Cool auction lot, ? about older g/u cards

[aggie4ever]

I've been meaning to post about a nice auction lot I picked up a couple of months ago, the listing didn't have any pictures, and didn't include a detailed list, but I decided to take a chance since it did list a Walter Payton auto poster, seven auto footballs (didn't mention who the autographs were), a super bowl ticket stub, and over 50 g/u cards (including Emmitt, Payton, Elway x3, Aikman x2, Sanders, Warner auto, etc).

I open the box, and the first thing I notice is the poster has been rolled up and shoved in the box without being put in a tube... sigh. But then I take out the footballs (7 in all, although most were mini fbs)... and on two of them I see Walter Payton autographs! Sweet if they are real, and they look real, but it's probably not worth spending the $ to get them authenticated... one football is well worn and the autograph is somewhat faded, the other has 15-20 autos on it, so would cost $150 to authenticate.

Finally, I open up the box of g/u cards in toploaders plus other loose cards, and the top card is a Tony Romo Bowman Chrome RC (nice!). Turns out all the g/u cards are from 1997-2002, so older ones, and I am amazed to find that some of the older cards book pretty high. Plus, a lot of them have nice multi-color patches. Included were:

1997 CE Extreme Elway jersey
1997 CE Masters Elway/Brunell game ball
1997 Excalibur Aikman helmet
2000 UD Legends Payton jersey
2002 Flair Kurt Warner Sweet Swatch auto

plus

http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/sandersmomentum1.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/elwayhonors1.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/aikmanr&s1.jpg

My question is, on these last three cards, did anyone pull these type of cards back in the day, and did they have similar patches? I will be selling them on ebay, but don't want to be selling fake patches. At least since the cards look like they were collected back in 2002, I don't think the fake patches were as common back then. Plus, the patches are nice but not unbelievable. So I would assume they are good. Also, does anyone know how well older g/u cards sell?

Anyway, sorry about the long post, any comments would be appreciated! And I will have to get some more pictures added to show off the other items later...

[Jughead]

I can't answer your questions, but I can add to what you've said.

There are two kinds of lot auctions like these, and they look very similar. This is because there are two reasons for the seller to be vague:

1. They could be trying to scam you.
2. They don't understand about cards. Not every seller on eBay is trying to maximize their return. Some just want some scratch for their perceived junk.

One way to tell whether they are 1 or 2 is by checking their feedback. Now that eBay puts item titles in their feedback rating, it makes this much easier. Has the seller sold cards recently? If so, it could be 1. Also, if you see in their feedback that they have bought a lot of cheap jersey lots, that's a huge red light.

Let's say, instead, their feedback is diverse, meaning they sell lots of different things. That's a good sign, especially if they have sold high-dollar items, because it shows that they are experienced with selling expensive stuff, yet they don't know anything about cards. This is a great combination.

Many people stay away from these types of auctions because many of them are junk. However, there are enough people who think they are bargain hunters, and this keeps all of these auctions from ending at below-market values. That's why you can't just buy these and resell them for a living. But that's where doing your homework comes in.

If you see that the auction is put up by someone who doesn't know what he is doing, you can make the effort to win that one. The RELATIVE risk is lower. By doing this, you can end up with results like our A&M friend here.

[aggie4ever]

What's crazy is that this lot was actually sold by a major auction house on ebay live auctions, you can check out the poor listing (ebay item #150125386294).

I guess the big auction houses only have time to deal with high dollar items or something. But I decided to take a chance on the lot since I figured with 50 g/u including 10 big names, that was worth $100 (and it turned out there were actually 85-90 of them), the Super Bowl tickets sell decently (although the full ticket turned out to be a reprint), and of course the thing I was most interested in, the Walter Payton poster. So between that, and the fact I thought it would be a fun treasure hunt (since there were over 150 items in the lot), I took a chance.

The Payton football with all the other autographs on it is interesting, I need to get a pump to blow it up, and see if I can make out any other autographs. But I think it was signed at a Houston Chronicle Sports Celebrity Carnival held 10/3/1989, since included in the lot was a booklet from the carnival, including about 20 autographs on the various pages, and profiles for another 50 athletes. But two of the signatures on the football include hearts, so I assume they were signed by women. And two of the profiles in the booklet are for Miss Texas 1989 a female co-host for Good Morning Houston.

http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/auctionlot2.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/auctionlot3.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/auctionlot4.jpg
http://www.intergate.com/~mikeege/magic/auctionlot9.jpg

[bigroger1980]

i say you picked up a pretty good lot, yea that was pretty sad on the description , which probably is what won it for you, congrats though on a great find spend the money to get the balls authenticated and make you money plus more

[Dobber2330]

2 things - what is the shape of the hologram on the back if the Montana auto is it a football shape or a diamond shape??- that one looks like the one that was inserted into packs and was tough as hell.

Look over the deflated football - and see if there are any other HOF on it - the Payton looks real to me....

Clean single signed Payton footballs bring 350-500 in the Chicago area