Tag: REA

Taking a Look Back at the Crazy Prices for T206 Rare Backs in the October REA Auction

Back on October 28th, the Fall REA auction ended.  Prices were very strong across the board on rare T206 backs.  In the days following the auction, I wondered if we were going to see a sustained rise in the value of tougher-backed T206s.  However, in the six weeks since the auction ended, that does not appear to have been the case.  Let’s take a look at the REA sales results, as well as some more recent sales from Heritage, Love of the Game, and eBay.

REA Fall Auction Results:

  • American Beauty 350 With Frame Cobb Red Background Portrait PSA 6 – $33,000
  • Black Lenox Cobb Red Background PSA 3 – $30,000

  • Cycle 460 Cobb Bat Off Shoulder PSA 1.5 – $18,000
  • Brown Old Mill Helm SGC A – $11,400

  • Brown Lenox McQuillan With Bat PSA 1.5 – $9,000

  • Uzit Chase Holding Trophy PSA 2(mk) – $6,600
  • Brown Hindu Mathewson Portrait PSA 1 – $6,600
  • Carolina Brights Lavender PSA 4 – $4,200
  • Cycle 460 Crawford With Bat PSA 7 – $3,900
  • Black Lenox Chance Batting PSA 3 – $3,600
  • Cycle 460 Cobb Red Background Portrait SGC A – $3,300
  • Black Lenox Frill PSA 2 – $3,000

  • Broad Leaf 350 Clancy PSA 3 – $2,700
  • Carolina Brights Puttman SGC 50 – $2,700
  • Carolina Brights Shad Barry SGC 3.5 – $2,700
  • Carolina Brights Dinneen PSA 4 – $2,700
  • Carolina Brights Krause Portrait SGC 3 – $2,280
  • American Beauty 460 Meyers Portrait PSA 6 – $2,160
  • Carolina Brights Bush SGC 1.5 – $1,920

  • American Beauty 460 Bescher Hands in Air PSA 6 – $1,920
  • Carolina Brights Burns SGC 2.5 – $1,800
  • Red Hindu McGraw Glove at Hip PSA 3 – $1,560

Heritage Auction’s “Fall Sports Card Catalog Auction” ended on November 16th:

  • Brown Old Mill Dutch Jordan SGC A – $15,600
  • Broad Leaf 350 Rhoades SGC 3 – $1,560

  • Red Hindu McGraw Glove at Hip SGC 2.5 – $1,546
  • Red Hindu O’Leary SGC 3 – $1,440

  • Broad Leaf 350 Nattress SGC 1 – $900

Love of the Game’s “Fall 2018 Premier Auction” ended on November 25th:

  • Uzit Merkle PSA 2 – $3,690

  • Uzit Lake No Ball in Hand SGC 30 – $2,583

  • Lenox Wiltse Portrait w/ Cap SGC 30 – $1,800

The following rare backs sold on ebay in the same time-frame:

  • Carolina Brights Schlafly SGC 5.5 – $2,284 (sold on 11-07-2018)

  • Lenox Wiltse Portrait w/ Cap SGC 40 – $2,026 (sold on 12-12-2018)

  • Carolina Brights Dinneen PSA 3 – $1,295 (sold on 11-28-2018)
  • Carolina Brights Jesse Tannehill PSA 2 – $1,000 (sold on 12-12-2018)
  • Carolina Brights Freeman PSA 1.5 – $700 (sold on 12-13-2018)

T206 Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait with Broad Leaf 460 Back Sells for $60,000

On March 11, 2018, an eBay member listed the above Ty Cobb Broad Leaf 460 as a 7-day auction.  As you can imagine, it caused quite a stir in the T206 collecting community.  I was notified within minutes when a friend sent an email titled simply, “Did You See This?”  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  Not even a year earlier I had written an article about the only Cobb Broad Leaf 460 in existence.  I got online to take a look at the card, fully expecting the find reasons to doubt its legitimacy.  I pulled up the listing, and my initial gut reaction was, “Holy crap.  This is real.”

I took a closer look at the edges and read the seller’s description. Anytime a significant front/back combo shows up for sale in raw form, the main thing you want to look out for is the possibility that the card has been re-backed.  There are two types of re-backs. In the first type, the front is real, but the back is fake.  In the second, the front is real and features a huge star like Cobb, Young, Johnson, etc and the back is also real, but was taken from a common player’s card and affixed to the Hall of Fame front.  After looking closer at the card, I felt more confident that it was legit. The back was clearly real, which eliminated the possibility that someone had bought an $800 Cobb, created a fake Broad Leaf 460 back, and combined the two.  The seller’s description also rang true.  I’ve read hundreds of eBay descriptions written by scammers, and this one didn’t raise any red flags for me.

