Busy auction closes with gross sales of over $2 million.
It was about 4:45 AM Friday on the west coast when the phones and internet bids finally trickled to a halt.
Memory Lane’s marathon Premier Collectibles II auction came to an end with the California-based company breaking their record for gross sales by 30%.
Highlighted by some high grade PSA vintage baseball cards and also including a game-used Mickey Mantle bat, the auction grossed $2.16 million according to consignment director J.P. Cohen. 10, 714 bids were made during the course of the sale which began just prior to the National and ended as much of the east coast was preparing for work Friday morning.
"It was an incredible auction for us," Cohen said. "We surpassed expectations thanks in part to being offer some cards that you never see."
The biggest stash of cash went down on a completely graded 1934 Goudey set. SMR values for the individual cards totaled $37,000 but the winning bidder had to go to $53, 475 (including 15% buyer’s premium) to nail it down.
"If you’d asked me before the auction what that set would have gone for I would have said the book price plus maybe 10%," Cohen told SportsCollectorsDaily after a well-deserved but short morning’s rest. "The actual selling price was phenomenal."
Other sets sold included a 1963 Fleer set, graded, for $14,783 and a near set of T206s generally FR to EX, which netted $21, 831.
The memorabilia section was paced by a 1963 Mickey Mantle game-used bat which had been graded GU10 by PSA and Mears authentication and sold for $47,725. First runner-up was a PSA 9 graded Christy Mathewson signed check that reached $19, 224.
The real stars of the auction, though, were the single graded cards from a pair of pre-War issues. A Plow’s Candy Honus Wagner, the highest ever graded by PSA (7), sold for an astonishing $40, 825. A Ty Cobb PSA 6 went for $23, 552. Memory lane offered a group of 1932 U.S. Caramel cards which proved very popular with bidders as well. 24 of the 32 cards in the set were offered. A Lou Gehrig, graded PSA 8 went for $23, 824 and in this case, Gehrig was bigger than the Babe, who commanded "only" $21, 524.
"There continues to be interest in scarce and rare cards," Cohen said. "The issue of supply and demand really drives prices in an auction like ours. And we’re very aggressive in our marketing approach. We spent a lot of money to help promote our auctions. We send out 35,000 catalogs."
Memory Lane offered three 1952 Topps Mantle cards. A PSA 7 took the winning bidder to $32, 775 while a PSA 5 sold for $20,374, which Cohen believes is a record for the ’52 Mantle in that grade. An SGC 70 went for $19, 795.
"The ’52 Topps Mantle seems to have the fastest growing value in the hobby," Cohen said. "The prices on that card have jumped tremendously over what they were even a year ago."
A 1948 Leaf Harry Brecheen, with an SMR value of $900 that wound up selling for $12, 158 thanks in large part to it’s status as one of only two cards ever to reach a PSA 7 grade.
Other card highlights included:
- 1971 Topps PSA 10 Terry Bradshaw rookie ($18, 233)
- 1939 Play Ball Moe Berg PSA 9 ($16, 481)
- T206 PSA 8 Camnitz arm at side ($11,053)
- 1951 Bowman Yogi Berra PSA 9 ($12, 899)
- 1951 Bowman Whitey Ford GAI 9 ($12,324)
- 1959 topps #1 Ted Williams PSA 9 ($17,499)
- 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth PSA 7 ($15,199)
Memory Lane sports card and memorabilia auctions on eBay
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