Misjudging the Market - Alan Trammell

[UMich92]

I thought I was in tune with the market for Alan Trammell cards. Then this card happened.

I set my snipe at a level that I thought gave myself a good shot at the card without going overboard. To have multiple bidders go 2-3 times my snipe was a big surprise. $500+ for an auto/25 just seems out of line. Does the 2003 Topps Retired Refractors set have a big following?

Anyone else get blindsided recently on a card for their PC?

 

[EtherealSOC]

No, but I used to be disappointed my guy didn't have a card in this set since it's such a great looking set. Seeing how it's taken off I'm glad he doesn't.

 

[nevermore]

Yes, these have always been highly collected. I had the O'Neill refractors from 03, 04 and 05 in my collection. I had paid $30-40 upon release. When I whittled down my collection to his playing years, I sold them in 2012, for $225, $125, $125. Much more than any other O'Neill autographs. That was almost 10 years ago. O'Neill is not as highly collected as Trammell, but $500 is way more than I would have guessed as well.

 

[smapdi]

I don't follow the market for those Archives/Fan Favorites, but I know that when it comes to SP autos, the sky can be the limit. They definitely have some committed collectors. For popular but borderline HOF guys like Trammel their autos might be few and far between. Though I don't know if that's the case for him specifically, a quick check of ebay seems to show that is the case. When those collectors collide, the results can be explosive.

 

[Austin]

Rich master set collectors battle over low-numbered cards of early 2000s Topps sets like Heritage, Fan Favorites and Archives. Only 25 people (or whatever the lowest numbered card is) can have a complete master set, so the demand is extremely high. It's been like that for almost 20 years.

 

[UMich92]

Thanks for the feedback. Given their popularity, it makes sense that master set collectors would potentially impact as well as Trammell collectors.

 

[gracecollector]

Crazy money for that card in my opinion. Sign of the times, hard to predict things these days.

 

[WCTYSON]

It’s really surprising to me this went for more than the Nolan Ryan /25 from a recent auction. Did the Ryan go for less because it was removed from the uncirculated case and graded?

 

[TramFan3]

Top 2 bids were Trammell collectors. Guessing third was a set collector. Did not recognize the ID. I bid 400 not thinking I would win...didnt even register.

 

[mouschi]

Great Great set but yeah...I think a lot of set collectors cause the player collectors grief (and vice versa). I've never seen a Canseco and had to pry out of the hands of a private collector this past year.

 

[mrmopar]

I would have been shocked by that myself. Things have been twilight Zone-ish for a while too, so you just never know. If I was trying to sell it, i would have gotten $30 for it! I shake my head at the market. It was maybe a year or so ago I was selling a nice collection of lower to mid grade HOF cards from the 50s-70s, here and on Net54, before finally giving up and going the ebay route. They all eventually sold, but I recall the "key" cards being sluggish. Someone ended up paying about $75-80 for a 54T Jackie Robinson card that was pretty decent. It's times like these that I wish I would have just bought them direct. I bet that same card sells for $200 today. I also struggled to sell a pretty darn sharp Luis Aparicio RC and ended up getting like $30-35 for it. It should have been a solid $60-75 card then, now it might have been a $200 itself, I think it was that nice.

Sorry you lost out. Those losses sting.

 

[UMich92]

Top 2 bids were Trammell collectors. Guessing third was a set collector. Did not recognize the ID. I bid 400 not thinking I would win...didnt even register.

Thanks for the context.

 

[DeliciousBacon]

This made me think about the Trammell 1995 Electric Diamond Gold, if one ever showed up, then I saw one did show up and it was a similar frenzy:

ALAN TRAMMELL UPPER DECK UD GOLD ELECTRIC DIAMOND FOIL TIGERS #426 1995 95 | eBay

 

[mrmopar]

Jesus! That is Will Clark craziness there....

 

[WizardofOz1982]

This made me think about the Trammell 1995 Electric Diamond Gold, if one ever showed up, then I saw one did show up and it was a similar frenzy:

ALAN TRAMMELL UPPER DECK UD GOLD ELECTRIC DIAMOND FOIL TIGERS #426 1995 95 | eBay

Yep. Some sets are just like that.

 

[chief7575]

Holy ****! So, I have that card - pretty sure I have the jersey numbered version to boot. Like, I would never part with it, but honestly - what is it now, like a grand?!? *BONKERS* I also have the other year of those, with the black border auto/25.

 

[banjar]

Just reading this thread now. That auto card is one thing, but the 1995 electric diamond is straight from an alternate universe. 4 separate bidders over $300. That auction must have been just a perfect storm for a bidding war. Even the Griffey is nowhere near that price - there's one on ebay now for $80 BIN.

 

[jszczech]

I have never seen the Puckett base or refractor from this set. Makes me wonder how much it would go for.

 

[Dilferules]

Just reading this thread now. That auto card is one thing, but the 1995 electric diamond is straight from an alternate universe. 4 separate bidders over $300. That auction must have been just a perfect storm for a bidding war. Even the Griffey is nowhere near that price - there's one on ebay now for $80 BIN.

There was a discussion around this at the time it happened, a complete or near-complete 1995 UD Electric Diamond Gold set came up for auction and there was some major action on some of the cards. The cards from Series 2 of this set are extremely difficult to find and very rarely come up for sale, so I can definitely see this happening if there was a 25 year old card that you never ever see popping up and there are multiple hardcore collectors who need it. Personally for me I need 2 common-type players from Series 2 for my team set and I made the mistake of setting my snipe at $17 each, and was outbid. Meanwhile I won the Rickey Henderson from Series 1 for $22, and another has sold for $20 since then.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

Just reading this thread now. That auto card is one thing, but the 1995 electric diamond is straight from an alternate universe. 4 separate bidders over $300. That auction must have been just a perfect storm for a bidding war. Even the Griffey is nowhere near that price - there's one on ebay now for $80 BIN.

@Dilferules pretty well covered it but Series 1 ED Golds like the Griffey are much more common than the Series 2.

I got my Jeff Frye Series 2 ED Gold in that set break auction for $0.99. My snipe was $50 and I still stayed up till 1AM or whenever early in the morning it ended on a work day to make sure I didn't get outbid. I would have paid $100 if someone had pushed it. I've literally been chasing that card for 25 years and it wasn't getting away.

With my other PC, at least back then, being Ozzie who is in Series 1 I have some PC reference. I went digging through my Ozzie boxes and found 9 of the ED Gold Series 1 Ozzies from 1995. I don't remember really pushing to get that many Ozzies. I just ended up with them. On the other hand the ebay auction for the Frye was the third time a reference to one has popped up on the net and it was the first time I've seen one available for sale.