The Quest For The Holy Grail

Calling Indiana Jones

We all have them: the top of the want list, endless quest cards.  The ones we never actually expect to take down.  For me, it isn’t necessarily the most expensive cards, though some are on my list, it is the rarest of the rare that inspires my imagination. So, what to do when not one, not two, but three of them come to market at once? 

I will start with an explanation of my collecting peccadilloes.  Everyone has their interests and over time, most collectors will narrow and deepen their focus.  Quite a few collectors I know avidly pursue rare T206 backs.  Others chase after master sets, wanting every variation of every card in a given issue.  Then there are the player collectors, the team collectors, the type collectors, and so on.  The variety is as endless as the slice menu at Prince Street Pizza (shout out there to LA’s newest NYC imported pizzeria). 

For me, I have had a long-time affinity for boxing cards.  Boxing card collecting, as I have noted before, arose because I found out about a family connection to a world-class boxer.  I am a first cousin twice removed of Ray Miller, a former #1 contender whose resume as a boxer and referee is good enough that I expect a Canastota (International Boxing HOF) announcement for him every year.  That discovery launched my boxing collection. 

Once I got into boxing, I quickly gravitated to Joe Louis collecting.  Why Joe Louis?  Not only was he the greatest heavyweight of all time [don't take my word, Bert Sugar picked him; "Ringside: The Ten Greatest Heavyweights," ESPN Classic, 1991], he was the most important boxer of the 20th Century.  The century was bookended by two very influential fighters, Jack Johnson [the first black heavyweight champ] and Muhammad Ali.  However, Louis is the boxer who changed the white public's perception of a black heavyweight champion from polarizing hatred of Johnson to rooting openly for Louis, and he did it 10 years before Jackie Robinson set foot in Ebbetts Field.  In 1938 while preparing for the second Max Schmeling bout, Louis was invited to the White House as a guest, where President Roosevelt heralded him as symbolic of the strength America would need to beat the Nazis.  Check out the bout on Youtube if you have a chance; it only runs 2 minutes.  The beatdown was so devastating that it put Schmeling in the hospital for ten days with several cracked vertebrae.

I have a great Louis collection; that’s an objective fact, not a brag.  Given my affinity for Exhibit cards, and as a Louis collector, my Louis holy grail has always been a signed Joe Louis Exhibit card.  I would also want to get a signed 1948 Leaf card, mostly because I already have a signed 1948 Leaf Sugar Ray Robinson and a signed Louis would be a perfect bookend to it.  But the Exhibit is primary.

Like many of you, I am inundated with auctions and catalogs.  I usually miss a few.  I hadn’t checked Heritage in a while, so I went there and was shocked, SHOCKED to see two different signed Louis Exhibit cards, and a signed 1948 Leaf Louis card, all in one auction.  HOLY CRAP! 

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way: in absolute terms, I think I can afford to buy them all if I am willing to go after them with abandon.  This is not a T206 Wagner.  But absolutes aren’t life.  I project that I would have to chew up my entire capital reserves to acquire all three cards.  I have to prioritize and not wreck my budget.  Many of you have been in the same place, I am sure. 

What is my strategy?  Let me take you through it round by round and in real time, like a live-stream boxing match report. All the following numbers are without the vig unless I mention it; add 20% to them to get the real cost. 

The 1948 Leaf soared high and damn quickly.  At the end of regular time, it was already at $17,400.00 with vig.  Whelp, scratch that item from the list; more than my cash on hand.  On a side note, I really love to see that number.  I gotta wonder what I’d get for my signed Sugar Ray…he is the second most popular in the set, after all, and the Leaf is his earliest American-issued card.  Food for thought…

That leaves the two Exhibit cards. Each is from a different set: 1948 Champions and the prewar Hometown series card.  Probably the two most common Louis Exhibit cards.  Both are BAS authenticated.  OK, not my favorite or most trusted source, but I have a lot of experience with Louis autos and the two are obviously good examples of his 1950s signature.  In fact, judging from the signature placement and ink, they were likely both signed at the same time.  I decide to prioritize the Hometown because the autograph looks better on a light background card.  It is strictly an aesthetic decision.

