Oldest Baseball Card Found

[GAFan]

Did you see where she had it stored in a sandwich bag? Something tells me she's not much of a collector. Imagine a Kresge carded figure stored in a plastic grocery bag.

[kryptosmaster]

I liked this comment under the article:

Posted by Built 4 Comfort Thu Jan 08, 2009 12:25 am EST
She looks old enough to have taken the photo.

Also mentions she was smoking a cigarette when she showed the interviewer the card. Wonder if the new ebay auction will state: "comes from a non-smoking home"?


Rich

[ctc]

>would the buyer be able to take her to court and win?

That's an interesting question....

>did she enter a legally binding contract that would hold up in court?

That's almost word for word the disclaimer on ebay; so yeah, it is. And I would agree that the odds favour the buyer. I'm not sure how it works in the US but in Canada there has to be an INTENT to sell; and I think she could argue along those lines. The idea being she wouldn't have INTENDED to sell for so cheap if she knew what she was selling. (In essence her lack of knowledge would make it impossible to truly form the intent to sell for so cheap.) But I still think the buyer would have the odds.

....'course if the opening bid was only $10, do you think it would have STAYED that low?

Don C.

[RG]

I'm glad to hear it worked out for her ... I gotta say I picture my grandma when it talked about the bag and her smoking lol lol

His initials weren't CS by any chance were they?

naw charlie sheen spends his cash on hookers

[tay666]

Starting bid was $10...I think if it was a BIN, someone would have pulled the trigger fast on it.

Here is an interesting question. If she did have a BIN for $10 and someone hit the BIN...she decides not to honor the bid, would the buyer be able to take her to court and win?

In other words, did she enter a legally binding contract that would hold up in court? You really don't hear of anyone taking anyone to court over not honoring an Ebay buy but for this kind of money, someone would probably do itl

Very doubtful.
Regardless of what ebay says about a bid being a legally binding contract, I don't think it holds any water at all.
If it did, then all those non-paying bidders on ebay could be hauled into court and made to pay what they bid on an item.

[Adam West]

You're right....they could.

But I don't think anyone has actually done it because the time and expense involved would exceed the price of the item.

In this case, the value of the card is high which would give it a higher probability of going to court.

Also, in those cases where a dingbat bids $1M on something that is clearly a joke, sure the seller could take them to court but there are certain laws that allow buyers to get out of contracts in certain instances (real estate comes to mind) and the seller would only be able to collect for expenses like Ebay listing fees, etc. Also, the buyer could theoretically declare bankruptcy if it came down to it which would make the contract null and void.

In this case, the seller has the card so I'm thinking the buyer would prevail by either winning the card itself or the difference between what the card sold for and what the buyer paid for it.

It definitely would be an interesting case to see how the courts view it.

[Zemo]

You're right....they could.

But I don't think anyone has actually done it because the time and expense involved would exceed the price of the item.

In this case, the value of the card is high which would give it a higher probability of going to court.

Also, in those cases where a dingbat bids $1M on something that is clearly a joke, sure the seller could take them to court but there are certain laws that allow buyers to get out of contracts in certain instances (real estate comes to mind) and the seller would only be able to collect for expenses like Ebay listing fees, etc. Also, the buyer could theoretically declare bankruptcy if it came down to it which would make the contract null and void.

In this case, the seller has the card so I'm thinking the buyer would prevail by either winning the card itself or the difference between what the card sold for and what the buyer paid for it.

It definitely would be an interesting case to see how the courts view it.

Exactly right.

[The Megomaniac]

I sold a baseball card for $72,000 to a movie star. Unfortunately I can't go into detail ( I signed an agreement not to reveal the buyer) but the card was a MINT 1952 Mantle rookie. The "star" even came to my house and picked up the card. That was about 6years ago. The sale paid for most of my house. I originally bought a pack of 1952 topps cards in 1990 for quite a bit in a "collectables" auction in Colorado. My wife was not happy that I blew our savings but the back showed the rookie card and I knew I had something special. My wife likes the investment now.

Now this, to me, is the amazing story. I've bought unopened packs for years but have never scored the home run like this. I think I once got a Craig Nettles error card in a pack of 1981 Fleer cards I bought for $1 after the error was discovered. But otherwise it seems that dealers would always charge way too much for packs when you had even just a slight chance at a big card in the set. But 1952 Topps? That's the granddaddy of all of them.

Old unopened packs are often opened and resealed by unscrupulous dealers making sure that nobody wins but them. Was it just the one pack for sale, or did they have a few available? I am surprised they would even let you inspect them (as you apparently did) before you decided to buy, not to mention that the consignor hadn't already looked through the wrappers himself for a Mantle or other key cards. Sounds like a dream to me. So what did you pay for that magic pack anyway?

[johnnystorm]

I saw an auction for the card listed on Ebay earlier today and it was at $66,000+ then, but the listing is gone now. Looks like it was pulled by Ebay, it's not showing in completed auctions. Maybe it was a fraud?
It was graded in the newer auction but referred to it being the card from the news articles.

[tay666]

You're right....they could.

