What is the "real" value of a true 1/1 "common"?

I just finished looking over ebay listings of a certain category of cards using "1/1" as part of my search. I wanted to see what was out there. Aside from weeding through the oodles of idiots that now use "ebay 1/1" in their titles (yes, if you are one of those people and you are reading this and feel offended, TOUGH ****! I am offended that you use it, so were are even.) and other non 1/1 stuff, there was still a fair amount of true 1/1 cards to be had.

Now the real question is what are these 1/1 cards really worth to the average person? Most of them that I saw were BIN or BO listings with what I feel were ridiculously high prices. I suspect most of these cards will never sell at anywhere near the opening price. Maybe some sellers hope for the HR and list high, but will accept low offers after a while, but I suspect most are just delusional and think that because it is the only copy in the world, it must be worth a fortune! I guess we really need to know the target audience for these cards. Aside from a small percentage of collectors who may favor these common players specifically or those team collectors who will buy anything of their team, maybe a few people that just love to hoard anything stamped 1/1, who is left?

I am curious to know what the average person feels the average 1/1 card of a common is worth? I know we can nitpick and say that press plates are better or worse than stamped parallel 1/1 cards, a signed 1/1 trumps a GU 1/1 and so on and so forth. For this discussion, I am talking the average card, nothing special and the player is a common with little to no team or player following.

There are a lot of factors. But I'd say 90s commons in the $50-200 range, some of that comes from Team Collector and some from Rare 90s guys, and go down from there as the years progress. 1/1 commons from today I can see as low as $10. I can recall the exact card but it was a Yankee pitcher I had up from an early 00s UD base set and it brought $35.

Ryan

I'd say $15-$20.

But just remember, even lower tier guys have a following. And they can be that much more fun and challenging to collect.

Speaking from experience, a 1997 Flair Masterpiece Brett Butler is worth more than $250 to the guy that outsniped me several years ago.

I would add on things like plates that the value of Commons is probably more like $5-10 on the lowest end, as their 1/1 claim is not quite as compelling. Did a copy paste from an eBay invoice at the beginning of this year:


Ryan McGuire 1998 Topps Stadium Club Odd Baseball Cyan Printing Plate 1/1
Winning bid: $3.34

I'd say around $10 for common 2000's guys. Superfractor autos will still bring quite a bit even if it's of a guy who never made it. I sold a bowman superfractorauto of a guy who never made the majors, and had been out of baseball for a couple years for $85 still. But his different versions of 1/1's I sold for the $10-$15 range.

Plates go cheap with recent flood but still settle in at an average of 10 for commons. Non plates I will pay anything less than $15 for. Too cheap to pass up but I don't actively search for them

swish54_99 said:

I sold a bowman superfractorauto of a guy who never made the majors, and had been out of baseball for a couple years for $85 still.

Click to expand...

A Josh Vitters Superfractor Auto sold for $62 a couple months ago.

(BA's #43 prospect in '08...36 games played in '12 with Cubs)

Auto plates for Leaf's craptacular Perfect Game sets have sold for $1.25, and unsigned plates as low as $0.99.

I think most of you are in line with me on this. Common guys who didn't do anything are not worth $100-500 each.

I picked this one up for $10. I thought it was a very fair price. Kent is a borderline HOF candidate and a Dodger, so I was pleased with the price. Do Ripken collectors chase stuff like this? I know I would probably want the regular cards, but chasing plates for something like this would get irritating.