Help on 1998 Pinnacle Stand Up Samples

[cbrandtw]

Why are these cards so rare? What should I expect to pay for a single A-Rod when I finally do land one? What have you other player collectors paid for yours? Is there a premium for sealed/wrapped promos of these? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you

 

[HawaiianLance]

Why are these cards so rare? What should I expect to pay for a single A-Rod when I finally do land one? What have you other player collectors paid for yours? Is there a premium for sealed/wrapped promos of these? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you

I'm not entirely sure myself. Many would point to the fact that this was one of the last official promo/samples released by Pinnacle Brands before the bankruptcy as a reason for the high prices often quoted. But I often wondered: As an official promo, there had to have been many produced for the dealer network.

Another possible reason might be that only one 'set' was issued per each dealer form, making it more difficult to locate since top players were selected for more than one Stand-Up combination. (Thomas was selected for 3 of the sets) But again, you have to ask: As an official promo weren't there likely many issued to promote the upcoming release of Pinnacle Inside?

It's really difficult to gauge how tough this is; if these cards are truly rare or more an issue of perception driving the market.

Example: There's one dealer who seems to have "more than 10" available for many of these sets - but get this: He's in Italy. <shrug>

How does an Italian collector/dealer lay his hands on so many of them? Was he a dealer? Did he heavily pursue them when released? Was he connected to Pinnacle in some way? Who knows. But you have to wonder how difficult they are if he has more than 10 of so many of the sets.

It's why I have a difficult time pulling the $80 trigger for the last set I'm looking for. Despite the fact that he (the dealer in question) has been the only regular seller advertising these guys for at least the past five years.

I dunno.

However, I will say that anytime you can obtain a collectible that's still sealed in it's original cellophane - that is indeed worthy of a premium.

 

[AndruwHRJones]

Why are these cards so rare? What should I expect to pay for a single A-Rod when I finally do land one? What have you other player collectors paid for yours? Is there a premium for sealed/wrapped promos of these? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you

[ebay:3r4tidab]360102622745[/ebay:3r4tidab]

This is the auction Lance is talking about. I offered $40 for the set last year and he declined without even making a counter offer. It definately does seem suspicious that he has 10 sets and is from Italy. But I would assume they are real if he is turning down $40 and hasn't budged on his price in over a year since I noticed it first. I have never seen any other copies in straight auction format, but with 4 (Griffey, Arod, Thomas, Jones) heavily collected names on the card, it may go higher than $40 per card in my opinion. So unless you feel like waiting for another copy to show up, my guess is $80 is what you are going to have to pay.

 

[BunchOBull]

That seller has had a lot of harder to find Pinnacle brand items over the years, including the 1997 Score Baseball Jumbo cards.

 

[cbrandtw]

Thanks for the info guys. How much have you paid for a single card of your guy?

 

[tunahead]

I let a Ripken go last year, still in the package, sold for $18 and I thought it was too much at the time ::facepalm::

 

[theplasticman]

These are tremendously tough. A big Mattingly collector was also a bigtime Pinnacle collector. He knew the ins and outs of all the samples/promos.

Matched pairs in the wrappers can go for several hundred. The fact that they so infrequently come up for auction has driven the price down because most people selling don't know what they have. Player collectors more than likely have either never seen one or don't own their player.

I think I still have a Ripken Jr pair. When I still tracked them, $250-300 wasn't uncommon on his.

My Will Clark pair I got for $125 and felt like it was a steal after seeing them go for $200+ about 5 times. I've sent 6-7 pairs of Clark's ever.

 

[sportscardtheory]

A TERRIBLY titled Ripken (no name) auctioned for around $30 a month or two ago. I had a bid and thought I would get a steal because of the bad title, but someone snagged it on me.

 

[HawaiianLance]

A big Mattingly collector was also a bigtime Pinnacle collector. He knew the ins and outs of all the samples/promos.

<nodding> We disagreed on this particular promo/sample from Pinnacle Brands, but he knew his stuff inside and out.

I appreciate your perspective regarding the Stand-Up Guys - it's something I'll have to reconsider.

 

[theplasticman]

A big Mattingly collector was also a bigtime Pinnacle collector. He knew the ins and outs of all the samples/promos.

<nodding> We disagreed on this particular promo/sample from Pinnacle Brands, but he knew his stuff inside and out.

