I was just watching Pawn Stars and some guy brought in an Upper Deck George Washington Cut Signature with strand of hair. His lowest asking price was $65,000, ( he originally wanted much more). Rick offered him something like $6,000. The card was graded as well.

The guy had bought it at a card shop for much less, I think he said $1100.

You best buy it quick. You know what they say, hair today gone tomorrow.

And "Wolfie" knows about hair. Howl for de Wolfie !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think a strand of Washington's hair really adds much to it. Is it his real hair or from a wig or from whatever? Would you track down his DNA? I don't hear about a lot of hair card collectors in general.

However his cut signature should be worth a good deal more than that $1,100, the $6,000 offer might even be on the low side. How many genuine Washington signatures are available these days? Its not like anyone could not know the name and most signatures would be in museums or private collections long ago.

That's what I always wonder about these cut signatures. What were they taken from and wouldn't they be more valuable if the original item was kept intact? I'm assuming that Washington wasn't signing index cards by mail, so if his signature came off a document or letter, why would you snip it off? Surely you could sell the whole thing for more and UD didn't break the bank acquiring it. So I'm always a bit leary of expensive cuts, with or without body parts.

The hair was supposedly from Washington himself, they pointed out that he did not wear a wig. It is very likely it is GW's hair, since people back in the day would save hair as a memento.
The price for his auto is debateable, since it seems Upper Deck or Topps has included a set of president signatures as 1 of 1's in many sports sets over the last few years. The reason the owner wanted so much is he had seen a Washington manuscript go for a very high price, but that was a complete document. This card had a cut signature from some kind of supply invoice, the signature was really nice, with the "s" in Washington in olde English style - looking like a fancy "f".

I think most of the people on this show miss the mark - if you have something collectible to sell, say a gun or a card, go to a gun show or a card show, dont go to these knuckleheads.

quote:

Originally posted by Don Norton:
I think most of the people on this show miss the mark - if you have something collectible to sell, say a gun or a card, go to a gun show or a card show, dont go to these knuckleheads.

Might be true for guns, but cards? I doubt you'd get a $6000 offer, cash in hand, from anyone at a non-sport show. Maybe some place like the National Sports Card Show?

Even though it's upscale, it's still a pawn shop. They have to buy items at a price they can sell it and make money. Preferably sell it fast too, as they could very easily get inventory bloat and have a liquidity problem.

Ed

I'd say $6000 for a card you purchased for £1100 is a HELL of a deal