Memory Lane Auction Any Surprises or WOW's

[sycks22]

It always amazing me what the set registry will make people do. PSA 9 sold for $2500 last year.

https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=61710

52 Topps PSA common for $64k

[cardsagain74]

Originally Posted by sycks22

It always amazing me what the set registry will make people do. PSA 9 sold for $2500 last year.

https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=61710

52 Topps PSA common for $64k

I've always felt the same way (about what people will pay for PSA 10 commons from the '50s), but I can at least understand this one a little more.

You so rarely have a '52 T PSA 10 hit the marketplace. I can't remember seeing any in the two years I've been back in the hobby, though I easily could've missed something during that time.

Given how '59 T PSA 10 commons could fetch $10 k pre-pandemic (and 7 x more of them exist), I'm not too surprised to see a hallowed '52 commanding $64 k

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by sycks22

It always amazing me what the set registry will make people do. PSA 9 sold for $2500 last year.

https://memorylaneinc.com/site/bids/...e?itemid=61710

52 Topps PSA common for $64k

I mean, to each his own, and whatever floats your boat, but it's not like you walk down the street and are mobbed like Paul McCartney or Mick Jaeger because you moved up from 41th to 39th on a PSA registry. Amazing people feel so strongly about it.

[conor912]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I'm mean, to each his own, and whatever floats your boat, but it's not like you walk down the street and are mobbed like Paul McCartney or Mick Jaeger because you moved up from 41th to 39th on a PSA registry. Amazing people feel so strongly about is.

I agree. A $30 raw card.

$63,970 buys a great Jagger-esque party, complete with endless hookers and blow.

[MattyC]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I'm mean, to each his own, and whatever floats your boat, but it's not like you walk down the street and are mobbed like Paul McCartney or Mick Jaeger because you moved up from 41th to 39th on a PSA registry. Amazing people feel so strongly about is.

Agreed. I always found it absurd, that in the sports card world— or perhaps these days the best word is "market"— there are those who will pay exponential price increases for infinitesimal (if any) increase in card quality.

The recent Memory Lane auction bears this silly dynamic out in so many cards. Just take any of those PSA 9 Mantles. There has never and will never be any convincing this collector that a tiny degree of sharper corner here or there makes a "9" worth $400,000 more than an "8." Paying more for overall eye appeal that I can actually see when holding and viewing the card, that I get. Paying such a multiplier over other readily available options just for the sticker— a sticker applied by a company that has had so many widely known miscues? Seems crazy to me. But as many have said in the hobby, "the Registry is a powerful drug." That's always been a perfect analogy, because gobs of money have certainly been spent on drugs by addicts.

[Snapolit1]

From the first day I got into hobby I was buying PSA and SGC about equally, so never paid any mind to the whole registry concept.

[Rhotchkiss]

Originally Posted by MattyC

"the Registry is a powerful drug." That's always been a perfect analogy, because gobs of money have certainly been spent on drugs by addicts.

It is a very powerful drug. I have one psa registered set - my 526 card t206 set. Initially, I didn’t care about the grade composition, but later decided that (excluding the big 6), I wanted all commons in at least a 5 and all HOFers in at least a 6. And as I started upgrading my set, I started moving up the registry, which I liked. And some cards are weighted more, so I found myself considering Zach Wheat in a 7 merely because his card was weighted a 4 vs other HOFers who are weighted 3. It’s stupid, but I fully got caught up. And then I got to #4, stayed there a week until the guy I jumped made an acquisition to take back #4. My first thought was what can I do to get back into 4??!! Anyway, only need two more commons in a 5+ and I have all HOFers in a 6+, and, to some dealers’ dismay, I have decided to stop upgrading. But I can tell you first hand that the registry is like crack.

