We all got the Bird Lady.

I picked up a Tony Shalhoub signature from MIBII, only certified one I think he's done. He is an excellent actor and is undervalued for his body of work.

I thought I saw a Tony Shalhoub auto from MIB go for $ 75 on ebay. In my opinion (others may disagree), even that is too much

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
I thought I saw a Tony Shalhoub auto from MIB go for $ 75 on ebay. In my opinion (others may disagree), even that is too much

Well that's why autographs and sketches are very subjective and it really is whatever someone is willing to pay.

Shalhoub is a fine actor and is known as the star of Monk. I don't know of any other certified card he signed, unless Pop Century or Americana got him, but I don't think so. I also don't know how tough the MIB11 card is to find. I would put him in the $60 - $80 range, but as you say, others might consider him a common.

The value of certified autograph cards depend on the demand for both the signer and just the card as a part of the complete set. When collectors became discouraged from completing sets, the value of the autograph cards dropped slightly just in general because the demand fell more on the signer's worth alone. By that I mean, it became harder to argue why the same common signer in a lesser set should cost more in a premium set.

Bottom line is that it's all up to the collector when it comes to autograph card value. I love autographs and I would never pay more than $300 for any living, modern celebrity. I used to say $100, than it went to $200 and now its maxed at $300, but even that is only for like a handful of names. People who will spend hundreds and thousands on Star War stars and other living actors, good for them, but I can't justify it even as an autograph collector. It's all fine for those who can.

.........and don't forget, being an Inkworks card there is probably lots more of them on that pallet over there in the corner.

Another Tony Shalhoub MIB auto from the Inkworks set sold the other day on ebay for $ 5.71 ! Much less than $ 60-80 !

No one seems to want the Barry Sonnenfeld (director) autos from the set, even though they too are listed as "very few made"

There are 2 or 3 on ebay unsold.

And there must be 20 of his autos for the Wild Wild West set on ebay right now, which you can't give away !

Sorry, Barry !

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Another Tony Shalhoub MIB auto from the Inkworks set sold the other day on ebay for $ 5.71 ! Much less than $ 60-80 !

Yes, I see it. That was in September and in November someone bought one for $75. So how do you reconcile that? How do you place a value on something with that big a swing? Which one is wrong? Which one is more right?

I think a price guide might throw out both of them, certainly the $5.71 one as being too low. Any certified autograph card of a recognizable star actor should be going for more than $20. There is also very little activity on this card. Does that mean it is hard to find, or does that mean no one is looking for it?

Right now, in general, I would have to say that the autograph card market is soft. Not so soft that a card like this should sell for 5 bucks, that's pretty ridiculous, but soft enough for commons and minor stars to be bargains. Just like sketches, certified autograph cards have been overproduced. The products may be limited, but the accumulation of limited products adds up to overproduction all the same.

So what we have now are market values that are not deserved by any reasonable estimates based on accepted factors. It is a free for all more than ever. Good autographs may be cheap and not selling, while some autographs are incredibly overpriced and selling. We are all on our own to determine how much is right for us no matter what a price guide says or the price of the last auction closing. At least that's how I look at it.

I, personally, am waiting for the price to come down on the Sean Connery cut auto from the 2017 James Bond Archives set by Rittenhouse.

That is the only auto from a Bond set that I am missing from my collection.

Folks have estimated that about 40 were made, yet you always see 8-10 on ebay at any given time, sitting there unsold. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any for less than $ 1500.00

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
I, personally, am waiting for the price to come down on the Sean Connery cut auto from the 2017 James Bond Archives set by Rittenhouse.

That is the only auto from a Bond set that I am missing from my collection.

Folks have estimated that about 40 were made, yet you always see 8-10 on ebay at any given time, sitting there unsold. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any for less than $ 1500.00

There may well be 40 or so but do you not think it's sort of worth it (as far as insanely expensive cards go)?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in the market for that card, nor do I have $1500 to spend on a single trading card(!), but look at the likes of Harrison Ford autos that come out in every Star Wars set it seems now, still pulling in a couple thousand every time. Isn't Sean Connery, a bonafide movie/pop culture icon worth big money?

If I had one to sell I'd not let it go cheap that's for sure. I don't think see we'll see Sean Connery's auto on a trading card again.

I went on record on Card Talk as saying the Connery cut should go for at least as high as the Star Trek cuts for Susan Oliver and Jeff Hunter, which were 4 - 5 thousand. I was way off, but even with 40 copies and a smaller fan base, it has to be the key Bond autograph.