A thread soon developed on Net54.  Not surprisingly, a majority of posters were concerned about the card being a fake, or more specifically, a fake back affixed to a real front.  I was a little surprised at how many posters felt certain the card was no good.  Plenty of well-known collectors who have handled tons of T206s flat-out called it a fake.  There tends to be a good deal of skepticism among collectors on Net54 with any new find a raw card, so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised.  In this case, I don’t blame people for being skeptical.  The seller didn’t have any recent feedback, and more concerning, they hadn’t listed any common players or backs.

The auction ran for two days, and the Net54 thread raged on.  On March 12th, a Net54 member posted the following message he had received from the seller:

Hello xxxxxxx,

As I stated in my listing yes, I would refund high bid if and only if, card is a fake or rebacked (word of the day) lol.  I have an offer of $21,000 to end auction and 2 collectors flying out to view card before making an offer.  Both collectors are aware of the $21,000 offer.  Good luck bidding.

regards,
xxxxxxx

On the 13th, the auction was ended by the seller.  It wasn’t immediately clear what had happened, but we didn’t have to wait long to find out where the card had ended up.  In the meantime, a friend of mine, who had been corresponding with the seller, sent me the following pictures of the other cards in the collection the Broad Leaf 460 Cobb came from.  It’s a small collection, but man is it packed with some tough cards!

On March 23rd, Brian Dwyer of REA posted the preview of the Spring Auction, which would be headlined by the Cobb Broad Leaf 460!  On April 13, 2018, the auction opened to the usual fanfare of an REA offering.  Before I even had a chance to put in my initial bids, the lot was at $20,000.

When the auction ended last Sunday, (May 6, 2018) the final sale price was $60,000 after the juice.  My opinion probably doesn’t mean that much, as I was just a spectator, but I feel like the buyer got a great deal on this card.  Obviously $60k is a lot of money, but for T206 back collectors, it doesn’t get any better than this.  In my article titled T206 Hall of Fame Front/Back Combo Power Rankings: The Elite: Top 10 (Which is a fun read that I recommend checking out), I ranked the Ty Cobb Red Background Portrait with Broad Leaf 460 back as the #1 most desirable front/back combo in the T206 world.

It was a lot of fun to watch this saga unfold.  It’s something of a feel-good story for all involved.  I imagine the consignor is very happy to pocket $50,000 for a card they didn’t initially realize was anywhere near this valuable.  The seller got an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime card at a very nice price.  And all of us onlookers got a great show!

Sources:

–http://net54baseball.com/showthread.php?p=1756667
–https://www.ebay.com/itm/1909-11-AUTHENIC-t206-Ty-Cobb-Red-Portrait-Broad-Leaf-/123014766205?ul_noapp=true&nma=true&si=FxvAju%252FrlQGmLecQpFMeR6UidQQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Auction Report: REA Spring 2017

Another incredible REA auction is in the books.  As usual, I’ll be focusing on the T206s that were sold, but they were just a tiny percentage of the amazing offerings in the auction.  This auction had a little something for almost everyone.  There were pristine Cobbs and rare backs for the high-rollers, and lower grade rarities for the collector-grade folks.  In this wrap-up, I’ll try to spotlight a selection from both ends of the spectrum.

Cobb Bat Off Shoulder Uzit PSA 6 Sells for $108,000
This card is absolutely stunning.  A high-grade copy of one of the toughest and most sought after rare backs.

Cobb Green Portrait SGC 60 Sells for $9,000
Yet another mid-grade Green Cobb hit the market and did quite well.  This one is a beauty.

Four 150-350 Series Proofs Sell for $7,200 – $8,400

Bates $8,400
Alperman $8,400 
Jacklitsch $7,800
Wagner $7,200

I was a little surprised that the Alperman didn’t sell for more than the other three.  As the only one of the quartet to not feature a name caption, it has much more appeal to me personally.  Apparently the guys who actually have the money to bid on these don’t feel the same.

Magie Error PSA A Sells for $5,400
A nice looking card with a slight trim from top-to-bottom.

