It's been about nine months since I've found an addition to my John Jaha collection. Needing only a handful of cards for a complete run, it's not very often that something comes along that I need. About ten days ago one did: a 1998
Circa Thunder Super Rave numbered out of 25. The opening bid was $20, which is about what I'd expect to pay. I had to exchange a couple of emails with the seller to get them to set up to allow Canadian bids but once he did, I put in a bid of a little over $30. And there the card sat for the next six days.
For whatever reason the closing time was 4:00 AM so I was going to wake up either the victor or stung with a last-second bid. I wouldn't be in lamentation mode if I won the card. But while only one other bidder came along, I think I would have lost no matter what. You see, the seller had a few other Super Raves up for auction. Name-wise, Curt Schilling was the biggest. However he must know that there's a couple people out there building sets because I was shocked by some of the closing bids from lowest to highest:
- Jaha $34.56
- Reggie Jefferson $50.18
- Shannon Stewart $82.81
- Curt Schilling $91.38
- Joe Nunally $100.00
- Delino DeShields $229.49
How the heck can a Joe Nunally card reach three figures? Or a DeShields card for almost $230? I honestly don't know which is more shocking - the $17,000 Strasburg or the fact that a Joe Nunally card reached $100.
What these auctions do show is how frowned upon most of the current low-numbered stuff, including 1/1s, are regarded in comparison to some of the tough-to-find late-90s parallels and inserts. I regularly see generic 1/1s from superstars going for a fraction of these prices.
This was only the second or third Jaha Super Rave that I've seen. Hopefully with that
low finishing price, I won't have much competition for the next one that comes along in 2014 or so.
3 comments:
Would that be the most expensive Jaha card ever?
It's up there, although a few years back myself and someone else got into some bidding wars over some 2000 Pacific Prism parallels that weren't popping up often. I think I've paid $40 for something very scarce a long time ago, as in a 1/1. And I think one of the 1997 Topps Marbles - a scarce test issue - ran me about that as well. There's gold in oddball stuff if player collectors don't have it.
There is a Jaha super rave available on Beckett site for $59.00. I have seen the frenzy of the 1998 Circa Super Raves. Looks like two or three sets builders are bidding them up. Last weekend, three 1998 Circa Super Raves of Randa went from high $70.00s to $99.00...they all went to the same buyer!
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