I tried to play king of the mountain and take over the slot just below $1,000, hoping that some round number bias would get me over if there was reluctance to go into four figures.  No such luck; my bid got stuffed well before overtime.  I next perched at $1,500, again hoping to outlast the crowd and come in under $2K.  Candidly, at that price point, I would be doing well. I guess someone else knew that too, as my $1500 was matched just as overtime started.  I decided to go with $2,006.00.  At that price point, anyone reluctant to break the $2,000 barrier would lose. 

I also waited a minute and bid the next increment on the 1948 Exhibit.  Heritage uses a lot-by-lot closing method where the auction clock resets in half-hour increments whenever there is a new bid on an item.  I reset the 1948 clock to end a minute after the Hometown clock just in case someone takes me out of the Hometown card, so I can shift over to the 1948. 

Five minutes after I made those moves, someone topped me on the Hometown. Now we are getting into rare air for a boxing item, where I have to go over $2,500 to take the lead.  Sigh.  What do I do? 

First thing, I went after the 1948 Champions card, which was sitting at about 50% of the Hometown card price.  I upped my bid to $1,567.00 and was high at $1,250.  Why $1,567?  Heritage has no bid increments required.  I figured $1500 is both a logical point and where I made my stand on the other card, so best to break the bid pattern on this one. 

Meanwhile, as I was executing that bid, the Hometown went up again and if I wanted to get after it, I would have to go over $3,000 for it.  I decided to sit back on that one since the other bidders were extending the clock on the card to the point where I had ten minutes between the two cards.  If I won the 1948, I’d be done.  If I lost it, I could decide whether to regroup and go for the gusto on the Hometown. 

I also hedged a bit of a consolation prize.  I’d earlier bid on a 1972 STP Richard Petty signed card, which is pretty much the ultimate NASCAR card.  I threw a bid at that to shift its clock to later on.  I was outbid, but that’s fine since it is secondary to the Exhibits. 

Whoops, somebody just went to $1450 on the 1948 card.  Reset the clock so that the Hometown and my consolation prize both end before it.  That won’t do.  I waited a decent interval and bid again on the STP Petty.  Still outbid but it bought me a seven-minute gap between it and the 1948. 

Now, some of you may be thinking I am shill bidding the STP since I am just running it up to preserve my options. Not really. If I happen to hit the top bid, I own it regardless.  If the bid counts and has the risk of winning, it isn’t a shill bid or a bid designed to run up the price. 

Checking in again with the Hometown, someone put the bid to $2500 ($3000 with vig).  Doesn’t look like I am going to get into that battle.  One takeaway from this auction is that if you happen to have two very rare items that are similar, perhaps it is best not to run them against each other.  Had the signed Exhibit Louis cards been broken into two separate auctions, perhaps they would yield a better result for the consignor. 

Meantime, the 1948 Leaf Louis is up to $22,200 (with vig).  That makes it the second most expensive 1948 Leaf, trailing only the Graziano SSP. 

As we cross the 15-minute mark on the 1948 Champions Louis, bidding seems to have stalled at $1450.  Perhaps a round number bias is kicking in?  My strategy is to ride it out until the last minute.  My consolation prize is slipping away, though.  Some spirited bidding on the Petty card has taken it to $1400 plus vig.    

At ten minutes the Hometown has gone to $3300 ($3960 with vig).  Interesting.  To top that will require breaking the $4,000 price point.  I wonder whether round number bias will play a role now. 

Seven minutes to go and my 1948 bid is holding in there.  I am starting to get excited about this, starting to smell the grail-stink. 

Two-minute warning.  The suspense is killing me.  Since the Hometown is still in play and ends later, that fight might just overshadow the 1948. 

Boom!  Grail is mine!!  $1740 plus tax and shipping.  Probably ends up right around $2K total.

The Hometown Louis closed for $3,960 plus tax and shipping.  Would I have preferred it?  Sure.  Is what I won as nice as the Hometown card?  Nope.  But is it worth over 100% more?  Not to me it isn’t.  Oh, and the consolation card, the 1972 STP Petty with autograph?  Well, I decided to go for it and max bid $1800 ($2160 with vig).  I decided to let that one surprise me in the morning.  Either way, I am just fine with it.

Hope you enjoyed the recap of the Friday Night Fights.