Cobb Green Portrait PSA 2 Sells for $5,400
Quite the strong price for this one.  It’s either a case of someone buying the card, rather than the holder, or someone thinking they can remove the tape residue on the back of the card and elevate the grade to a 3.5 or 4.

Bell Lenox SGC 50 Sells for $3,600
A beautiful example, this one sold for about what you’d expect.

Arellanes Broad Leaf 350 SGC 50 Sells for $3,300
This card is amazing.  Love the baby blue background and the back is clean and looks great.

Pelty Horizontal Hindu PSA 5 Sells for $2,700

Stovall with Bat Lenox SGC 30 Sells for $1,920
Another tough Lenox back, this one has great eye appeal for the grade.  The only flaws are the spots of paper loss on the back.  Luckily, they don’t affect any of the text.

Young Portrait El Principe De Gales PSA 3 Sells for $2,280
This is very strong “3” and it sold for a strong price.  Seeing this result makes me wonder what a nice PSA 3 Old Mill or Hindu would fetch at auction.

Dougherty Portrait Hindu SGC 60 Sells for $1,560
Waddell Portrait SGC 40 Sells for $1,320
Walsh Hindu SGC 40 Sells for $1200
Tinker Hands on Knees Hindu SGC 20 Sells for $1,080
I thought these Hindus were a nice value for the new owners.  All are really solid examples with great eye appeal.

Magee with Bat Red Hindu Sells for $1,440
This was the only Red Hindu in the auction, and it’s a beauty.  I personally value cards of guys like Magee who were stars at the time more than a similar card of a player who had a less notable career.  This card seems to have gone for a strong price, and I wonder if his status as a guy who just barely missed the Hall of Fame might have something to do with it.

Brown Chicago on Shirt Piedmont Factory 42 Sells for $840
This was one of my personal favorites in the auction.  It’s a great looking “3” and it’s not every day you can find this pose with a tough back.

Examining the T206 Joe Tinker Hands on Knees “Chicago” Variation

T206 Tinker hands on knees PSA Chicago variation
This is the third copy that surfaced, and by far the nicest. Originally sold by REA in Fall 2013 for $11,850

The T206 Tinker Hands on Knees “Chicago” variation is one of the more valuable errors/variations in the set.  For a card that has repeatedly sold for five figures, it seems to fly under the radar in terms of notoriety.  It’s a relatively recent discovery, which could be a contributing factor.  The first copy surfaced in March 2011 on ebay.  A thread was started on net54baseball.com to discuss it.  There was a lot of skepticism initially.  However, a few long-time T206 collectors stated that they thought it was legit.  On April 15th of 2011, Bob Lemke posted that the card had been graded by SGC and was deemed a legitimate variation.

T206 Schulte Proof Keith Olbermann

At the time the first copy was being discussed, it was known that an early proof of Wildfire Schulte front view had “CHICAGO” written
across his jersey rather than “CUBS”, lending credence to the idea that perhaps Tinker was originally slated to have “CHICAGO” across his
jersey as well.  The Schulte proof, which is one of the coolest T206 cards in existence, is owned by Keith Olbermann.  He wrote an article about proofs and variations in 1997 for the Vintage & Classic Baseball Collector magazine which included a scan of the Schulte proof.  I’m less sure about the timeline of the discovery of this Tinker photo, which legitimized the variation for anyone who was still skeptical.  It’s clearly the photo that was used for Tinker’s Hands at Knees T206 card.  You can see why they didn’t want to copy it exactly, since his Tinker Chicago on jerseyjersey is unbuttoned and it’s hard to read the letters across his chest.  Why they chose to remove “CHICAGO” and add “CUBS” rather than just touch it up so “CHICAGO” was legible is anyone’s guess.  Every Chicago Cubs pose released in the 150 series features”CUBS” across the jersey.  It’s possible all Cubs were initially slated to be printed with “CHICAGO” on their jerseys.  It’s also possible that Schulte and Tinker were changed to “CUBS” to fit in with the rest of the team.

