The most recent Memory Lane Auction ended on December 15th. The headliner was a restored T206 Honus Wagner, which sold for $420,000. That wasn’t the only card to sell for a strong price however. There were quite a few Old Mill backed Southern Leaguers in the auction, and many of them sold for astounding prices. Here is a sampling:
PSA 5:
- Breitenstein – $1,466
- Foster – $1,333
- Kiernan – $1,002
- McCauley – $1,613
PSA 5.5
- Cranston – $1,613
- Mullaney – $752
- Smith, Carlos – $2,362
PSA 6:
- Greminger – $2,598
- Helm PSA – $2,147
- LaFitte – $1,951
- Revelle – $2,198
- Thornton – $1,613
Most of those prices are unlike anything I’ve seen before for similar mid-grade cards. After the auction I was talking with a friend and we were speculating as to whether these prices were a sign that mid-grade Southern Leaguers were about to take off in value.
In the week since, that does not appear to have happened. Here are the two T206 Old Mill Southern Leaguer sales results from eBay in the last week
- Reagan PSA 5 – $711
- Sentz PSA 5 – $399
Here is a sampling of the Old Mill Southern Leaguers in PSA 5 holders that are currently on eBay as active Buy It Now listings:
- Bastian PSA 5 – $1000 or best offer
- Bay PSA 5 – $450 or best offer
- Breitenstein PSA 5 – $1000 or best offer
- Howard PSA 5 – $495 or best offer
- Kiernan PSA 5 – $1000 or best offer
- Miller PSA 5 – $1000 or best offer
- Thornton PSA 5 – $1000 or best offer
One huge head-scratcher is that someone paid $1,466 for a PSA 5 Breitenstein. That should mean that there was an under-bidder willing to pay $1200 or $1300. If there was, you’d think that person would want to buy the PSA 5 that’s currently on eBay for $1000 or best offer.
It’s always possible that two or more bidders got caught up in the moment and ran the bidding well beyond what the cards would normally sell for. Whatever happened, the lack of eBay sales in the last week make it pretty clear that the prices realized in the auction on December 15th ought to be looked at as a strange anomaly that does not reflect the current market.
