I’m not talking about our basketball brackets. Of course, like everyone else, mine were busted early on, even though I went against my heart and inked Villanova over Delaware.
No, I’m talking about more examples of some crazy auction bids. This time it’s a baseball card and a video game that went up on ComicConnect recently.
Check the pic I posted at the beginning of this blog. Notice anything strange? Anything wrong? Yeah, it’s a miscut and a bad one at that. One of the criteria for a card to receive a top grade is its centering. This one is so far off-center that it actually shows part of the adjacent card that was on the sheet. Otherwise, it looks pretty sharp, but that bad flaw resulted in a grade of 1.0, as in "Poor", similar to how incomplete comics receive 0.5, maybe 1.0s if missing pieces.
Still, that’s a 1952 Jackie Robinson #312 card! One of the greatest. A Hall of Famer! It should be worth a little. As a collector, I have often purchased a low grade comic to help fill that run/set. I had to have a copy, regardless of condition, and with the prices for top tier grades skyrocketing lately, I see lots of others paying over guide for lower grades, also.
ComicConnect’s auction for this item ended as I watched and the card sold for $63,000! Huh? Why? Turns out that card to the left of the Jackie Robinson happened to be one of a young kid from Oklahoma. Yep, that sliver is part of a 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle Rookie Card! It was advertised as unique, a one of a kind, card, and therefore the highest graded! And people bought it. (think An Eagles tune – trying to plant an earbug) Don’t know about you, but that’s madness.
ComicConnect, a major player in the comic book world, has recently expanded into offering cards, both sports and Pokemon, and now, graded video games. I’ll give a few examples of some that were to end on Saturday, March 19th. A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Hyperstone Heist game, graded by WATA (I guess it’s like CGC) at a 9.8 was up to $13,000 with several hours to go. A Tekken (PS1) that received a 9.4 from WATA was sitting at $25,069 last I checked. AND, a copy of TECMO BOWL (NES) with the Black Nintendo Seal, graded by VGA (another video game grader, I guess) and given a score of 85, hadn’t ended yet. Last I looked, the bids were up to $75,000 and HAD NOT MET THE RESERVE! More madness!
I found it a little disturbing that there was a 15% Buyer’s Premium being added to some of the lots. The bids offered for the Jackie Robinson card above and the TECMO BOWL game did not reflect the required 15% BP. As I’ve noted before, I do not remember buyer’s premiums in the past. It’s strictly a cash cow for the auction house. If I, as a bidder, know that I’m going to get hit for another 15% (I’ve seen 25% with some auctions) on top of my bid, I’m going to factor that in and stop before my max to account for the extra fee. (We’re ignoring possible sales tax here). So, who gets hurt? – The consignor! On the average, the house takes about 20% as their commission for selling the item. For an example, let’s say a lot sells for $100 with the high bidder knowing he/she is in it for $115 with the BP. The consignor will get $80. However, if there was no BP and the high bid ended up being that $115, the consignor would get $92. Maddening!
As a septuagenarian numismatist, I’ve attended a number of coin auctions. If you have ever gone to one, you probably noticed that it seemed most in the crowd were also septuagenarians- maybe even older. Fun Factoid – Delaware doesn’t have a sales tax, but Pennsylvania sure does, EXCEPT for coins! No sales tax if you buy coins at an auction, though they do charge a tax if you buy currency? I ain’t mad about that!
Ending on a happy note – Happy Easter to all!
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