Huggins and Scott is a previous sale-price record holder for this item.
In their last auction, they linked Ludkins and it generated approximately 10,000 page views per day for the linked item.
I think you’re making several broad generalizations that don’t quite pan out.
-Is E4’s interest a relevant litmus test for $50,000 items? I would argue that it is not.
-Are people in Pokemon the ones buying high-end Pokemon items? Also tenuous. Most people buying at that level have broad interests with an emphasis on the best from all well-known hobbies.
-Huggins and Scott gets plenty of international attention. That question only makes sense if you don’t know Huggins and Scott.
I don’t think 99.99% of E4 or the Pokemon-exclusive community knew jack about Weiss Auctions, either, but they still sold an Illustrator for over $200K. These auction houses have built up portfolios of high-end buyers and audiences for several times as long as Pokemon has existed.
Auctions finish in ranges. I think the implication that somehow a well-known professional auction house is a significant factor in this earning less than the Heritage sale is premature at best.
This is my thinking…This is a product that is 50k plus that no matter what you can not 100% authenticate. Even if you open the box you still need to open a pack. Hell maybe the two top packs were real 1st edition base packs but the ones following those could still even be resealed. Its just too much risk. This is not a card that can be sent to a third party authenticator. Another factor is the risk in selling this item later on down the road. Its sealed product so if you do sell it you then have the risk of the buyer possibly feeling uneasy about the purchase when they try to authenticate it themselves. Its a hard buy and a hard sell in my opinion. Much rather just buy a Psa 10 1st base zard that I can rest assure that it is 100% legit.
I would also put in the fact, at the right time, right place. The auctions are on a set timeline. It could just be who is looking on the market. Good points here though, I was always forget that other hobbyists, not necessarily Pokemon collector’s could buy these boxes as well.
100% agree. That’s ultimately what I’m getting at. I think it is probably a complex set of circumstances that led to the price. And the anonymity of the system makes meaningful research hard even when accepting that a data point is just a data point.
@funmonkey54 I’m simply asking questions to see what other peoples opinions are. As stated in my original post I completely understand why people use alternate options than ebay for high end items. I used e4 as an example as this is the Pokemon community that I am a part of, not because I think everyone on e4 is looking to buy a 1st ed box. I’m also not saying nobody has heard of the auction house as that would just be assuming everyone is in the same boat as me. What I’m asking is if they get enough exposure as I genuinely dont know the answer but personally I can safely say I wouldn’t have known the box was even for sale if not for this thread.
While I agree with most of what you said, I have to say that at least the german translation from Weiss Auctions was shit. I’ve seen some documentaries about auction houses and I think it’s currently the best way to sell high end items since they’re established and have the attention of potential customers. But I also think they’re far from perfect and therefore there will remain some risk for the seller like what happened with this item.
Im looking myself for one right now, but the brown spot on the bottom had me worried. I really dont feel like going through that again. Id rather pay up a little and know.
@thecharizardauthorty, I think you hit the larger point on the head! Actual buyers for this item want 2 main things: authenticity guarantee, and then condition. I did and would again pay a premium for both. Since that heritage auction, I get constant offers to buy lesser boxes that lack both authenticity guarantee and condition. Imo that is the largest driving factor for prices.
I do think other outlets would yield a better return, but its ultimately negligible. These auction houses have numerous clients that are potential buyers. Either way with extremely rare/difficult to acquire items like this, you are left with only data points. H&S have now sold the box between 43-68k. Thats a 25k discrepancy. Include the heritage sale and its 35k. There will never be consistent prices for items that don’t have consistent availability.
One of the few threads i have ever enjoyed reading by the way. Real conversation from the people out there willing and able to purchase an item of this value and their thought process behind the matter. Valuable knowledge here.
I only created this thread to make sure nobody overlooked it. I did expect a bit of difficulty for the item but didn’t expect that low of a selling price.
I can tell you this, I couldn’t participate without seeing the box in person. Had I known it was going to sell for about 60,000.00 i would have looked closer into it.