The business of sports collectibles has seen a lot of changes from 2020 to 2021. One aspect that has continued to show strength during a period of volatility has been in the high-end vintage baseball card prices seen in auctions. After scouring a mountain of data from the summer of 2021, online auction giant eBay has seen high-end vintage card auctions dominate over the more modern era baseball card auctions.
PLEASE NOTE (UPDATED) — This screen did not include individual names within the context of “baseball cards” in eBay. There are additional sales of Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb in vintage that did not fall into the screen criteria but they do appear within a search using their exact names. We have also conducted individual searches that will be used below and a new post will also be made. This is an issue within eBay’s search criteria that we feel should be in a catch-all bucket. Hopefully this clarifies the data but other names have been included to refine the search. These include Mickey Mantle, Robert Clemente, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson and others.
This is a review of the eBay auctions with multiple bidders with sale prices above $10,000 from June through August in 2021. These fell under eBay’s category of baseball cards with “sold” status after multiple bids on individual cards. And other exceptions or additions were noted separately.
Collectors Dashboard evaluates high-end collectibles as an alternative asset class. The same capital that could have been invested into stocks or bonds is now being used to buy high-end collectibles. If people are spending $10,000 in competitive auctions, that is definitely capital that could have just as easily been used to buy stocks, bonds, crypto and other assets. It is also undeniable that collectors with a passion to own these cards are competing with investors who are simply buying assets to sell for a profit.
First and foremost, collectors and investors alike better understand and accept that there are no guaranteed profits in life. Stocks and bonds can fall in value. Sports collectibles can also fall in value. And when you add up the cumulative costs of commissions (or fees), shipping and taxes, the costs for break-even in collectibles are automatically higher than investing in traditional assets.
We reviewed high-end auctions with final sales above $10,000 on eBay from June 2021 through August 2021. As far as the high priced baseball cards, the vintage category of individual super-star cards dominated over modern super-star cards. High-end for this review is over the $10,000 level, and auctions required more than just one bidder and bids that were not all just at the very end of the auction.
Another “for the record” item is that these are only the cards noted within eBay’s “Sold” category within “baseball cards” listed only in auction format (no Buy It Now) with a final sale price of $10,000.00 realized. No consideration was given to sales tax, shipping costs, insurance and international orders.
Again, this list has been updated to reflect a wider group of names using more specific search criteria.
SUMMER 2021 – VINTAGE BASEBALL CARDS OVER $10,000
1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card #311 PSA 1.5 FR sold for $39,101.00 on June 26, 2021 after 67 bids.
1933 Goudey #149 Babe Ruth New York Yankees PSA 4 VG-EX sold for $26,300.00 on July 14, 2021 after 58 bids.
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle Rookie Card #253 PSA 3.5 sold for $19,300.00 on June 27, 2021 after 4 bids.
Babe Ruth 1922 W575-1 SGC poor 1 sold for $14,100.00 on July 31, 2021 after 27 bids.
1951 Bowman Mickey Mantle #253 (shown as ungraded) sold for $13,700.00 on June 15, 2021 after 41 bids.
1951 Willie Mays #305 NY Giants rookie card SGC EX+ 5.5 sold for $13,500.00 on July 22, 2021 after 1 bid.
1948 Leaf Jackie Robinson Robinson PSA 2 #79 sold for $11,000.00 on June 10, 2021 after 66 bids.
1939 Play Ball Ted Williams #92 Rookie Card PSA 6 sold for $10,139.92 on June 13, 2021 after 53 bids.
1954 Topps Ernie Banks rookie #94 PSA 7.5 near mint sold for $10,054.00 on July 19, 2021 after 31 bids.
The set/lot which sold in auction over the $10,000 hurdle was a 1953 Bowman Color Baseball Complete Set (160, with 139 PSA graded) for $10,603.00 on July 3, 2021. That lot had 28 bids.
SUMMER 2021 – MODERN ERA BASEBALL CARDS OVER $10,000
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. card graded Beckett BGS 10 sold for $15,050.00 on August 28, 2021 after 21 bids.
2014 Topps Supreme Jacob DeGROM 1 of 1 rookie card Autograph PSA Auto 10 1/1 sold for $14,502.00 on June 5, 2021 after 64 bids.
Ken Griffey Jr 1999 Skybox Molten Metal Fusion Titanium Card #4/50 Insert Set ungraded sold for $13,247.00 on June 30, 2021 after 24 bids.
1994 Upper Deck Alex Rodriguez Mariners foil #15 Baseball Card PSA 10 1/59 sold for $12,009.00 on July 11, 2021 after 23 bids.
Derek Jeter 1993 Upper Deck Foil #279 BGS 9.5 Gem Mint rookie card sold for $11,433.33 on August 18, 2021 after 34 bids.
2018 Topps Heritage Shohei Ohtani red Auto 17/69 Jsy 1/1 ungraded sold for $10,376.17 on August 29, 2021 after 61 bids.
1996 Derek Jeter Topps Chrome Refractor PSA 9 #80 rookie card sold for $10,000.00 on June 18, 2021 after 1 bid.
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Another consideration that needs to be noted is that eBay has made significant announcements during the summer of 2021 regarding its partners and other ongoing efforts. There may have been other sales and auctions which should have or would have otherwise been included in this report. That said, this is solely the price, sale, and outcome criteria we used inside eBay’s own public-interface.
If there are other criteria that are supposed to be used please let us know.
