go straight to eBay for even higher prices took away all the fire I had for chasing after them. I'm going back to collecting something that's fun ... like anything else.

I'm curious, though, it seems like there's about 50 PM10 player pins that are really easy to find, and at least 100 others that are completely impossible to find. Why is this? I'm wondering if the common pins were the ones sold at stadiums, mostly in northeastern cities, and the rare ones are salesman's samples that rarely were sold to the public, mostly in the midwestern cities. There are few common pins from midwestern cities.

You’re right some pins being very hard to find. For instance, the Cleveland Indian PM10 pins like the Mitchell above are very hard to find. They were definitely sold by vendors in Cleveland as I have a photo showing them on a board outside the stadium. I guess they just didn’t make as many of them.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by MK

You’re right some pins being very hard to find. For instance, the Cleveland Indian PM10 pins like the Mitchell above are very hard to find. They were definitely sold by vendors in Cleveland as I have a photo showing them on a board outside the stadium. I guess they just didn’t make as many of them.

The only 1.75" SF Giants pin I cannot find is Billy Pierce. I think I've seen it once on ebay. Sure, the vendors sold more Mays, McCovey, Marichal, etc. but you would think at 50 cents per pin, a lot of kids would have pestered their parents to complete the whole set.

[MK]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

The only 1.75" SF Giants pin I cannot find is Billy Pierce. I think I've seen it once on ebay. Sure, the vendors sold more Mays, McCovey, Marichal, etc. but you would think at 50 cents per pin, a lot of kids would have pestered their parents to complete the whole set.

You can say the same thing about several player pins including these two. If it wasn’t short supply, why do you think they are impossible to find today?

[Chris Counts]

I believe they are scarce due to short supply, but I doubt the rare ones were sold at stadiums. If they were, why are all the rare ones I see in great shape, and you can find rusty common pins all day? Again, I suspect they were salesman samples. For the same reason, you can find McAuliffe and KM Pro caps from the 50s through the mid-70s for just about every team — often in great shape — but many teams didn't wear them. My guess is that some east coast company produced the common pins, and never got too far in expanding into the "western" MLB cities of the 1950s, like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Those cities are heavily represented among the rare pins.

I have no idea who made pins in the 1950s, but a couple of mine have a very small logo that identically matches ones that are on the common stadium pennants from the same era.

In various baseball card sets, the sudden presence of sharp-corned rare cards generally heralds a discovery of some kind. I would not be surprised if some hordes of rare pins appear in the future, like the rare Dormand post cards of Gil Hodges did a few years ago — or those beautiful but cheap Carl Hubbell pins you see all over eBay.

Originally Posted by MK

You can say the same thing about several player pins including these two. If it wasn’t short supply, why do you think they are impossible to find today?

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

I have no idea who made pins in the 1950s, but a couple of mine have a very small logo that identically matches ones that are on the common stadium pennants from the same era.

The logo under the "ts" in Giants?

[Chris Counts]

Yes Rob, that's the logo.

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by Chris Counts

It seems like every pin I don't have is worth $500. That last Hakes auction was the final straw for me. Seeing all those pins go straight to eBay for even higher prices took away all the fire I had for chasing after them. I'm going back to collecting something that's fun ... like anything else.

I'm not sure I agree with the "business model" of the guy who scooped so many pins in the last Hake's auction. If someone (like me) bid a pin up to $250, what makes the winner think I will now pay double that? I'm pretty sure he has a lot of inventory left of his winnings...

[MK]

Originally Posted by ooo-ribay

I'm not sure I agree with the "business model" of the guy who scooped so many pins in the last Hake's auction. If someone (like me) bid a pin up to $250, what makes the winner think I will now pay double that? I'm pretty sure he has a lot of inventory left of his winnings...

He’s done this with every single auction of Paul’s collection. Maybe he’s content with having them in his collection but would sell if someone is willing to really pay up.

[batsballsbases]

Originally Posted by MK

He’s done this with every single auction of Paul’s collection. Maybe he’s content with having them in his collection but would sell if someone is willing to really pay up.

Mike,
His business model has always been to try and double his money.BUT with the 20% premium and his very high prices on his relisted pins he will be sitting with them for a very long time... I was under bidder on 4-5 of those pins he has now. I will not bring myself to pay those prices on them that he put on them.. I won 3 items last time around and I cant believe he will be that stupid to do it again this time.... As we know pin collectors are a small group and dont have unlimited funds.... He also drives up every single pin that comes up on ebay.....Time to send the message that we wont buy your pins at that level... Good luck with sales!

[MK]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

Mike,
His business model has always been to try and double his money.BUT with the 20% premium and his very high prices on his relisted pins he will be sitting with them for a very long time... I was under bidder on 4-5 of those pins he has now. I will not bring myself to pay those prices on them that he put on them.. I won 3 items last time around and I cant believe he will be that stupid to do it again this time.... As we know pin collectors are a small group and dont have unlimited funds.... He also drives up every single pin that comes up on ebay.....Time to send the message that we wont buy your pins at that level... Good luck with sales!

Al,
I thought the idea was to buy low and sell high. Buying high and selling very high doesn’t sound very profitable. I was also outbid on several pins and have no desire to go even higher now.

[batsballsbases]

Originally Posted by MK

Al,
I thought the idea was to buy low and sell high. Buying high and selling very high doesn’t sound very profitable. I was also outbid on several pins and have no desire to go even higher now.

Mike that is the general idea but in his case his business model has always been to double up... it will be very unlikely it will happen with these pins that he bought. He has now tied up alot of funds on these pins and will be sitting on them for a long time. My feeling on some of them he will be taking a loss at some point because prices are way to high. He has to start to understand there is a point when you have to stop pushing the button on auctions... with a 20 % mark up and way to high prices you need to change your business model. But hay what do I know Im just a retired multiple business owner who had alot of success !

[ooo-ribay]

Originally Posted by batsballsbases

Mike that is the general idea but in his case his business model has always been to double up... it will be very unlikely it will happen with these pins that he bought. He has now tied up alot of funds on these pins and will be sitting on them for a long time. My feeling on some of them he will be taking a loss at some point because prices are way to high. He has to start to understand there is a point when you have to stop pushing the button on auctions... with a 20 % mark up and way to high prices you need to change your business model. But hay what do I know Im just a retired multiple business owner who had alot of success !

I believe he has a Marichal Pm-10 (Hake’s win) up for $195.....while other sellers have it for $39.95.

[Chris Counts]

I'm just glad I haven't run into someone like him in other realms of baseball collectibles, where I can still fund stuff at reasonable prices (cards, programs, caps, signed balls, etc.). I might have busted my piggy bank for a couple pins in the last Hake's auction, but there's no way I'll pay what he's asking now. So his business model just chased away one of his customers.