We're an eBay affiliate and may be compensated on purchases made through clicks.
Authenticity is Everything
Whats Your Greatest Autograph "Steal" ??
Hi Guys,
There might be another thread with the same name somewhere on the blog, but i haven't seen a thread i can recall that dealt specifically on this topic. And its something i find really interesting and exciting. I think all of us have occasionally come across an amazing autograph, often extremely rare, offered for an unbelievably low price.
Now, im not talking about your average deals here. We come across great values all the time, but coming across items that have a value of 3 to 4 times what you paid for them, if not much more, is more uncommon. And its those that i find so interesting. And i would love to hear what you consider your best "steal" on an autograph.
Mine would probably be my Wes Montgomery "Travelin Wes" gatefold signed mint LP. I purchased this off ebay a couple years back. The guy was selling it for his friend who was a bar manager at a club Wes played at. He had Wes sign the LP and then he put it away. The signature is large for a Wes signature and very bold and distinct. It is the best signature example i have ever seen from him. I paid 200 BIN for it.
Realistically that item probably would go for 1500 to 2000 dollars at a high profile auction. RR sold a nice full sig Wes photo a while back and it got around 1400 i think. So as far as value, thats probably my best. Whats yours?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Rick Meyer on
-
Wow. Nice steal.
-
Permalink Reply by GraphingMlb on
-
drooool
-
Permalink Reply by terrier8HOF on
-
cool!
-
Permalink Reply by Erich Jerozal on
-
Nice Ball David.
-
Permalink Reply by BC on
-
Mariano Rivera signed 8x10 for $25
Jeter signed authentic jersey with Steiner Cert for $375
Picked them up on ebay about 10 years about. The Rivera was a BIN and the Jeter had misspellings in the auction title, so it didn't come up in a regular search for Derek Jeter.
-
Permalink Reply by Charles Krejci on
-
My B/W 8x10 reprint of David Gilmour in 1970 with a almost perfect non-rushed signature
$80 to me priceless , probably be buried with it.
-
Permalink Reply by Randy on
-
My best steal was on a 1930's baseball card deal when I got the seller to throw in a game used Pie Traynor bat that he said was given to his dad who was a Police officer in Pittsburgh in the 30's and was given the bat by Traynor. I had no idea if it could be authenticated so I made him throw it in to make the card deal work.
Turned out to be the best Traynor game used bat to come on the market according to Dave Bushing, the game used bat expert, when I turned this one up in 2000.
Of course, I consigned it to Mastronet who at the time was the largest sports auction house. Estimated selling price was $4000 but it only brought $1400.
The same bat showed up in a Heritage auction a couple of years ago and brought over $7K.
Still, $1400 for a throw in wasn't bad although I was ticked at the time.
-
Permalink Reply by Mike Kaminski on
-
Some of these stories make me realize I have to step my game up a bit. Here's a few of mine:
One of the first things I had help with on this site was a lot of baseballs that I had no idea about. I paid $110 I think it was for 25-30 baseballs and there were a ton of good names like a vintage McGwire, Ripken Jr, 2x Alomar, 2x Halladay and many many more, I'd value that lot at close to $700.
Felix Potvin game used and signed stick for $30
Two Mariano Rivera signed baseballs @ about $40 each
Gordie Howe game used stick (Aero days) for $110
Ed Belfour game used stick for $30
Phil Kessel signed stick for $40
Derek Jeter/Giambi ball for like $20 (after I sold the other things that came with it)
Munson program for $150
Jackie Robinson dinner menu for .... I'll keep this a secret ;)
Dave Grohl signed guitar for $80 (thanks J. Seah for the help)
The Hobbit signed poster for $110 (thanks Mike Shepherd for the help)
HUGE Maurice Richard signed 16x20 framed to like 3 feet by 2.5 feet $40
Gretzky signed poster $20
Eric Lindros game used signed stick for $20
Thurman Thomas signed football for $5
Tons of Ruth/Gehrig/Foxx photos that I cut up... priceless
That's about it for now I guess ;)
-
Permalink Reply by David S on
-
Here's another one. I went to a local estate auction. I go to these occasionally just to see what they have, as you never know what you'll find. Most of the times they don't have sports stuff, and 90% of the time when they do, they are not authentic....This time I went, they were auctioning off about 1500 or 1600 lots that night, 99% non-sports stuff (ie art, furniture, jewelry, knick knacks, etc). On one of the table lots, there was a stack of cardboard mailers, about 5 of them. I opened them up during the preview and saw Legends Sports Magazines (2 per mailer), all still in their original plastics. One of them I opened had 2 Ted Williams autographed special editions! I put them back in their mailer, and put that on the bottom of the stack, hoping no one else would see them! People would stroll by the table, and start looking at the mailers, they would usually get through the first 2 or 3 (seeing the non-autographed mags) and then move on to the next items.
When the auction came along, they started the bidding at $5, someone else bid...and then I bid $10....and won!
On the inside of one of the magazines was an advertisement for the Ted Williams issue. The autograph versions I got were one of the Hobby edition Autographs, and another 22-K Hobby Edition (there is a gold foil on it made from real 22-K) Their original prices (on 11/20/93 - original invoice was still with them) were $189 and $250, respectively. I sold one and kept the other. I will use the profit to professionally frame the one I kept.
-
Permalink Reply by Dane on
-
Don't auctions usually have rules that you're not supposed to tamper with the items during the preview session?
-
-
Nothing was tampered with. The magazines were put back into the mailer they came from and back on the table. Not sure if you have ever been to a large estate auction like this with 1000-2000 items. In addition to to more valuable stuff they have in cases, they put the less valuable stuff on large tables. They have "table lots" (imagine 20 or 30 12-foot long tables just piled with"stuff", ie cd's, dolls, magazines, cookie jars, photo albums, etc.). Sometimes they will auction off specific items on the table, or sometimes they will do one price for the whole table.
What is against the rules would be to move something to a different table...which I have seen people do. During a preview, I found, in a stack of books, an authentic Mickey Mantle signed book. When I went back the next day after work to the auction (it started at 3pm, I got there around 5, and the table with the book was still not auctioned yet) the book was not on the same table! I asked one of the workers there and he said it was sold much earlier in the day for $20. Meaning someone moved it to a table that got auctioned off earlier,
Photos
Videos
Groups
© 2024 Created by Steve Cyrkin, Admin.
Powered by
Badges | Report an Issue | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