I would not buy it for $1500 simply because no autograph of a living person is worth anywhere near that to me. But this is one example of what I meant by market values that are not deserved by any reasonable estimates based on accepted factors. By comparison to other autograph cards that should be of lesser demand, but have sold for higher prices, the Connery cut should be selling for much more.

It isn't even selling for what is being asked. It doesn't make sense when you try to apply logic. It's just like the stock market that goes up one day for the same reason it goes down the next.

Apparently the Lara Flynn Boyle cards were not available at release so there was base cards signed by her and given to redemption card holders later the autographed cards turned up and I think that the people that sent in redemptions got sent an authentic signature cardBoth are Quiet rare but i dont know about having the inkworks embossing was used on them I have heart that the Tommy Lee Jones are quiet hard to get also I dont think any were put in Razor packs i suppose that both the L B F cards would be classed as genuine signature cards

The Connery autograph card would fetch a lot more money if it was signed on a card. As it is it is just a piece of paper stuck between two pieces of cardboard.

quote:

Originally posted by wolfie:
The Connery autograph card would fetch a lot more money if it was signed on a card. As it is it is just a piece of paper stuck between two pieces of cardboard.

Very true, but Connery is a special case.

He refuses to sign and never will sign a certified card. In that regard, he may as well be deceased. Also he was a terrible personal signer, so any autographed items you can buy on eBay are almost guaranteed to be fakes. I believe the cuts may have come from his book signings back a few years, but in any event RA is providing the certification.

I don't like cuts for a living person either, but this is as good as it's going to get for him on anything that carries an official Bond license. Unfortunately the RA design for this card is also pretty bad and that doesn't help. Still if some Star Trek fan paid $6000 for a Susan Oliver cut, you have to wonder about how you draw up comparisons between certified autographs. Let's not even talk about Ford.

As you said, it does not make sense.

Sean Connery is an actor who has made over 60 movies, and has an Oscar. I would say that most people over the age of 30 know who he is.

Jeffrey Hunter is best known for playing Jesus in "King of Kings" (1961) and starring with John Wayne in "The Searchers" (1956). But he died suddenly in 1969, at age 42. No disrespect to him, but he's pretty much forgotten.

Susan Oliver was known for TV appearances from the 1960s to 1980s. She died in 1990. Hardly a major star, and nowhere near Connery's level, yet her auto sells for $ 6000 ?

Yeah, it's hard to make sense of it though you could make the argument that Hunter and Oliver are sentimental favorites for Star Trek collectors. They were main characters in the pilot episode. They didn't live long enough to be part of the card sets. Diehard collectors are just happy to have something of theirs as part of the autograph set.

Also, when you think about Connery, you have to remember that when Roger Moore took over the role for "Live and Let Die," there was some grumbling among fans. Moore looked less physical and less seasoned (though he and Connery were about the same age) so Connery was still seen as the "real" James Bond for years. Moore had to grow into the role while also putting his own spin on it.

Jump to 2018 after a few other actors have played Bond, a poll on who played Bond might be split rather evenly among Connery, Moore, and Brosnan now with a lot of votes for Craig. Connery has had a reputation of refusing to sign, as Raven noted, so collectors especially younger ones, might view him negatively for that. He might be less recognized because he played Bond so long ago and he has been more reclusive so people under 40 aren't going to know him additionally from talk show appearances or other promotional or charity events. Add to that he retired from film-making over ten years ago.

When you take all that into account, you might understand how a Hunter or Oliver card could sell for that much more than a Connery. Then again, all it took was one longtime, first-run, original Star Trek fan to dump some savings and get us talking.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
As you said, it does not make sense.

Sean Connery is an actor who has made over 60 movies, and has an Oscar. I would say that most people over the age of 30 know who he is.

Jeffrey Hunter is best known for playing Jesus in "King of Kings" (1961) and starring with John Wayne in "The Searchers" (1956). But he died suddenly in 1969, at age 42. No disrespect to him, but he's pretty much forgotten.

Susan Oliver was known for TV appearances from the 1960s to 1980s. She died in 1990. Hardly a major star, and nowhere near Connery's level, yet her auto sells for $ 6000 ?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by catskilleagle:
When you take all that into account, you might understand how a Hunter or Oliver card could sell for that much more than a Connery. Then again, all it took was one longtime, first-run, original Star Trek fan to dump some savings and get us talking.

