Seideman: Does $100K Roberto Clemente card mark end of vintage card boom?
From David Seideman at Forbes.com on March 21, 2017:
Maybe the winner was a crazy collector or a shrewd investor. No one knows for sure. The lucky individual can now lay undisputed claim to owning the only baseball card of its kind in the world. Sixty-two bids drove the price of the sole gem mint (PSA 10) 1956 Topps Roberto Clemente baseball card to $100,099 in a PWCC (Pre-War Card Collector) auction on eBay.
I happened to be at the right place at the right time in the days leading up to the sale, attending one of the nation’s top baseball card shows, in the New York metro area (JP’s SPORTS & Rock Solid). As a result, I was able to ask a flock of well-informed dealers for their predictions of the card’s final price.
A few thought that it could be as much as a few hundred thousand dollars or even a half million dollars. Several pointed to the astronomical prices for the rookie 1955 Topps Clemente. In 2012, the former major league All Star Dimitri Young sold the only gem mint specimen for $432,690 as part of a $2.4 million sale. Last October a rookie one grade below the 1956, a PSA 9, fetched $468,000.
Read the full article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidseideman/2017/03/21/does-a-perfect-100k-roberto-clemente-mark-the-end-of-the-baseball-card-boom-hardly/#5b5d01a930c1
Originally published: March 21, 2017. Last Updated: March 21, 2017.