Filed under: Hall of Fame, NBA | Tags: Basketball, basketball cards, BGS, chicago bulls, Graded Cards, Michael Jordan, NBA, PSA
Join Beckett Media’s Tracy Hackler as he talks to Lou Costabile, a serious collector of rare Michael Jordan basketball cards in this edition of Collect Call.
Filed under: Beckett Media, NFL, Topps | Tags: Beckett, Beckett Media, BGS, football cards, Graded Cards, NFL, Topps
By TRACY HACKLER | BECKETT MEDIA PUBLISHER
Almost a year after it first surfaced last July at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago, the only BGS 10 Joe Montana Rookie Card in existence recently sold at auction for the staggering sum of $65,880, according to Modern Marvels Auctions president Dave Amerman.
The Pristine-conditioned 1981 Topps #216 headlined Modern Marvels’ premiere online auction that began in January and officially ended April 25. Given the sheer largess of the winning bid, however, the transaction for the key card wasn’t finalized until just recently.
According to Beckett Media Senior Market Analyst Dan Hitt, the figure is easily the most ever paid for a professionally graded, modern-era football card. In addition, it’s the third highest sale of a single football card ever recorded by Beckett Media, surpassed only by two different sales of an SGC 96 Mint copy of Bronko Nagurski’s 1935 National Chicle card, for $240,000 and $80,000, respectively.
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett, Beckett Grading Services, BGS, Graded Cards, save, slab, special
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Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: BCCG, BGS, blog, butterfly, Contest, creativity, dangerous, destruction, explosives, Free graded cards, fun, Graded Cards, grading, gunfire, judges, juice, July 4, mayhem, Prize, second place, slabs, Sports Locker, winner
OK, here it is, finally…
We were inspired by this, and a post on another blog, Sports Locker, that suggested things Beckett could do to generate interest in the blog world and elsewhere. By the way, there are tons of interesting and well-written hobby-related blogs out there, almost too many to keep up with (I try though), check out our blogroll when you can.
Yes, this has been in the works for a while (here comes the whining) but I have been so busy (*sniff*) that I have not gotten to it. Sad, I know.
So the contest is exactly what was asked for…we want to see how much abuse our BGS slabs can take, without the card inside being damaged. It’s not necessary to damage or destroy the slab to win!
Entries will be judged on creativity, so it’s not necessary to include a bulldozer or anything from NASA. To make this fair, only the BGS/BVG slabs are allowed, BCCG are not.
Please, for me, don’t try testing your ideas on your Pristine 10s…
The prize, 10 free gradings, at the 10 day service level, with Beckett covering the return shipping and insurance up to $1,000.
There are some rules, of course – no gunfire or explosives!
I will be honest and admit that I would love to see what happens to a slab if it’s hit by a .22 at 100 yards or so, but we can’t condone dangerous acts. We held off announcing this until after July 4 for the same reason, it may be cool to tape a slab to 10 bottle rockets and see what happens, but it’s just not safe. Use good judgment, if it’s likely, or even if it’s “fairly possible,” to result in injury, then we will be forced to disqualify the entry.
**BGS is not responsible for any damage to cards or cases, enter this contest at your own risk!**
Please use good judgment on what cards you use! Don’t use expensive cards…
We also strongly suggest that you NOT microwave the slabs, as there is metal in the labels…not good.
Questions about what is OK and what is not OK are more than welcome, hit the “Contact Us” button (see below) on the front page sidebar if you don’t want to ask in the comments and possibly give your idea away.
Video entries are probably the best bet, but if you can clearly show what you did just using photos, by all means send them in!
There will be a panel of 7 judges–myself, Associate Publisher Tracy Hackler, Director of Grading Services Mark Anderson, Director of Data Publishing Bill “Sudsy” Sutherland, Editors David Lee and Al Muir, and Beckett grader Aaron Gibson.
Paying off the judges is strictly confidential. Wait, I meant strictly prohibited!
The contest ends at midnight August 18, 2008, and judging will begin on August 19. The time it will take to complete the judging will be determined by the number of entries.
In the near future, we will post this button somewhere in the sidebar, so you can click it, come back to this post, and see these rules.
Send entries to, beckettblog@gmail.com, or hit this button in the sidebar–>
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Good Luck!
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Contest, fireworks, Free, Graded Cards, holiday, July Fourth, Statue of Liberty
[rockyou id=116842589]
Please, everyone be safe out there!
Also, be sure to check back here soon for an important contest announcement that does not involve fireworks, but it does involve free grading!
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett.com, collecting, Graded Cards, hobby, marketplace, message boards, Michael Jordan, Population Report, Price Guide, Tom Brady
Wow, just when I thought “Organ-ease” was as cheesy a post title as I could possibly make…
This latest screenshot shows a feature of the new Beckett.com that will be a giant hit, graphical population reports. No more staring at black and white numeric charts, that is just “soooooo 2007.”
Thankfully I really don’t have much to try explain on this one. This shows the population (number) of cards graded and the grades they got. As you can see, there are choices of graphs as well, and you can get as specific as you want, or just get a general overview like the one shown here.
This top of this screenshot also shows the tabs that are at the bottom of every player’s page….wait!
Have I mentioned that every player has their own page? Every team? Every product? Every…everything.
There will be much more on that in one of the next posts, but for now here is a sneak-peak-in-a-sneak-peak of Tom Brady’s player page.
Ok, back to where I was going in the first place, the tabs. On every-“things” page, (“thing” being player, team, product, ect.) those tabs will allow you to easily choose what you want to do there.
