Whoooo them Bayleys! Did you do the Burbank through Ebay or Beckett? I think a lot of those LCS' are struggling with simply getting penny sleeves, etc. so I just accept it as a cost of the business. Most of my cards don't come in penny sleeves unless they are like Jersey Cards or really low serial numbers, which makes sense. Curious what prices you paid for the Pierces since you got a good haul there.Had a bigger mail day than I was expecting today, mostly for the Bayley and Pierce collections
For the Bayley collection
2018 Topps Women’s Division Bayley Beats Charlotte Blue Parallel (/25)
2019 Topps WWE Summerslam Autographs Gold Variant (/10) Bayley
2020 Topps Finest Green Refractor (/99) Bayley
2020 Topps Chrome Green Refractor (/99) Bayley (this seller put a bunch of 2020 Update baseball and happened to send me ones I was excited for like an Alex Verdugo Red Sox card and Mark McGwire from the 99 Home Run Derby)
Pierce was the bulk of a Burbank order I got in, which also had another Chrome Green Bayley because the price was right and a 2016 Heritage NXT patch card /299. Other non-Pierce throwins were a 2018 Prizm Luck of the Lottery Wendell Carter Jr (when he was in his Wakanda inspired draft outfit), a couple blue border WWE cards from the 2010 set - a couple Zack Ryders and a couple Undertaker 18-0 at Mania 26. Hoping to grade a few of these since Ryder has a rabid fan base and low pops, I think I could maybe flip a profit and the Undertaker match I was there for, so gonna aim to get these done for me and my buddy I went to that Mania with.
The Pierce from the Burbank order: 2003-04 Bowman Chrome, 2003-05 Pristine, 2014-15 Prizm Orange Die Cut Prizm (/139), 2014-15 Prizm Light Blue Die Cut (/199), 2014-15 Prizm Light Purple Die Cut (/99), 2015-16 Prizm Light Blue Die Cut (/199) and 2015-16 Prizm Light Purple Die Cut (/99). They ended up cancelling and refunding a Pierce that apparently was out of stock but a good haul at a fair price, though I am a little disappointed none of these came in penny sleeves. All put in a little plastic pouch with cardboard.
That's another reason I love Beckett is it's easier/quicker to start or build most of a rainbow if a dealer has most of them available right then. You can also find a lot of unique items that they don't list through Ebay. I think Beckett's more of a goldmine when looking for 1997-2015 products but they can be a sneaky area to look through a month or two after a product's release as well. It usually depends if a product's been "ripped" in that store yet but 2-4 months and you should have a good idea of what's available.Well, @HarleyQuinn , I signed up for Beckett. I found a card I wanted but it said the seller doesn’t ship to my location. They are based in Georgia so I assumed it is had something to do with tax collection.
Then I found a few things Burbank had up on Beckett they did not have on eBay, so I added enough of their stuff for free shipping and when I went through checkout, no tax for me. Picked up a couple interesting Bayley and Paul Pierce pieces and they had the /10 Titus O’Neil from the Money in the Bank set for $5. I own the 1/1 so I can easily put together most of that rainbow. The exception is I haven’t seen the Black parallel (/5) available.
That's a really great get. I've been looking at some 50s/60s stars that fly a little under the radar on Ebay but haven't pulled the trigger yet on any. Especially with vintage, the true 'collectors' who value them a bit more will take the aesthetically pleasing slightly lower grade over a poor looking higher grade from my experience.Final one may get attention in regards to some of the folks talking vintage like @snuffbox . One of PSA‘s current grading specials includes 60s baseball cards. My dad got into baseball with the 1967 Red Sox so I just started looking for 60s Red Sox on eBay one night. I stumbled upon an auction for an undergraded 1968 Topps Tony Conigliaro. The card, from pictures, looked good but the PSA grade on it years ago, with the old label was a PSA 3. After tax and shipping, I got it for $9.65, which is cheaper than getting a raw card graded.
It was accepted Ended up paying $20.89 with shipping + tax instead of the original $19.99 + $3.90 shipping. Here's the card in question. Again, the centering looks really great. More off-center but 'sharper' (aka less worn) looking PSA and SGC 4s/6s were going for $20 to $45.Made an offer of $15.99 for a really sharp, well-centered (better than some 6s) SGC 3.5 1960 Topps Nellie Fox #100 that was being offered at a $19.99 BIN. The offer would basically wipe out the $3.90 shipping cost. I really like the 1960 Topps design, he's a HOFer, and one of my favorite 1950s/1960s ballplayers. Will update if it gets accepted.
I found this comment in a video from Vintage Card Curator related to a suspicious PSA 30 card sub from the same person of 1968 cards where like 70% got 9s and 10s. This was back in 2019 by the way.I think that's a good strategy. I'm also leery of anything high graded by PSA after all the news that's filtered out the last couple years. I haven't heard of the same problems with Beckett or SGC. I also think those two tend to be tougher graders than PSA and so I'm more apt to prize an SGC 3 than a PSA equivalent, for example. I also think the black case that SGC uses makes a lot of vintage cards look even better.
I will make exceptions, of course. I bought a PSA 8 Johnny U from the 1964 Philadelphia product at a card store last fall. I was able to closely inspect it in person to form my own opinion. And, being local, I could be comfortable buying it knowing it wasn't being sold by a dealer or group being investigated by the FBI or whatever for shenanigans.
It's also a pretty clear sign that "big players" (aka Millionaires and Billionaires) are moving into the market when you're seeing purchases like this.Mantle card shatters record, sells for $5.2M
A Mickey Mantle baseball card has shattered a 5-month-old record for highest-selling sports card of all time, going for $5.2 million, PWCC Marketplace announced on Thursday.www.espn.com
This is good news, imo. The '52 Mantle warrants that kind of value far more than a modern Mike Trout card. And that little shitass Ken Goldin doesn't get the commission. PWCC is far from perfect but they didn't spend years lying to and ripping off people while Don West shouted and rolled around on the floor.
It's also a pretty clear sign that "big players" (aka Millionaires and Billionaires) are moving into the market when you're seeing purchases like this.
"Rob Gough, the actor who acquired streetwear brand Dope in 2017, purchased the '52 Mantle, which former NFL lineman Evan Mathis sold in 2018 for $2.88 million."
I have heard/seen some stuff that Mathis is a known card trimmer though so this (shocker) makes me very leery of the card credibility.
I read that Mathis got it after it was graded but that means little when he & those ilk buy legitimate PSA 7s/8s and trim them to get 1 to 2 grades higher out of them.I would guess this card was well vetted. Size presumably compared to other verified specimens to confirm no trimming or other altering. This is the kind of thing (I hope anyway) that includes forensics, lawyers, an armored truck, all that jazz.
And while I'm confident this card is legit, I've found that there are people who are happy to buy altered cards as long as it's labeled as such.