I appreciate your perspective regarding the Stand-Up Guys - it's something I'll have to reconsider.

I forget his name. I think he may have passed away a few years ago. Gave up trying to contact him after emails and calls went unreturned.

If I had to make a wild guess, I'd say there are maybe 50-100 sets of each pair. Based on 11 years of watching Clark pair auctions, I'd suggest they are towards the lower end. They sold high out of the gate.

 

[clarkfan]

Just listed one on ebay that I came across recently. Ryne Sandberg, Craig Biggio, Roberto Alomar, Chuck Knoblauch 14ABCD sample if anyone still needs this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1998-Pinnacle-S...0?hash=item5ad3941610&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Figured the Sandberg player collectors might not realize this card exists since it so frequently shows up online.

 

[AndruwHRJones]

Why are these cards so rare? What should I expect to pay for a single A-Rod when I finally do land one? What have you other player collectors paid for yours? Is there a premium for sealed/wrapped promos of these? Any and all help is appreciated. Thank you

[ebay:2o4hik1r]360102622745[/ebay:2o4hik1r]

This is the auction Lance is talking about. I offered $40 for the set last year and he declined without even making a counter offer. It definately does seem suspicious that he has 10 sets and is from Italy. But I would assume they are real if he is turning down $40 and hasn't budged on his price in over a year since I noticed it first. I have never seen any other copies in straight auction format, but with 4 (Griffey, Arod, Thomas, Jones) heavily collected names on the card, it may go higher than $40 per card in my opinion. So unless you feel like waiting for another copy to show up, my guess is $80 is what you are going to have to pay.

I actually offered $45 recently for a set and this was his response:

"Hi, first of all, thanks for your interest in my auctions and for your offer.
Sorry, but these cards are not for sale, they are almost impossible to find out.
You'll never find other sample cards like these on sale, especially on ebay.
Thanks anyway and best regards."

He is from Italy, thus the reason his response reads like this. But I am quite confident the sets he has are real. Otherwise I think he would be moving them for the $45 I offered. I guess I will have to bite the bullet one day and pay the $80.

 

[beberly]

I recently sold a sample set with Larry Walker, Neifi Perez, Dante Bichette, and Ellis Burks for only $0.99. ::facepalm::

On a happy note Ebay has labeled me as a top-rated seller. It shows a top-rated seller icon beside all of my auctions. Kinda cool.

 

[ajw]

I paid something under $200 for my set, which was in the wrapper. I took it out to better display it. Someday I'll pick up another in the wrapper, if I find it at a good price.

I keep meaning to take photos of these actually standing up. One of these days...

Personally, I think if $80 isn't out of your range, then you should pick 'em up. With stuff like this, you never know when you'll have another chance.

Good luck!

 

[AndruwHRJones]

Personally, I think if $80 isn't out of your range, then you should pick 'em up. With stuff like this, you never know when you'll have another chance.
Good luck!

Well, he has 10 sets listed in that auction, so I always figure they will be there when and if I decide to spend that much.

 

[onionring9]

Each individual card cost me less than $40 each. This was years ago when nobody was looking for them. I'm missing 5AB to complete my two pairs (5ABCD and 22ABCD).

 

[Fandruw25]

Paid $20 for each side on this one....so $40 all together. I saw #3 (Chipper/Andruw/Lopez/Maddux ) once at auction and it went for around $50. Andruw has 4 different cards in this set...I don't think I'll be finding the other 3 anytime soon.

 

[clarkfan]

I was under the assumption they were released or given away as pairs AB & CD together. Is that not true? Just surprised I see them for sale often split apart. Most of the ones I've sold have always been the 2 pieces put together.

 

[clarkfan]

Anyone know the value or a recent sale on the sample card #21 AB with Eddie Murray Paul Molitor Rickey Henderson and Ryne Sandberg? Just picked one up listed poorly and wanted to know if anyone had seen a recent sale on it or not. Figured it had enough big name players on it, it should be a good one, but I've never had one. Thanks!

 

[theplasticman]

Anyone know the value or a recent sale on the sample card #21 AB with Eddie Murray Paul Molitor Rickey Henderson and Ryne Sandberg? Just picked one up listed poorly and wanted to know if anyone had seen a recent sale on it or not. Figured it had enough big name players on it, it should be a good one, but I've never had one. Thanks!

I'll give you $5