As much as I have issues with PSA, I will concede that the registry is nothing short of sheer genius and, in my opinion, the sole reason why SGC will always play second fiddle

[mrreality68]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

It is a very powerful drug. I have one psa registered set - my 526 card t206 set. Initially, I didn’t care about the grade composition, but later decided that (excluding the big 6), I wanted all commons in at least a 5 and all HOFers in at least a 6. And as I started upgrading my set, I started moving up the registry, which I liked. And some cards are weighted more, so I found myself considering Zach Wheat in a 7 merely because his card was weighted a 4 vs other HOFers who are weighted 3. It’s stupid, but I fully got caught up. And then I got to #4, stayed there a week until the guy I jumped made an acquisition to take back #4. My first thought was what can I do to get back into 4??!! Anyway, only need two more commons in a 5+ and I have all HOFers in a 6+, and, to some dealers’ dismay, I have decided to stop upgrading. But I can tell you first hand that the registry is like crack.

As much as I have issues with PSA, I will concede that the registry is nothing short of sheer genius and, in my opinion, the sole reason why SGC will always play second fiddle

Hi Ryan,

I do not totally understand the weighting of it to get on the list and to move up or down it.
But I do disagree with 1 premise.
In my opinion yours should be #1 because your shows as the only set 100% complete. That should be the biggest weighted factor in my opinion.
Regardless you have a great set and congratulations on it

[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

It is a very powerful drug. I have one psa registered set - my 526 card t206 set. Initially, I didn’t care about the grade composition, but later decided that (excluding the big 6), I wanted all commons in at least a 5 and all HOFers in at least a 6. And as I started upgrading my set, I started moving up the registry, which I liked. And some cards are weighted more, so I found myself considering Zach Wheat in a 7 merely because his card was weighted a 4 vs other HOFers who are weighted 3. It’s stupid, but I fully got caught up. And then I got to #4, stayed there a week until the guy I jumped made an acquisition to take back #4. My first thought was what can I do to get back into 4??!! Anyway, only need two more commons in a 5+ and I have all HOFers in a 6+, and, to some dealers’ dismay, I have decided to stop upgrading. But I can tell you first hand that the registry is like crack.

As much as I have issues with PSA, I will concede that the registry is nothing short of sheer genius and, in my opinion, the sole reason why SGC will always play second fiddle

Ryan, I commend you for this most insightful post AND for your ongoing willingness to share various aspects of your collection with us, which most collectors with fabulous collections don't do. Whether you are #4, #5 or #6 on PSA's T206 set registry, your accomplishment is tremendous, IMHO.

[trambo]

Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss

It is a very powerful drug. I have one psa registered set - my 526 card t206 set. Initially, I didn’t care about the grade composition, but later decided that (excluding the big 6), I wanted all commons in at least a 5 and all HOFers in at least a 6. And as I started upgrading my set, I started moving up the registry, which I liked. And some cards are weighted more, so I found myself considering Zach Wheat in a 7 merely because his card was weighted a 4 vs other HOFers who are weighted 3. It’s stupid, but I fully got caught up. And then I got to #4, stayed there a week until the guy I jumped made an acquisition to take back #4. My first thought was what can I do to get back into 4??!! Anyway, only need two more commons in a 5+ and I have all HOFers in a 6+, and, to some dealers’ dismay, I have decided to stop upgrading. But I can tell you first hand that the registry is like crack.

As much as I have issues with PSA, I will concede that the registry is nothing short of sheer genius and, in my opinion, the sole reason why SGC will always play second fiddle

Agree w/you, Ryan as learning about the weighting makes choices for cards very interesting. Agree w/you on the Wheat, too. I found a good deal on a 7.5 and when I saw the weighting, it became a no brainer.

As always, great set! I'll never be 100% complete but happy w/my 521. Hoping to get closer to your set but not looking forward to the 150-200 commons I need to upgrade...haha!!

[MattyC]

The Registry was certainly a genius creation from the perspective of PSA, and how it ensnared so many participants.

Its salient feature, in my opinion, is how it got (and continues to get) so many collectors to spend money on cards they never really wanted, and would never really want, were it not for The Registry.

I, too, was once into it— and then I realized how deep into the weeds I had wandered. How far off course I had gotten, when I compared what originally would have satisfied me to what I was actually pursuing. The Registry also gets collectors to spend more time looking at other's sets with competitive eyes than looking at one's own cards with simple and pure enjoyment. And the cherry of lunacy atop all that, is that most Registry sets don't even feature pictures, so you wind up looking at a web page in a remote corner of the internet that shows only a grid with cards and opinions from graders who get it wrong a good deal of the time.