Want to see grading stats? Want to read the latest news on some “thing?” Want to trade for it? Want to see who has it to sell? Want pricing? In the case of Tom Brady, this screenshot shows discussions (think message boards) about him. I am not sure why someone hates you Tom (or whoever that ‘you’ actually refers to), but people are free to say what they like there, within reason, of course.
Whatever kind of page you are on (player, team, product, individual card) those tabs will relate accordingly.
This started off as just a quick “show off” post while I worked on long-winded explanations of other features…but I am learning as soon as I explain something, it brings up a dozen related things to talk about. Everything fits together on the new site, so if I don’t talk in depth about something, rest assured I will get to it!
Still, don’t be afraid to ask about stuff that I just gloss over quickly!
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett Select Auctions, Graded Cards, T206 Wagner
Why is the Wagner card in worse condition than most of the other 549 cards in the Beckett T-206 Find? Just bad horrible luck?
There’s a logical explanation.
It is our understanding that this collection of T-206 cards has been handed down through generations, wholly intact, since it was originally put together around 1910. The collection is 100 percent Sweet Caporal on the back. There were no variations of the reverse in the 550-card collection. No t-205s, no Cracker Jacks, not even a single Piedmont back.
Knowing what we do now about the distribution of these cards in cigarette packs, it is quite likely the original collector was a loyal smoker of Sweet Caporal cigarettes 
and put his baseball card collection together one pack of smokes at a time. Even then it was known that the Wagner was a hard card to “pull.” He likely would have had to trade for it.
At some point, after mulling over his T-206 doubles and triples (imagine that for a moment), the man likely traded for the Wagner. The Wagner card was, as modern day collectors call it, his “filler” or “slider” card — a placeholder until he found an Wagner in better condition. Or maybe he didn’t care about condition at all, and was merely looking to complete the set.
Sound fishy? Not to us. But don’t laugh: we’ll have one of those stories for you next week.
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Graded Cards, T206 Wagner, Wagner T206
I was able to pry a couple more photos from Dave of the recent T206 find to be auctioned by Beckett Select Auctions. (Click on the photo for a closer look.)
I would guess that less than 100 people have laid eyes on these cards since they were boxed up decades ago. The rubber bands wrapped around the cards literally disintigrated from age when we first viewed the collection.
All 550 of the cards in the find are Sweet Caporal versions.
The cool thing about the BGS 1 Wagner: Until a few months ago, nobody knew it existed. How many other Wagners might be out there in attics and storage rooms?
— ph
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett Grading, BGS, Graded Cards, Texas
Check out this vanity plate on the car in front of me last night. Car is registered to a twentysomething woman in Highland Village, Texas.
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett, Beckett Marketplace, Graded Cards
My son had a few buddies over for his 10th birthday last weekend. Campfire, hotdogs, fights and arguments front-yard football. It was all good.
Remember when kids got a heap of presents and all the kids gathered to watch Birthday Boy tear into them? Doesn’t happen anymore.
Why not? Gift cards.
Why run up and up and down the toy aisle looking for that “perfect gift” when the perfect gift is in fact the path of least resistence for the gift-giver. The gift card.
Beckett.com gift cards can be purchased from the comfort of your easy chair. They are available in denominations as low as $10, and can be used for any transaction on Beckett.com, including items from any Beckett Marketplace dealer. There also are BGS gift certificates available for yourself the graded card investors on your list.
Not sure what to buy for the collector on your list? Look no further than Beckett.com gift certificates. Easy. Appreciated. Valuable.
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett, BGS, GAI, Global Authentication, Graded Cards
Beckett is buying Global Authentication.
That and other tasty rumors have been cascading down message boards and on blogsites since GAI last week was forced out of its San Clemente, Calif., offices for not paying its $8,400 monthly rent.
Evictions, whether it be of a home (click on photo, left) or a business, never are pretty. But this one is particularly disturbing for collectors, who over the past six years have placed their trust in the Big Four grading companies — BGS, GAI, PSA and SGC.
BTW, Beckett is not buying GAI, that much is true.
What is not known at this time is whether Global can recover – even if it wants to – from this recent public relations nightmare.
What is known is that GAI hasn’t been paying rent on its 5,400 square foot office, according to David Bolt of CB Richard Ellis, the broker who handles Suite 100 at 232 Avenida Fabricante in San Clemente, where the only thing being fabricated these days are rumors.
“They were evicted,” Bolt said today of the now vacant office, which already is cleaned and ready for the next tenant. “It doesn’t happen overnight. They probably went through the legal process, but they are out of there now.”
Filed under: Beckett Media | Tags: Beckett, BGS, Graded Cards, Ted Williams
A guy spends $35.65 for Express Mail delivery of his grading order. When we get the parcel at Beckett Grading this afternoon, it sounds like a baby rattle. No packing materials. Just four cards in screwdowns that had endured a hard, overnight ride to Dallas from the Midwest.
Look at the Ted Williams card holder (left): cracked under the strain of the trip.
What kills the guys in BGS is that we receive grading submissions packed much worse than this, and the customer gets his order back with less-than-stellar grades . . . and then wonders why his grades are low. Well, he can start with his packing effort.
Cards shipped from BGS to you are in tight, packed boxes, with no markings to indicate that valuable cards are inside. Co-Workers Heather and Toli spend hours making sure your grading orders arrive safe and in the condition in which they left BGS.
C’mon people, take care of those cards when you ship through the mail. It’s rough in the shipping business.
The Beckett Blog 
