Thursday, September 6, 2007

Not a Bad Investment

Your California real estate and mortgage-backed securities may be tanking, but if you were wise enough to invest in Honus Wagner cards, you have seen your assets appreciate nearly 20% in the past six months:

A Honus Wagner baseball card from 1909, already the most valuable trading card after its sale six months ago, was resold for a record $2.8 million to an unidentified collector. The sale was brokered by SCP Auctions Inc., which took a minority stake in the card when it was sold in February for $2.35 million to a private collector in California, the company said in a news release.

Of course as anyone who ever plunked good money down for a Ron Darling "Rated Rookie" card and expected it to pay for their college education knows, baseball card investing can be risky. It's probably better to be in the auction house business:

"The T206 Honus Wagner card is an icon, not only in the field of baseball card collecting, but in the larger field of Americana," David Kohler, chief executive officer of SCP, said in a statement. "We are privileged to have been involved in the sale of this card, not once but twice."

"And if this latest idle millionaire would like to turn a quick buck, SCP Auctions will be right here waiting to take a third commission next spring," he quickly did not add but certainly thought.

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