My first experience with grading

[deaconblues63]

Back in 2009, I won a contest where my prize was a pack of 2009 Bowman Sterling, which was a great prize. I got a Tommy Mendonca autographed card, which I liked since he was a high draft pick by the Rangers that year and a Norichika Aoki refractor relic from the WBC. I also got a Mike Trout autographed card, which was nice, but I was far more pleased with the Mendonca at the time. I remember looking at eBay, and if I remember correctly, I could have gotten gotten around $10 for the Trout. Instead of selling it, I decided to keep it and I stuck it in a binder with other certified autographed cards where it stayed for a while.

Several years back, when it got to be around a $100 card on eBay, I got it out and strongly considered selling it to buy Rangers cards, but I decided to keep it, put it in a one touch and put it in a shoe box.

I remember looking last year and congratulating myself because I saw that they were selling for $500 - $600.

I looked again earlier this year and saw what they were selling for and I figured it was time to get it graded. I've had a couple of autographed cards authenticated and encapsulated before, but I have never graded a card. I took it and another nice card over to Beckett earlier this month and I got an email Tuesday with the grades and I am very happy. I got to pick them up today, along with some great BBQ from a place around the corner and I could not be more pleased with both the cards and the brisket. If anyone ever drops cards off at Beckett, Cattleack BBQ is only about a half a mile away. It's well worth your time to stop in. It's very high on Texas Monthly's Top 50 list, ranked as third best in the state (which would also mean it's the third best in the world).

Anyway, here it is. I apologize for the terrible scan.

 

[AnthonyCorona]

That should buy you about any Rangers cards you want. Congrats!


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[swish54_99]

Nice!

Back in 2009 I bought some blasters of Bowman Draft from Walmart. Pulled a Trout auto and like you put it in a top loader and away. In 2011, I'm putting together a PSA sub with a buddy and needed one more card to fill out my part of the sub. So I thought, wth, he's a first rounder and subbed it. It came back a PSA 10. Tried selling it at a big local show but all the dealers were just trying to rip me off. Held onto it for a couple more years and ended up selling it for $2200, which at the time was the highest one had sold. They have more than doubled since then, but I'm still happy, he could've easily had blown out his knee, taken a 100MPH fastball to the face in the on deck circle like Juan Encarnacion, or gotten high and drunk and crashed a boat like Jose Fernandez and it wouldn't be worth anything. I've still got a bunch of IP auto's that I got personally from him when he was an unknown 18 year old Baseball America prospect in Low-A that I'll probably keep forever.

 

[gt2590]

Had similar story where I got a free Sterling pack, but I sold mine soon after for $16. Got $18 for Brad Hand.

Double Ugh...

 

[Randy Shields]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say your first experience with grading was a good one. Seriously though congrats on the grade but even moreso congrats on the hold! I think it's safe to say that it would be tough for most people to have hung on to that card that long realizing the increasing value it accrued as you periodically checked the prices of it.

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[Zan]

Great story, and amazing results!

 

[deaconblues63]

Thank you all for the kind words. I appreciate it.

 

[deaconblues63]

These have doubled in price since I got this graded last year, so I have finally decided to part with it.

I hope this isn't considered spam. If there is a problem, just let me know and I will edit this post completely out. I'm not linking to the auction, nor am I selling it myself. I decided I would be better off using a third party with more experience with high dollar items.

I hate letting it go and I miss having it already, but I've owned it long enough and I am going to make a great deal of money that can probably be better used elsewhere. I am also trying to remember some of the best investment advice that I ever received: "Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered."

 

[mrmopar]

That is great that you are looking to make out so well on that. As a collector, I find the thought of parting with anything good, a hard choice regardless. I certainly have my favorites, but keeping a card that was considered good is not unheard of, especially since I sell or trade very little. I have probably been victim of holding too long more than not, but have also been able to dig up a few surprises.

I can't help but think that these modern cards have nowhere to go but down though. Many may disagree and the market seems strong, but one of the biggest reasons cards, especially high grade cards, have exploded in value is their scarcity. Keeping pristine cards from before the 70s was simply uncommon. Kids were the majority owners of cards and they played with them. We all know the stories, but those few (percentage wise) that escaped shoeboxes, back pockets, flipping marathons, bike spokes and walls have gone on to explode in value well beyond their average, beat up counterparts.

Since the 90s, nothing gets worn or damaged. Nearly everything is sleeved, boxed, graded, etc. We have plenty of manufactured scarcity, but beyond that, it's hard to believe regular cards will ever maintain value, like regular Topps Update for example. Maybe someone has ballparked the estimated print run for a Topps Trout rookie and maybe it's lower than many Topps base issues, but you can damn well bet every last one is tucked away in super mint condition.

Long way of saying good for you for getting rid of it. It may even go up in value more since you move it, but it will be fun to track this for another 10-30 years and see where that card ends up, especially if for some reason he fails to make the Hall of Fame. Either way, you more than made your money out of it and aside from having one of those "I should have held it longer stores most everyone has, it made sense now and that should never be considered a bad decision.

 

[deaconblues63]

It wound up selling for $5300, which I think is an outrageous price. I don't know what I will wind up netting from this, but it will be far more than I ever thought the card was worth.

 

[MrMet]

Congrats


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[WCTYSON]

It wound up selling for $5300, which I think is an outrageous price. I don't know what I will wind up netting from this, but it will be far more than I ever thought the card was worth.

Curious why you used PWCC? Gross. For an obsure card, one that normally would not get a lot of eyes or is hard to find, I can see using the security of an auction house. Congratulations on the sell. It went for the going market rate on a BGS 9.5/10. Now go get you some of that world class BBQ again, treat yourself.

 

[mrmopar]

I know if I were selling a huge $ card, I would probably accept the commission to make sure the exposure was maximized. I'd be afraid that selling under a regular ebay account like my own would hurt the potential bidding and thus lose me potential profit. No commission, Ebay still gets their cut of a smaller selling price and I make less overall. As much as some of the more well known consignment options are less than desirable, I assume they come through where it counts, in the ending price category.