Upper Grade M101-4 Hooper Goes Crazy at HA.

[incugator]

Upper grade M101-4 Harry Hooper PSA 7 goes for over 12K at last night's auction.

[4815162342]

That’s insane.

[scooter729]

Holy crap!

If the winner of this has a boatload of extra cash available and is going for a back run, please give me a call!

[nolemmings]

The prices for all of these were off the charts. A Baker PSA 7 sold for $10,675.00 and it was a blank back-- the most common m101-4. A Babe Adams card #1 in PSA 8 went for $10,065.00, again a blank back. The PSA 8 commons pretty much all went for $5K each, several with blank backs. Unreal.

A little over eight years ago these four cards sold as a group in Heritage for $836.50, as you can see:

Last night they sold for $20,008.00 (each at $5002.00). Nice ROI.

[LEHR]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

The prices for all of these were off the charts. A Baker PSA 7 sold for $10,675.00 and it was a blank back-- the most common m101-4. A Babe Adams card #1 in PSA 8 went for $10,065.00, again a blank back. The PSA 8 commons pretty much all went for $5K each, several with blank backs. Unreal.

I had an early bid on the Babe Adams and all the other Pirates. I was floored at the prices these brought. Especially the PSA 8's.

[Leon]

Wow, that much for commons? Has to be a registry play. When (and if) they eventually resell they won't bring near that much, imo.

Originally Posted by nolemmings

The prices for all of these were off the charts. A Baker PSA 7 sold for $10,675.00 and it was a blank back-- the most common m101-4. A Babe Adams card #1 in PSA 8 went for $10,065.00, again a blank back. The PSA 8 commons pretty much all went for $5K each, several with blank backs. Unreal.

A little over eight years ago these four cards sold as a group in Heritage for $836.50, as you can see:

Last night they sold for $20,008.00 (each at $5002.00). Nice ROI.

[nolemmings]

I’m not sure Leon. I have never fully understood the registry mindset, but there are fewer than ten sets registered– heck I could crack the top five if I was to ever lose my mind and sign up (some would say the first step already occurred).

Anyway, the #1 set is what sold at Heritage, then two that are 99 or 100% full, and an 82%. The rest are so far away from completion that it seems unlikely– a single 15% full and the rest less than 10%. Of the three remaining heavyweights, one is an auction house collection from last year– either the buyer is laying low and not re-registering it or is uninterested in the registry. One of the others has a GPA of only 3.16, so I suppose he could be looking for a big splash to catch #2 who has a GPA almost double. Otherwise I just scratch my head and let the wise ones figure it out.

I know that m101s have been going up for awhile, since I find myself less able or interested in paying for them, but yowsers. Looks like it’s time to sell.

[Yoda]

I wonder what would happen if a Bobby Wallace ever came up for auction. Fireworks, I suppose.

[molenick]

I have a feeling that a random single M101-4 PSA 8 Pat Ragan as a stand-alone card would not have gotten $5000. Heritage was offering the whole set but without an option to bid on the set as a whole (probably wise after the Boston Garter debacle). So maybe someone wanted them all and decided they were going to win them at any cost.

[tjisonline]

This is probably an unpopular opinion. Again, just my opinion.

I’m extremely happy for the previous owner of this Hooper card & the 4 common cards mentioned above. I wish the new owner’s best of luck.

Personally, I red flag easily 75% of high grade vintage cards in older cert slabs. Who knows how many times these cards have changed hands & there’s a good chance (in my opinion) it has been altered. It’s a completely different story when you can I measure cards in hand & visually inspect.

I just don’t trust many of these higher graded conditioned cards. Too many factual hobby stories exist about cards made to appear better & then regraded. As Dr. Beckett has said numerous times, very old cards in high grade condition are usually unnatural.

To each their own

[nolemmings]

Originally Posted by molenick

I have a feeling that a random single M101-4 PSA 8 Pat Ragan as a stand-alone card would not have gotten $5000. Heritage was offering the whole set but without an option to bid on the set as a whole (probably wise after the Boston Garter debacle). So maybe someone wanted them all and decided they were going to win them at any cost.

Possibly, but someone wanting them all either already had the Ruth or laid out another $1.3M+ for that card on top of the few hundred thousand spent for the rest. And if you assume no shilling then you have at least two bidders going at it. I do agree that offering them all at once may give someone the juices to start or invest deeply into the set, not worrying about the time it would otherwise require if buying in dribs and drabs. Still, one could probably acquire near sets a couple times a year for far less money if not consumed with the almighty PSA high grades.

[oldjudge]

Great set, but I think some of these blank back 8s may have come from uncut sheets that were later cut up. Blank back 8s are around but ad back 8s are virtually non-existent. I think part of this reflects post production sheet cuts.

[nolemmings]

Interesting, Jay. I am not so sure but cannot say. I never thought they were recently cut-- do you have thoughts on that? I always wondered if not suspected that many sheets were printed for distribution that simply were not ordered, and that the surplus may have made its way into the public whether as sheets or singles. Still, I believe this happened relatively close in time to their initial production. I have not seen anything to suggest that there was some warehouse or similar find decades down the line, have you?

[packs]

Originally Posted by oldjudge

Great set, but I think some of these blank back 8s may have come from uncut sheets that were later cut up. Blank back 8s are around but ad back 8s are virtually non-existent. I think part of this reflects post production sheet cuts.

I don't know that I would agree. My thought is that the blank back and Sporting News cards were most likely distributed via mail in promotion, similar to the 1915 Cracker Jacks or M116 cards the Sporting News also produced.

But an advertiser like, say, Gimbels,, would have likely given them out by hand on location, which might explain the inherent condition issues and lack of high grade examples.

[oldjudge]

Originally Posted by nolemmings

Interesting, Jay. I am not so sure but cannot say. I never thought they were recently cut-- do you have thoughts on that? I always wondered if not suspected that many sheets were printed for distribution that simply were not ordered, and that the surplus may have made its way into the public whether as sheets or singles. Still, I believe this happened relatively close in time to their initial production. I have not seen anything to suggest that there was some warehouse or similar find decades down the line, have you?

Hi Todd! I didn't mean that they were cut recently. However, I did see a few NrMT blank back sets pop up in the early to mid-90s that looked like they had been sheet cut.