Jess

It wasn't just one buyer. The high of $6000 was for Oliver, but there were a few well over a thousand and the #1 Hunter went for as high or higher than the Oliver, if I remember correctly. The Star Trek cuts had fewer cards made, they were pack inserted and they were numbered.

RA made a big mistake with the Connery cut design and the fact that they were not numbered and were incentives not in packs. Imagine if they had added #001 - #040, or whatever. What do you think the #007 card would go for? That would have been my first suggestion. A bigger, better Bond photo would have been my second choice. Having put out a cut signature that should have surely been in high demand, why did it look like a rush job?

Anyway it's kind of like the chicken or the egg argument. Are we saying that the Connerys are underpriced, or that the Olivers and Hunters are overpriced? Maybe a little bit of both.

The 2021 Beckett Non-Sport Almanac has Tony Shalhoub's autograph card at $25-60. One sold in January with a Best Offer from $55 (so maybe $40-45) and another went last month with a Best offer from $42.99 (maybe $35) so those support the Almanac's range.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

quote:

Originally posted by Tommy C:
Another Tony Shalhoub MIB auto from the Inkworks set sold the other day on ebay for $ 5.71 ! Much less than $ 60-80 !

Yes, I see it. That was in September and in November someone bought one for $75. So how do you reconcile that? How do you place a value on something with that big a swing? Which one is wrong? Which one is more right?

I think a price guide might throw out both of them, certainly the $5.71 one as being too low. Any certified autograph card of a recognizable star actor should be going for more than $20. There is also very little activity on this card. Does that mean it is hard to find, or does that mean no one is looking for it?

Right now, in general, I would have to say that the autograph card market is soft. Not so soft that a card like this should sell for 5 bucks, that's pretty ridiculous, but soft enough for commons and minor stars to be bargains. Just like sketches, certified autograph cards have been overproduced. The products may be limited, but the accumulation of limited products adds up to overproduction all the same.

So what we have now are market values that are not deserved by any reasonable estimates based on accepted factors. It is a free for all more than ever. Good autographs may be cheap and not selling, while some autographs are incredibly overpriced and selling. We are all on our own to determine how much is right for us no matter what a price guide says or the price of the last auction closing. At least that's how I look at it.

It shows how much things have changed and yet also stayed the same. Those comments were made in December 2018, well before the pandemic, at a time when autograph cards had indeed gotten soft due to the increasing number available and the decline of complete set collectors.

These days just about every big certified autograph card has gone up from 2018 unless the signer happened to do something offensive, or a potential star really flamed out of contention. But common signers have done the opposite in my opinion.

Speaking of Men in Black II, you can't even find a recent listing for the Tommy Lee Jones Inkworks' card. It was a redemption to start with, so who knows how many made it out or how many went privately? The 2021 Almanac has it at $450 - $900 and I would call that seriously undervalued since you can't even find a sold price on eBay.

As for Shalhoub, I think the current range is pretty good. He's a solid character actor, but even with starring in Monk, he only has a certain demand and all his fans who wanted it probably own the card already.

Which brings up the problem with the truly common autograph signers in just about every set, regardless of box price. In my opinion common autograph cards have either stayed in the same price range or perhaps gone down in spite of the general price increases of new card products.

The reason to me is the lack of collectors trying to complete checklists these days. One thing that common signed cards used to have going for them is simply that you needed that card, even if you had no interest in the signer. When a common signer turned out to be on a short printed card, people were still willing to pay the higher price to avoid having the hole.

Today very few collectors are able to complete anything, so they don't even try. If there is no love for that common signer, there isn't enough demand to make it worth more than rock bottom, even if it is rare as a card. All those inscription variants also served to illustrate that common signers couldn't be made attractive just because they added a character name or saying. There are a ton of cards that are autograph hits, that won't be going anywhere besides bargain boxes, and even that won't help to move them.

I haven't looked every month wince 2018 but I have checked periodically for a sale of the Tommy Lee Jones autograph and haven't seen one. I don't know how old that price range is but I would guess it's from a few years ago. Maybe there are only 25-50 of them as reported earlier in the thread.

quote:

Originally posted by catskilleagle:
I haven't looked every month wince 2018 but I have checked periodically for a sale of the Tommy Lee Jones autograph and haven't seen one. I don't know how old that price range is but I would guess it's from a few years ago. Maybe there are only 25-50 of them as reported earlier in the thread.

I sent in a redemption for one and got a Bird Lady card back. I imagine there weren't many.