The 1869 Peck & Snyder card we've been chronicling wound up on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Tuesday night...along with its current owner, Bernice Gallego.
The 72 year-old owner of Fresno's Collectique listed the card on eBay, only to discover it was worth a lot more than her $9.99 opening bid. She pulled the card and it's now in a special auction via Memory Lane.
Gallego told Leno she wrestled with the decision to pull the auction, believing that once it was up, it should stay up. After speaking with a nearby collector/dealer/promoter, Rick Mirigian, she opted to leave eBay behind in search of a better offer.
If you missed the show, here's a link to the streaming video on the Tonight Show website. (she's the second guest of the night)
Some facts and figures about the 2009 Super Bowl, known to fans of the Roman Empire as Super Bowl XLIII.
Super Bowl date: February 1, 2009
Kickoff Time: Approximately 6:20 PM EST
Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
Super Bowl XLIII television coverage: NBC
Super Bowl XLIII face value ticket prices $800-$1000 each
Percentage of average fans who get the chance to buy tickets: 1% (random drawing)
There is a growing number of Super Bowl ticket collectors out there and one fascinating part of that part of the hobby is being able to actually chart the face value of Super Bowl ticket prices through the years. 2009 Super Bowl tickets have hit $1,000 for the first time. That's if you can somehow score them at face value. Most brokers and those selling on eBay have been getting $2000-3000 each. It's a startling jump from where the league set prices not that long ago.
Tickets to the first Super Bowl ranged from $6 to $12. They were $12 in Super Bowl II and III. Held at $15 for IV to VIII, then rose to $20, 30, $40, $60, $75 and finally, $100 for Super Bowl XXII and XXIII. From the 1990s on, Super Bowl ticket prices jumped at least every other year except in the mid-1990s when they held at $325 for three seasons.
Prices have really skyrocketed in the last 15 years though. For Super Bowl XXIX, played in 1994, face value was still $200. Top tickets for the 2009 Super Bowl will be five times more expensive. Yet not only will all of Raymond James Stadium's 72,000 seats be filled, they could probably fill it two or three more times without a problem. The Super Bowl is still a magnet for those with the means--and a once in a lifetime trip for those who need to scrimp.
Super Bowl memorabilia is still hot, too. Over 6,000 Super Bowl-related items were listed on eBay as of Sunday.
MEARS caused quite a stir late in 2007 when the evaluation and research company announced plans to force its auction house clients to submit to regular audits and inspections. Actually, the stir was more like a very loud silence.
What had been a significant part of MEARS' business went away when only one auction house decided to accept the terms and conditions to remain a client. Others chose to formulate their own 'authentication teams' or work with others who weren't asking for an inside look.
Part of the deal that turned some clients off was the audit requirement. Most weren't willing to let a potential competitor sneak a peek at their books and records. Robert Edward Auctions chose to accept the deal and last Friday, MEARS did show up at REA's door in New Jersey.
Dave Grob, who penned the 'my way or the highway' requirements, was given access to REA's records and did a random search of lots in that company's spring 2008 auction. No irregularities turned up, which isn't surprising considering REA's reputation but now that MEARS has entered the auction business themselves, it's a rather unusual business relationship. Grob spelled out the process in his blog and promises that his own business partners will be subjected to an independent audit sometime this year.
Apparently, no other companies have signed on with MEARS for 2009 so the audit/compliance trips will be short and sweet, but it would be nice to see more outside monitoring of auctions in some shape or form. The sports memorabilia hobby still has an air of suspicion around it at times and if there were a little more accountability maybe the feds wouldn't find it necessary to spend their summer weekends walking the halls of the National.
We're putting this one on our list of the Coolest Finds of 2009--and even though there are still 11+ months to go, we're betting the 1869 Peck & Snyder card find might just be the winner when we put it together again next December.
It's got all the elements of a great "find" story--an old baseball card found sitting amid other bric-a-brac until someone discovers it. It's proof that there is still good stuff out there and I'm betting half of America was taking another look through the closet-- and the attic--and the basement, just in case, after reading the story. The Fresno Bee published it first. We linked to their online version. Then it hit Yahoo.com's front page on Thursday and now half the country knows about Bernice Gallego's Cincinnati Red Stockings card that could be worth a small fortune.
We've learned PSA has just graded this new rarity and that it's heading for auction soon. There is another copy of the 1869 Peck and Snyder listed on eBay that's probably benefitting from the talk about the new one. It's already generated 53 bids and stands at over $65,000 with nine days remaining, but there's no way to verify the validity of the bid.
Whatever the newly-found card sells for, it'll be a windfall considering it almost wound up being sold on eBay for a lot less than it'll get now that the cat is out of the bag.
Good for Bernice, who has apparently spent much of her life in the antique biz and has now hit the find of a lifetime--even if she didn't know what she had at first. That's part of what makes it a great story--the reason why this site was created and a much-needed jolt of positive publicity for the hobby.
One of the cool things about the social networking revolution is the ability to connect with other like-minded folks almost instantaneously and participate in some projects outside of the traditional realm.
Editor's Blog
Tickets to the first Super Bowl ranged from $6 to $12. They were $12 in Super Bowl II and III. Held at $15 for IV to VIII, then rose to $20, 30, $40, $60, $75 and finally, $100 for Super Bowl XXII and XXIII. From the 1990s on, Super Bowl ticket prices jumped at least every other year except in the mid-1990s when they held at $325 for three seasons.