[lilgman]

So I was looking for a nice mid grade vintage card. Decided upon bench's 1969 all-star rookie. Saw a nice psa 5 for $71 with option to put in an offer. I looked up the price to refresh my memory of its raw value. I was surprised to see it is valued at $50 in raw condition (nrmt). I glanced over other psa 5's of the same card and was more shocked to see for sale prices of over $100... I know that doesn't mean the seller will get that price. Long story short I put in an offer and got it for less, but not as low as I would have liked. So I searched recent sales and psa 5's of bench's 69 are selling between $58-65, while even more surprising his 1968 RC in psa 5 condition are only selling for a few pennies more at between $60-$70.....? Is this the new trend that as high grade examples become scarce, the mid grade will sell for more? I also wonder if this will be reflective in Beckett price changes..... Because I even saw raw cards selling for above book value in mid grade condition..... Thoughts?

[lilgman]

Here's another example. I bought a 1962 Brock RC psa 7 last year for about $70 (which might have been a good deal). I searched recent sales which are at $170-$200....I also bought a 1962 psa 7 yastrzemski a few years back for less than half of it's going rate of $100-$130...

[dustin12368]

Maybe they want to be sure the card is real,and beckett can not keep up with the market anymore there are too many cards.....

[alw1978]

Yeah, I've noticed that as well.

One other thing on the price guide front which annoys the crap out of me is that the prices often aren't all that realistic to actual market value AND that the prices rarely change.

Case in point, I bought a Beckett Baseball a year or so ago. Just picked a new one up last week and all of my 1940s/1950s vintage stuff is the same and no real changes to anything else I have. It's really the biggest reason I only buy price guides once every 10-12 months. I don't buy the newer stuff, so have no interest in the new release pricing.

The vintage stuff is all over the map, too. An example is the 1951 Bowman Mantle RC, which is underpriced IMO. It books at $8,000.00 and in poor condition, which is supposed to be 5% of the value per Beckett's guide, it would be $400.00. Good luck finding one that's even in terrible condition for that price. Here's one that was absolutely horrible looking that went for nearly $900.00. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-19...7675.l2557

Poor-Fair Mantle's regularly sell above the 5-10% window even on a place like eBay.

[pawpawdiv9]

Yeah, I've noticed that as well.

One other thing on the price guide front which annoys the crap out of me is that the prices often aren't all that realistic to actual market value AND that the prices rarely change.

Case in point, I bought a Beckett Baseball a year or so ago. Just picked a new one up last week and all of my 1940s/1950s vintage stuff is the same and no real changes to anything else I have. It's really the biggest reason I only buy price guides once every 10-12 months. I don't buy the newer stuff, so have no interest in the new release pricing.

The vintage stuff is all over the map, too. An example is the 1951 Bowman Mantle RC, which is underpriced IMO. It books at $8,000.00 and in poor condition, which is supposed to be 5% of the value per Beckett's guide, it would be $400.00. Good luck finding one that's even in terrible condition for that price. Here's one that was absolutely horrible looking that went for nearly $900.00. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mickey-Mantle-19...7675.l2557

Poor-Fair Mantle's regularly sell above the 5-10% window even on a place like eBay.

Expect a premium for mantle. I got a BVG2 51 Bowman and they go around 1500. Picked up a nice 52RC this year at auction for nice price
The wheaties premium RC photo has skyrocketed latley, as several high grade example are on Ebay, we been discussing the issue whether it is 51 and even Wheaties..we come to a conclusion, it had to be around 53/54 world series and a Gen mills product.

[TaToRz]

supply/demand.. simple.. i saw a guy liquidate his collection on ebay.. first rare card (raw) went for $350+.. last card (same btw) which was graded a PSA 9 went for $127. I flipped! but alas i knew the laws of supply and demand. prob is i bought his "last one" ungraded for more than the psa 9.. doh!

[alw1978]

supply/demand.. simple.. i saw a guy liquidate his collection on ebay.. first rare card (raw) went for $350+.. last card (same btw) which was graded a PSA 9 went for $127. I flipped! but alas i knew the laws of supply and demand. prob is i bought his "last one" ungraded for more than the psa 9.. doh!

Ha - Yeah, I've been on the losing end of one of those myself. Kicked myself afterwards, but nothing you can do. All depends on who is paying attention enough to bid on a specific item.

[rinzler]

The price guide is just that - a guide. I use to make sure I'm not shelling out a few hundred dollars for a card that cost only a few cents. Anything ballpark concerning price is fair. However, there are some loopholes that can work to your advantage on slabbed cards. Poor-to-Fair means the card has some form of damage. I've bought cards that looked spectacular at that price.



This was graded as such because of BACK DAMAGE. It was glued on something and then removed. But who really looks at the back, right?

I think the trend is moving to lesser-graded but well-centered vintage cards. And I believe PR-FR (back damage) is more than acceptable at the PR-FR price if the card looks EX or better on the front. I have been scooping up as much of these PR-FR back damaged cards as I can afford to.

[coimbre 21]

Timing and circumstance of the card also have a lot to do with price. Too long to detail here but patience and the seller's urgency to sell and means by which they are selling are important factors. With your '62 Yaz example, paying half as you did was a very good deal and your timing/circumstance must have been good, since as a Yaz collector I keep a very close eye on Yaz prices. However, Yaz prices have been slowly and steadily trending up, just as most popular HOF's have been really since I've tracked card pricing since the 70s.