M101-2's how rare?

[t206 cubs]

I am a pre war Cubs collector and recently purchased 12 M101-2's at a pretty high price thanks to some shill bidding. The bidder that bid me up even had to retract some of his bids after "accidentally" outbidding me. That aside....how desire able and rare are these Sporting News supplements?
Any info would be appreciated.

Chad

[Clydewally]

A bunch of them went yesterday on Ebay in the PWCC auction. I don't know if that will tell you how rare they are but it will give you some current prices.

[nolemmings]

They are not scarce in general, but are obviously condition sensitive, as they are printed on medium-heavy paper. They were available for years as an incentive for subscription to TSN (through at least 1916) as supplies were abundant, although as time passed I believe the supply for some of the subjects may have become exhausted. A few can be found with subscription advertising on the back--those are popular but always (or nearly so) found with fold lines.

As for desirability they are gorgeous, especially when found without tears or heavy creases. The m101-2s sold by PWCC had album or adhesive residue on the backs that in many instances had been almost completely removed. Given that they are blank-backed this is of little import to many. Still, it would affect their technical grade if that matters. I have found that Beckett grades these, and harshly, but they look fugly in their thick oversized holders IMO. I bought a couple that way off EBay just because their technical grade belied their appearance--still, if I could find a safe way to extract them from their tombs I would.

I followed more than a dozen of these last night and thought they all went for reasonable prices--except the Cubs. Cubs commons went for 2-4X all the others, and when Jimmy Archer and Heinie Zimmerman go for double Chief Bender and Clark Griffith, more than Wheat and about as much as Joss, it does raise an eyebrow. If those are among those you won, it looks like you should have sniped.

[smtjoy]

Agree with Todd and Im pretty sure they have a 14 day return policy if you think you were shilled I would think hard about returning.

[t206 cubs]

Yes it was me who won all the Cubs through Ebay last night and I learned a valuable lesson. Don't bid early and high. The real problem I have about this whole situation is the bid retractions. The guy (or gal) goes with the Ebay ID of: the coop. Apparently PWCC is turning him in to Ebay for the retractions but they are only going to give me the benefit of the shill bidding on one of the 12 auctions. Expensive lesson learned. Thanks COOP!

[nolemmings]

A board member did this? Maybe there's an explanation--he does say he's a life-long Cubs fan.

[doug.goodman]

Originally Posted by t206 cubs

Yes it was me who won all the Cubs through Ebay last night and I learned a valuable lesson. Don't bid early and high. The real problem I have about this whole situation is the bid retractions. The guy (or gal) goes with the Ebay ID of: the coop. Apparently PWCC is turning him in to Ebay for the retractions but they are only going to give me the benefit of the shill bidding on one of the 12 auctions. Expensive lesson learned. Thanks COOP!

Always snipe.

Always bid the maximum amount you are willing to pay.

Never bid again.

There is no logical reason to bid early.

The later you bid, the less time anybody has to outbid you.

I would be curious to see the bid history on the ones with retractions, but I'm too lazy to find them on ebay searching finished auctions. If you "won" items with bids that were higher than another bidder, but that same bidder retracted bids that were higher than yours, I personally would refuse to pay for the items any amount that included the other guys bids. Meaning that your winning bid should go down to one bid increment above the third bidder involved, assuming there was one, and if the bidding only involved you and the retracting guy, then I would only pay the opening bid amount.

Of course, I've been thrown off of ebay multiple times, so maybe I'm just an asshole. Insert smiley face here.

Doug