HOF Auto question (HOF collectors come in!)

[Hawaiian BamBam]

hey guys,
i was wondering for those that collect HOF autos and with all the great expertise and experience and advice here. how many "attainable" hof autos is realistic to obtain for the "average" collector. what i mean by that is ill probably never own a babe ruth auto or a ty cobb auto or a jackie robinson auto or a cy young auto, etc. but i have a duke snider auto a bob gibson auto a jim palmer auto etc. so was just wondering from you guys, what do you think and is there a list somewhere out there thats some ones compiled with the "realistic and attainable" hof autos out there? just trying to see how many i should set my sights on. thanks guys for all your help, it is always appreciated.
elbert

 

[mrmopar]

125-130 is about the point where someone who has been collecting for a while will start to run into big money to keep going.

Generally speaking, those HOFers who died before the mid 80s begin the "expensive" period with exceptions. You have a number of guys like Coveleski, Averill, Gomez, Marquard, and similar who died in the 80s and can still be found at decent prices, while others remain pricier (Paige, Bell, Cronin, etc). Max Carey died in 1976, but he must have signed a ton of stuff, because I have grabbed up autos of his for less than $10 as recent as this year!

Guys from the early 70s (Frisch, Dean, Hafey, Traynor, Wheat, etc) start topping $100 each quickly and they go up fast from there. Finding HOF autos from players deceased in the 60s and back starts to become more of a challenge and expense.

 

[Hawaiian BamBam]

thanks curt for the info,
is there a specific list anywhere that has the125-130 players on it that are reasonable or attainable?

 

[O'sRavensDevils]

Brooksrobinson.com

 

[mrmopar]

I doubt there is a handy list, because everyone's collecting budgets and abilities are different. One person might think $150 is nothing to spend to add a new name, but another may hesititate pulling the trigger on a $30 auto.

If you look at different HOF auto collectors lists, you'll see a similar pattern developing as to what they have and who they need. Names like Dazzy Vance, Mickey Cochrane, Arky Vaughan, Chuck Klein, Casey Stengel Mel Ott and even guys like Satchell Paige, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Pie Traynor and others that were once much more affordable are usually missing from the more "commo"n collections because these start costing big money. Everyone has Feller, Boudreau, Lemon, Doerr, Palmer, Perry, B. Robinson, etc. In fact, collectors starting now can probably easily track down 100 or so in certtified form with little effort. From there, every name added becomes a little harder and harder until you reach that point where you better be willing to drop $300-500 or more to add a new one.

thanks curt for the info,
is there a specific list anywhere that has the125-130 players on it that are reasonable or attainable?

 

[valediction]

It also depends what you're willing to accept. Non certified auto's can be had for a decent price if you can trust the source and your own judgement or that of an experienced friend. You're going to have to define 'attainable' a little more clearly. As Curt pointed out, is $50 out of the question, how about $150? Money is the great dividing line, it's the only thing keeping most people from having auto's of most of the HOF'ers Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, etc autos are not hard to find, hard to find for under $80 is another story.