How much would you pay for this???

thedarkbrown · Aug 9, 2011

I am thinking about bidding on this. It's not on ebay... How much would you pay???

DESCRIPTION: Box of old baseball trading cards, encased come from a box of cigarettes, 1900's

GotMelky · Aug 9, 2011

From what I can see - more than my wife would want me to. Looks like a lot of really cool stuff in there.

robert326 · Aug 9, 2011

I just hope they're authentic.

thedarkbrown · Aug 9, 2011

Bidding is at 400... Is there a way to tell if they are real, just from the pictures?

jbjeeplj · Aug 9, 2011

Not really without closeups. The wear looks consistent on the closer shots but who knows about the ones in the box. I see a Carrigan in there!

mrmopar · Aug 9, 2011

This looks like one of those too good to be true deals. I ask myself every single time...if someone had something so old, and articles about baseball cards have made their potential value fairly well known, why would someone do such a ****** job of photographing and describing a lot that may be worth $1000s?

I'm sure the seller is selling AS IS as well with no sort of security that these are real. Assuming they don't know what they have, they would probably be worried that a buyer would swap cards out on them and would hesitate to offer any refunds. If they know what they have (real), they would do a better job in the description department. If they knew what they had (fake), they would be as elusive as possible, offering no refunds/returns, etc...buy at own risk.

Plenty of tobacco card reprints have been doctored to look "authentically" old. You see them on ebay all the time and you see bidders bidding more than a reprint should go for (even when some listings try to bring into question if they are reprints or not) in hopes that they might be real.

thedarkbrown · Aug 9, 2011

The seller is a reputable auction house here in AZ. They are breaking up an estate:
"This incredible estate of collectibles from a prominent multi-generational Arizona family"

So, being that it's an auction house it is sold as-is with no warranties and is standard for all of their auctions. They haven't been known to post very detailed pictures and descriptions of their lots. You can look in person before you bid if you'd like.

thedarkbrown · Aug 9, 2011

So basically, the auctioneers don't necessarilly know anything about them. I think that's why they post pictures of the lot vs. details of what's in it.

So, based on what is shown, assuming they are authentic, is it worth a $500 bid?

David K. · Aug 9, 2011

Any old stuff...needs to be looked at in person..before any bidding. Best regards, David

timfsu2k · Aug 9, 2011

Well, if they are real I don't think $500 will touch them. But, that's the thing....the uncertainty may drive the bids down. I'm betting the bidding will be low enough that someone ends up with a huge steal. Again, assuming they are real. These things sell for $10+ each, even commons in poor condition and it appears there are over 100 of them. Throw in even one star and you've got quite a profit.

tglg · Aug 9, 2011

It is a situation I would think that the winning bidder will be at the auction. Even though it is online, it is also being held live I believe. And someone who is there can inspect them, and have a much better idea on what they are getting.

All of their auctions are very vague. But they also don't seem very user friendly for online bidders, given that you have 1 day to pay, and they don't take credit cards, although they do take your credit card number and charge it $25 to confirm it being valid. Yet, you cannot pay them with a credit card????

And if you don't have it paid for within the one day limit, you get charged a $15 per day storage fee, and they will not refund the $25 charge to your card. At least that is the way I read it.

But if you live there, take a look for yourself. Would be a great pickup possibly. And a few of the other lots look decent as well. Good luck.

Meliah · Aug 10, 2011

Says encased cards are from tobacco tins, I think they mean the thick screwdown holders. I bet you the normal hard cases do not contain those types of cards as well.

dp33 · Aug 10, 2011

That's the part that I can't quite figure out. Only a reasonably knowledgeable collector would have them encased and have a properly designed box to store them in. That would be a +1 on them not being fakes in my mind. But then someone who took that much time to preserve them would also presumably know what they're worth, so I'm not sure why they would go the auction house route.

thedarkbrown · Aug 10, 2011

If I didn go look at them in person, it would be to see what else is in the box that's not shown. I dont know how to tell if they are fakes. Do the people making reprints of these (or older reprints) put stains and tape on them??

rotorob · Aug 10, 2011

thedarkbrown said:
If I didn go look at them in person, it would be to see what else is in the box that's not shown. I dont know how to tell if they are fakes. Do the people making reprints of these (or older reprints) put stains and tape on them??

Yes, best way to tell is the paper stock\quality. Paper manufacturing is much different in the last 50 years than the early 1900's. I've seen some with intentional water damage\sun fading or just about anything else to make them look older.

timfsu2k · Aug 10, 2011

People will definitely make them look old/poor condition to make them seem real.

On a related note, Robert did you see the T206 Honus Wagner that the one guy had at the Seneca show a few months ago?? I think he was asking like 10K or something for it. Gotta think that one is of dubious authenticity.

nerk01 · Aug 10, 2011

Went for 670. I think you could easily turn around and go 10 times that.

mrmopar · Aug 10, 2011

I think if you don't know what you are buying well enough, stay away. Too many people looking for that steal of a deal to turn a profit and buying things they don't know well enough. Someone would be foolish to do that on a lot of cards sight unseen and no or poor description. Sounds like the rest of the cards are a complete mystery...could be 1989 Topps for all we know???

However, if you had plenty of cash to toss around, then why not gamble otherwise?

rotorob · Aug 10, 2011

timfsu2k said:
People will definitely make them look old/poor condition to make them seem real.

On a related note, Robert did you see the T206 Honus Wagner that the one guy had at the Seneca show a few months ago?? I think he was asking like 10K or something for it. Gotta think that one is of dubious authenticity.

Didn't see it at Seneca, but saw it at the hotel show the next day, it was "authenticated" by one of the non PSA\Beckett\SGC companies. I would question it as well, seems like the wrong type show to have that a card like that.

thedarkbrown · Aug 11, 2011

mrmopar said:
I think if you don't know what you are buying well enough, stay away. Too many people looking for that steal of a deal to turn a profit and buying things they don't know well enough. Someone would be foolish to do that on a lot of cards sight unseen and no or poor description. Sounds like the rest of the cards are a complete mystery...could be 1989 Topps for all we know???

However, if you had plenty of cash to toss around, then why not gamble otherwise?

I agree with you. I do tons of research on things, but in this particular case If I did go look at them in person I wouldn't know exactly how to tell if they are fake anyway. That part would be a gamble if purchased. I would've found out once I tried to get them graded.

If I had my heart set on something like that I most definitely would have checked them out in person, especially to see what else is in there. 1 thing to note about this auction though is that the price didn't jump to 670 until after 9am, which more than likely means that somebody bid in person after looking at it.

And regarding the gamble... We recently started a business and if something like this does turn out to be fake and we can't sell it we, I think we could just claim it as a business loss.

I posted here as part of my research. Thank you all for your input.

How much would you pay for this???

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