For me, the epiphany— or should I say intervention— came when my brother took me to task for spending thousands on commons. He had such a fresh, genuine, outsider perspective on it, that cut through the fog; he said something like, "Dude, what the &*@# are you doing? You just spent thousands on a Wayne Twitchell. Wayne Twitchell? Who the hell was Wayne Twitchell and why on earth would you spend that much on him? I don't care how few exist with that stupid sticker on it, you can get that same card in almost identical condition for so much less. You're a moron. Go spend that on a player or card you actually always wanted."

And like that, the spell was broken, LOL. I consigned that set and built my collection, going after all the cards I always wanted as a kid. I was back to collecting for myself, not for PSA, or to compete with utter strangers.

[53toppscollector]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The Registry was certainly a genius creation from the perspective of PSA, and how it ensnared so many participants.

Its salient feature, in my opinion, is how it got (and continues to get) so many collectors to spend money on cards they never really wanted, and would never really want, were it not for The Registry.

I, too, was once into it— and then I realized how deep into the weeds I had wandered. How far off course I had gotten, when I compared what originally would have satisfied me to what I was actually pursuing. The Registry also gets collectors to spend more time looking at other's sets with competitive eyes than looking at one's own cards with simple and pure enjoyment. And the cherry of lunacy atop all that, is that most Registry sets don't even feature pictures, so you wind up looking at a web page in a remote corner of the internet that shows only a grid with cards and opinions from graders who get it wrong a good deal of the time.

For me, the epiphany— or should I say intervention— came when my brother took me to task for spending thousands on commons. He had such a fresh, genuine, outsider perspective on it, that cut through the fog; he said something like, "Dude, what the &*@# are you doing? You just spent thousands on a Wayne Twitchell. Wayne Twitchell? Who the hell was Wayne Twitchell and why on earth would you spend that much on him? I don't care how few exist with that stupid sticker on it, you can get that same card in almost identical condition for so much less. You're a moron. Go spend that on a player or card you actually always wanted."

And like that, the spell was broken, LOL. I consigned that set and built my collection, going after all the cards I always wanted as a kid. I was back to collecting for myself, not for PSA, or to compete with utter strangers.

I had a pretty similar experience with the 1953 Topps set. It sort of broke my spell with the PSA registry, and I now own zero graded cards as a result.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by MattyC

The Registry was certainly a genius creation from the perspective of PSA, and how it ensnared so many participants.

Its salient feature, in my opinion, is how it got (and continues to get) so many collectors to spend money on cards they never really wanted, and would never really want, were it not for The Registry.

I, too, was once into it— and then I realized how deep into the weeds I had wandered. How far off course I had gotten, when I compared what originally would have satisfied me to what I was actually pursuing. The Registry also gets collectors to spend more time looking at other's sets with competitive eyes than looking at one's own cards with simple and pure enjoyment. And the cherry of lunacy atop all that, is that most Registry sets don't even feature pictures, so you wind up looking at a web page in a remote corner of the internet that shows only a grid with cards and opinions from graders who get it wrong a good deal of the time.

For me, the epiphany— or should I say intervention— came when my brother took me to task for spending thousands on commons. He had such a fresh, genuine, outsider perspective on it, that cut through the fog; he said something like, "Dude, what the &*@# are you doing? You just spent thousands on a Wayne Twitchell. Wayne Twitchell? Who the hell was Wayne Twitchell and why on earth would you spend that much on him? I don't care how few exist with that stupid sticker on it, you can get that same card in almost identical condition for so much less. You're a moron. Go spend that on a player or card you actually always wanted."

And like that, the spell was broken, LOL. I consigned that set and built my collection, going after all the cards I always wanted as a kid. I was back to collecting for myself, not for PSA, or to compete with utter strangers.

Excellent, thought-provoking, and well-written post, MattyC. Thank you. -- Brian Powell