There seem to be many nuances when it comes to calling things pristine and unique. Pristine is supposed to mean an item is still in its original condition and unique means it is supposed to be the only one of its kind. These can both apply to an example of the 1933 Goudey Napoleon Lajoie baseball card. The card was unique compared to the rest of the Goudey set and a pristine example is up for auction right now. It may fetch over $300,000 before it’s all said and done!

Heritage Auctions has a card #106 from the 1933 Goudey baseball set up for action with just over two weeks until the auction ends on January 27, 2022. This card is graded as “Mint” with a PSA 9 graded. It is truly pristine!

The 1933 Goudey Lajoie card is so rare because the card was not put into packs. Collectors had to mail in a letter to Goudey to get the card. And for scarcity, this is often ranked up in the same echelon as the T206 Honus Wagner. These cards were available the following year and they were reported to be damaged by paperclips affixing the cards to the response letters.

WHAT’s IT WORTH NOW?

Heritage has a guide value or estimate at $300,000 for the card, and with over two weeks to go the card already has a $175,000 bid that would actually be $210,000 after the buyer’s premium.

Collector’s Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. Let’s just say that a card already north of $200,000 is already the same capital that could have gone a long way in stocks, bonds and traditional investments. (Image below by Heritage Auctions)

HOW SCARCE IS THE SUPPLY OF THE 1933 “NAP” CARD?

This card also has scarcity that many high-end collectibles buyers want. PSA’s total population is only 95 graded examples of the 1933 Goudey Lajoie card. Of that, there 9 examples graded at PSA 9 and 7 examples graded at PSA 8 and another 13 at PSA 7. And for a comparison, SGC’s graded population of the same card is just 40 examples. They have o0ne graded as SGC 9, 1 at SGC 8.5 and 2 at SGC 8.

One issue that also contributes to scarcity is that sending a letter to Goudey after already buying the cards was in the midst of the Great Depression. One of the reasons there are so many Babe Ruth cards in the set was because Goudey wanted to entice young buyers to buy their cards.

Collectors Dashboard already laid out how Babe Ruth collectors owe all their thanks to the 1933 Goudey set, and even in last July the total graded population of graded 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth cards of all 4 numbers had total population of 4,676 from PSA and 1,976 from SGC. That was 6,652 cards as of that time versus just 135 total PSA and SGC combined graded examples of the card.

There is also a comparison for how Nap Lajoie’s 1933 Goudey sale price compares to some top 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth sales.

WHAT MAKES THIS “NAP” SO INTERESTING

Lajoie had been retired for about two decades when Goudey made his card the ultimate chase for set collectors back in the day. They could have chosen other great retired players like Ty Cobb, Christy Mathewson, Honus Wagner, Cy Young, Walter Johnson and so on. Lajoie is not as well known to many collectors some 90 years later.

Lajoie was one of the original greats in baseball. He is known for outside of being one of the only .400 single season hitters is that the team that is now the Cleveland Indians (or Guardians) was briefly named the Napoleons, or “Naps” for short. Lajoie was considered one of the best defensive players of his era, he was a 3-time batting champion and his career ended with 3,242 total hits and a .338 average. Perhaps the image of the back of the 1933 card #106 pays old Nap a proper tribute.

According to the Heritage Auctions description:

This spectacular registry set contains that challenging rarity, allowing one lucky customer to switch teams to the “haves” from the “have nots.” Thanks must be offered to one young Depression-era set builder, who would not be deterred by the fact that card number 106 was not available in standard wax packs. It took a letter, mailed to the Boston offices of Goudey Gum Co., to earn this toughest of all cards from this Big Three set, accounting for their terrific rarity today… As such, this relic could validly be considered one of the most significant representatives of the Bubble Gum Era that exists, a one-way ticket to the pinnacle of the hobby hierarchy for its new owner.

PSA’s CardFacts also outlines how and why the card is so interesting:

The missing card was sent through the mail to the collectors who contacted the Goudey company. Many of the examples were mailed with a paper clip affixed to it, leaving impressions on the surface of the card. As a result, you will encounter some examples that exhibit spider wrinkles along the front or back of the card. That said, and considering the overall rarity of the card, there are some highgrade examples in the marketplace. This is best explained by the fact that the card was never subject to insertion into packs, avoiding some of the traditional handling.

WHAT IS $300K vs. HISTORICAL PRICES?

This card does not come up for auction all that frequently. PSA does track auction prices that this card has fetched in all grades, and this same exact card’s DNA down to the same PSA certification was last sold through Goldin Auctions back in May of 2020 — for $192,000 at that time.

Heritage Auctions sold a PSA 9 with a different certification number in January of 2019 for $264,000. Heritage sold yet a different PSA 9 certification number in November 2017 for $144,000 (after it had sold for $204,000 in February 2017).

Here is a table of other PSA-graded sales that have been tracked over recent years: