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Please help me understand the value of collectibles

What got me to write this was the recent sale of a Derek Jeter SP Foil rookie card graded Gem Mint 10 by PSA for $99,100. Personally, as far as cards go, I’d rather have a PSA 1 Mickey Mantle rookie than the Jeter rookie PSA 10, but that’s me.

Now, the Jeter rookie 10, according to PSA, is one of only 22 graded so highly. Ok, I agree. That’s rare. And the biggest determining factor of price is...supply AND demand.

Well, I have something that, while I don’t know for certain, I believe is likely more rare than the Jeter 10. If you’ve looked through the Prince autograph forum, you will see where I’ve talked about my rare Prince-signed poster. The poster itself is rare and the fact that it’s signed makes it even more rare. I have a picture of the poster in the Prince forum. It’s what I’ve called Prince’s “rookie” poster. It’s from Prince’s first studio album, “Prince - For You”. My understanding is that these posters were only distributed to radio stations in the Twin Cities area in 1978 when no one knew who Prince was. I’ve read that the poster is scarce and hard to find...even unsigned. So how many of these posters exist that were signed by Prince? While I don’t know for sure (and obviously that’s key), I’m very confident that there are likely less than twenty, very likely even less than ten. Could this be the only one that’s signed that has survived? And I’ve read that, for Prince collectors, anything from 1978 is cherished.

So, I know (believe) that the supply of my Prince poster is low, and the demand for Prince autographs is high. But do I think I could get $100,000 for it if I decided to sell it right now? No, I don’t. Not that much. So far, this is the only “rookie” Prince-signed poster I have seen. It could be the only one in existence. But certainly rarity alone doesn’t set price. For instance, I could right now sign my name on a dirty sock and proclaim it to be the only James (last name) signed dirty sock in existence in the world, and it would sell for...not even a penny. For value’s sake, rarity needs to be married to demand. Because no one wants my signed dirty sock...not even me. But I do know that people want signed Prince posters.

But would someone want my Prince-signed poster for $100,000? If you’re out there, let me know! I’m happy keeping it myself, however. But to me at least, my Prince poster is much more desirable than a Jeter rookie Gem Mint 10. So why couldn’t I get $100,000 for it even though it’s probably more rare than the Jeter card? Please help me understand.

Also...as a disclaimer, I hope i don’t appear to be bragging about my poster. That’s not my intent.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on June 25, 2018 at 3:34pm

There's no explaining this stuff. Price your poster for $100k and see if there is one person willing to pay it. Stranger things have happened.... I can tell you it would get a lot of attention!

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Permalink Reply by James on June 25, 2018 at 3:59pm

Lol! I might just do that! ;>)

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on June 25, 2018 at 4:14pm

If you can't have a little fun why be in this hobby? If you're not really motivated to sell it but are willing to accept XYZ price. Why not offer it for sale? You never know what may happen.

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Permalink Reply by James on June 27, 2018 at 10:10pm

Very true. The whole reason why I started collecting autographs is because I had fun doing it. I got some in-person autographs when I was a kid from the likes of Mickey Mantle (at a show), Hank Aaron (in his last season with the Brewers at a Royals game), George Brett, and some others. When I got Hammerin’ Hank at a ball game when I was about 10, I felt like I had won the lottery! I mean...he was (is) the freakin’ Home Run King! But as I “grew up,” I stopped thinking a whole lot about autographs (except for going to card shows) until I really got back into it for good at about 30yo in the mid 90s. I think it was a desire for Michael Jordan’s autograph that really got me back in and brought out my passion. So yeah I may put it up. I’m not by any means anxious to sell it. And I do have in my mind a minimum that I would accept at this point...which may be more than what most people would go for.

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Permalink Reply by Joe W. on June 28, 2018 at 5:47am

The only reason I do this it that I enjoy it. This hobby is challenging, sometimes rewarding, as well as frustrating at times. I don't know why anyone would do this if they didn't have a genuine passion for it.

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on June 25, 2018 at 4:05pm

Is that price in line with previous sales of PSA 10 Jeter rookie cards? When was the last time one was sold?

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Permalink Reply by James on June 25, 2018 at 4:16pm

The $99,100 one sold May 16th on eBay in an auction format with 20 bidders. Probstein123 has one listed since June 4th for $99,100 OBO. I don’t know the earlier sales history though. Interestingly though, the person who finished second, and only lost by $100, apparently hasn’t offered the same $99k he previously bid on the other one. Maybe he came to his senses...or bought one somewhere else.

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on June 25, 2018 at 4:24pm

The third-highest bid was $67.4K, so the two highest bidders accounted for nearly a third of the final price.

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Permalink Reply by James on June 25, 2018 at 5:23pm

Yeah, that’s right. So at least one of the two, I assume, is out of the market for that card. I’ll be really interested to see what Probstein gets for it.

I also heard a Lebron James rookie sold for $312k. I don’t know any details on that one though.

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Permalink Reply by marc e on June 27, 2018 at 6:20pm

not true

depends when people put in bids

not all bids regester if its all ready jumped above there max especaly if ur snipping

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Permalink Reply by BallroomDays67 on June 27, 2018 at 6:33pm

Those are the only bids that registered, so they were in fact responsible for that portion of the price. While it's possible, we can't know if anyone else was willing to bid more than the $67.4K.