Baseball Cards, an update

Much has happened since I first visited that card shop in Rohnert Park. I think that was the last event in my previous baseball card post. Jim (not his real name) at the shop said that he had a friend who was both honest and a serious buyer. I was at the shop on a Monday and Jim said he would talk to his friend who would probably get back to me the next weekend. The next day I had three messages on my phone by noon, saying that the collector wanted to talk to me. I called him up and we arranged an evening meeting in his office.

I will call him "Bob". Bob, although immersed in paperwork at the height of tax season, always had time for baseball cards. When I first shook hands and sat down, he was skeptical about the authenticity of the cards. He talked continuously for over an hour as he fingered the cards, speculated and finally pronounced that he thought that they were authentic. He examined them closely, the edges, the back the photos, the players. "One thing bothers me," he said. They don't have that smell that I love so much in old baseball cards." "I have to agree with you. You should get them graded." I said, "I know that there are a lot of different graders around. Who should I choose?" He answered, "PSI is the only one." "It's too bad, but most of the auction houses have already gotten the cards that they will auction off in the spring." These words would come back to me.

Since we saw the $10,000 price tag on Ruth, we decided that that we would offer the Ruth for $10,000 and the rest for $5,000. Bob thought that this was a reasonable offer. But finally he said, "I don't think that I'll pull the trigger today."

The next day I went to the PSI website to see what I should do to get the cards graded. I thought that the problem might be insurance with a cargo so valuable and I had no idea how to solve it. At the top of the website was a banner ad. "Get your cards in by February 22 to have them included in the spring auction. I thought about what Bob said about the spring being the ideal time for baseball card auctions. I dashed off an email to "Memory Lane Inc." I received an email back almost immediately. He said that he was interested and did I have a sample scans of some of the cards (both sides). I sent the scans and received a reply within hour. I could sense his excitement in the email.

I called Ian at Memory Lane up and he was indeed excited. He said that these cards were very rare. He kept prefacing his statement with "If these cards are authentic..." I knew that they were. He said that they were "strip cards" confirming what Bob told me, but he also said that they were very rare. He even said something like "a value of up to $50,000". He said that he would feature the cards in an auction with one on the cover and that they would widely advertise it.

I sent him the cards. He talked to my wife the next day. "When the package arrived I found my heart beating like I was an eight year old kid." He said. I assume that he went to PSI as he said he would but they wouldn't grade the cards. The reason in their words was that they were "restored" or "water damaged". Backing up... I had asked Antoinette to remove the cards from the backing. Whether I should have done that on not, I don't know. But not only did she remove them from the backing but she immersed them in water- as a museum restorer is trained to do. Then they were carefully cleaned with swabs and pressed under non acidic blotters. In the eyes of graders, now these were damaged goods.

Ian kept an positive spin. "> The cards were authenticated as authentic by SGC, who are the key grading company for pre-war material. They will be in house probably by Friday. Looks like they will be deemed Authentic with no grades as they were restored. That’s not the end of the world as they are Rare."

By this past Monday Ian presented them to several buyers. Again, here is Ian: "Good news. I have a buyer for the collection. We offered the collection at $11,500 to multiple buyers. Some of the buyers have no interest due to the condition. I do have a buyer in Texas, who is the hobbies biggest collector. He has many of the cigarette cards from this era and shows interest in the lot. He countered at a much lower price so we agreed at $10,500. So bottom line is, they sold at $10,500 to a collector who will never sell them. I think that is what appeals to me most, is that they are in the hands of a Texas collector who loves the hobby and appreciates the rarity, not the condition. The cards actually did better than I thought due to condition."

And that's the rest of the story. Bill now wants me to take on his collection of postcards from the teens and twenties, but certainly not so valuable. Yet, I am not really sure. There may be another Babe Ruth among them.