But I don't think anyone has actually done it because the time and expense involved would exceed the price of the item.

In this case, the value of the card is high which would give it a higher probability of going to court.

Also, in those cases where a dingbat bids $1M on something that is clearly a joke, sure the seller could take them to court but there are certain laws that allow buyers to get out of contracts in certain instances (real estate comes to mind) and the seller would only be able to collect for expenses like Ebay listing fees, etc. Also, the buyer could theoretically declare bankruptcy if it came down to it which would make the contract null and void.

In this case, the seller has the card so I'm thinking the buyer would prevail by either winning the card itself or the difference between what the card sold for and what the buyer paid for it.

It definitely would be an interesting case to see how the courts view it.

I still doubt anyone would have a leg to stand on.
In order to collect damages from a breach of contract, you would have to be out something. In this case, the buyer would not be out anything.
They did not invest any time or money into aquiring the object to be purchased.

Also, in order to sue, you would have to determine jurisdiction.
Would that be, where the buyer lives, where the seller lives, or where the corporate headquarters of the venue is located?
Then you would have to go by the local laws of that jurisdiction.

And, to do any of this, you would have to have the money to pay all the legal fees up front and hope you win in order to recoupe those costs.

[Drain]

>would the buyer be able to take her to court and win?

That's an interesting question....

>did she enter a legally binding contract that would hold up in court?

That's almost word for word the disclaimer on ebay; so yeah, it is. And I would agree that the odds favour the buyer. I'm not sure how it works in the US but in Canada there has to be an INTENT to sell; and I think she could argue along those lines. The idea being she wouldn't have INTENDED to sell for so cheap if she knew what she was selling. (In essence her lack of knowledge would make it impossible to truly form the intent to sell for so cheap.) But I still think the buyer would have the odds.

....'course if the opening bid was only $10, do you think it would have STAYED that low?

Don C.

No ebay would favor the seller. I just had auction BIN win wanked from me. I was looking for some vintage Topps Star Trek card and when I check to see what other items the seller had for sell, I ran across a EMCE Chekov on a damage card with a BIN of $7.50. I hit the BIN, won. The Seller refused to honor the auction stating that there was a problem with the auction title and description, ie he spelled Chekov, Checkov and the BIN price was suppose to be $17.50. Ebay sided with the seller, sending me an email that the seller did have proper time to confirm the contents of the auction, stating that I used the BIN function less than a minute after the auction going on line.

[Drain]

I sold a baseball card for $72,000 to a movie star. Unfortunately I can't go into detail ( I signed an agreement not to reveal the buyer) but the card was a MINT 1952 Mantle rookie. The "star" even came to my house and picked up the card. That was about 6years ago. The sale paid for most of my house. I originally bought a pack of 1952 topps cards in 1990 for quite a bit in a "collectables" auction in Colorado. My wife was not happy that I blew our savings but the back showed the rookie card and I knew I had something special. My wife likes the investment now.

Teach,
The Mantle was on the back of the pack, how bad was the glue stain on the card. I collect old topps non-sport card and know today that glue and gum stains are big factor in some card's prices just like centering and condition. Question, how much you get for the 1952 Baseball Wax Wapper.

[txteach]

To answer questions. I really don't want to say how much I paid but lets say it was a little more than $8,000. There were no stains on the card i.e. flawless card that I got graded. The wrapper and other cards were given to the buyer. Heck, he paid quite a bit for them. in the early 1990's I collected sports cards and megos. The auction I went to was from a guy who passed away. I got the card along with a lot of other packs(1978 topps, 1969 topps, box of 1983 topps) and the auction only listed the cards as "rare unopened packs". I did have about 3 serious bidders going against me and I only had a bit more to spend when the auction ended. I still remember the surge going through me and my wife nudging me when I bid $5,550 and then went higher. She was not a happy camper.

[Adam West]

I still doubt anyone would have a leg to stand on.
In order to collect damages from a breach of contract, you would have to be out something. In this case, the buyer would not be out anything.
They did not invest any time or money into aquiring the object to be purchased.

Also, in order to sue, you would have to determine jurisdiction.
Would that be, where the buyer lives, where the seller lives, or where the corporate headquarters of the venue is located?
Then you would have to go by the local laws of that jurisdiction.

And, to do any of this, you would have to have the money to pay all the legal fees up front and hope you win in order to recoupe those costs.

Wouldn't the buyer be out the card? The damages would be the replacement value of the card. I have seen cases similar to this play out all the time for breach of contract (under your typical scenario) and the buyer almost always wins regardless if the seller didn't know that it was worth more.

I was just pondering whether or not Ebay's binding agreement constituted a contract or not. I realize that laws vary state by state but this case seems pretty cut and dry to me that would hold up in any state as long as Ebay's rules are viewed as a contract. I think that was the main point I was asking.

Just something interesting to ponder.

[tay666]

I doubt ebay's rules would constitute a legally binding contract.
They have routinely let both buyers and seller not follow through with their ends of the 'çontract'.
So much so that anyone fighting in court could problably cite enough exmples to show that it is nothing more than lip service and is (never was) any kind of real contract.