In REA’s Spring 2012 Auction, a second copy of this variation surfaced, selling for $18,960.  This one was noticed by an SGC grader who spotted it while grading a submission.  The owner promptly sent it to REA and cashed in.  Soon after, the first copy was auctioned off in Greg Bussineau’s Summer 2012 Auction, where it fetched $33,720.  The second copy is in much nicer shape, even though the grades are identical.  Waiting until the second copy sold turned out to be a wise move for the owner of the first copy.

rea-spring-2012-tinker-sgc-20

In 2013, the third copy of this variation surfaced.  This one is by far the nicest.  It was graded a 2.5 by PSA due to some slight surface wear on the back but looks a lot more like a 5.  A distinct pattern had developed, as this card (in addition to copy #1 and copy #2) featured a Sweet Caporal 150 factory 30 back.  The third copy was auctioned off by REA in the Fall of 2013 and went for $11,850.  The same card was recently sold via Heritage Auctions in their August 2016 Platinum Night Auction.  This time, it fetched $22,705.

rea-2013-psa-2-5-tinker

T206 Tinker Chicago Sweet Caporal SGC 20
Copy #1, sold by Greg Bussineau for $33,720 in Summer 2012

Only 3 copies of this variation are known, but a number of Tinker Hands on Knees cards show remnants of the darker “CHICAGO” text.  The theory is that when the printers swapped “CHICAGO” for “CUBS”, they initially left “CHICAGO” underneath but reacted quickly to erase most of “CHICAGO”.  The partial remnant can be found on cards with Hindu, Piedmont 150, Sovereign 150, and Sweet Caporal 150 backs.  I am not aware of any 350 series backs that feature the remnant, so they must have cleaned it up for a second time following the 150 series print runs.  Copies with the remnant are not particularly tough to find and don’t seem to sell for any premium.

Next time you come across a copy of Tinker Hands on Knees, make sure to give it a close look.  There might be another one out there just waiting to be found!

Thanks to Robert Edwards Auctions, net54baseball.com, Bob Lemke’s blog, and Heritage Auctions for the reference materials for this article.

tinker-sc-and-sov150-with-remnant
Sweet Caporal 150/30 and Sovereign 150 examples featuring the remnants of “CHICAGO” in black behind “CUBS”

Auction Report: REA

Another fun REA auction has come to a close.  Tons of amazing T206s are going to new homes.  Let’s take a look at some of the most notable cards that sold last night: T206 Ty Cobb back Lucky 7 find REA

Ty Cobb Red Portrait with Ty Cobb back goes for $192,000

The Fall edition of REA ended last night.  This Cobb from the recent Lucky 7 find was the headliner as far as T206s go.  Not everyone agrees that this card should be cataloged  as a T206 however.  There has long been a debate amongst T206 historians as to whether it should be included under the T206 umbrella, or given a slightly different distinction.  The main reason for this is that Red Cobbs with Ty Cobb back all have a glossy finish on the surface of the cards.  Whatever you want to call it, this is a spectacular card and I imagine the new owner is very pleased.

T206 Burch proofBurch 150 series proof goes for $10,200

There were two proofs from the 150 series in this auction.  This Burch and Red Kleinow, which went for $8,400.  Both are amazing cards, but the Burch in particular is stunning.  There have been a few proofs on the market recently, and these two went for right about what I would expect.

Broad Leaf 460 Willis SGC 50 goes for $8,400

I thought this one went for a bargain price.  Some similar BL 460s have sold for more recently.  A Danny Murphy SGC 55 sold for $10,200 in last year’s Fall REA auction.  I’m a little surprised, but not completely.  Collectors don’t seem to care (or maybe even notice) that Vic Willis is in the Hall of Fame. T206 Broad Leaf 460 Broadleaf Willis I’ve thought for awhile that he doesn’t get the respect he should, and this is another example.

Sovereign 150 Cobb bat on shoulder PSA 8 sells for $54,000

A stunning card in all respects, I think this one went for a very strong price.  The tough back probably played a part in that.  Certainly one of T206 Cobb Sovereign 150 PSA 8the finest Cobbs in existence.

Drum Purtell SGC 82 sells for $10,200

This was one of my favorite cards in the auction.  It would have been mine if only I was rich.  I think the buyer got a nice deal, but I’m not too surprised.  Recently, on net54baseball.com, Purtell was voted the ugliest card in the T206 set.  If this had been another player, the price may have gone a bit higher.

Red Hindu Baker PSA 7 goes fT206 Red Hindu Baker HOF PSA 7or $7,200

The new owner of this one has to be thrilled.  While I can’t say that this was a bargain, it is an absolutely beautiful card.  Hall of Fame examples with Red Hindu back don’t come up for sale very often.  The “Exclusive 12 Subjects” are an exception to that rule.  Wheat, McGraw and Duffy are fairly easy to find with Red Hindu backs.