Heritage Auctions Thread

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

We're wild as usual today. It's not the outrageous price that gets me so much that someone had $84k to drop on Mario but couldn't find a more desirable print for $84k? Lol.

 

[Code Monkey | 2,005]

2 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

We're wild as usual today. It's not the outrageous price that gets me so much that someone had $84k to drop on Mario but couldn't find a more desirable print for $84k? Lol.

 

I find it hilarious when people automatically think an earlier print is worth more. If one print was sold for a year and then a following (later) print was sold for only 2 months before switching to another (different) print run, then that makes the later print much less common and way more desirable to a collector like me. I would much rather have the later print of a lower print run as it's harder to find.

[Gloves | 11,761]

Just now, Code Monkey said:

I find it hilarious when people automatically think an earlier print is worth more. If one print was sold for a year and then a following (later) print was sold for only 2 months before switching to another (different) print run, then that makes the later print much less common and way more desirable to a collector like me. I would much rather have the later print of a lower print run as it's harder to find.

Less common !== more desirable

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

10 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I find it hilarious when people automatically think an earlier print is worth more. If one print was sold for a year and then a following (later) print was sold for only 2 months before switching to another (different) print run, then that makes the later print much less common and way more desirable to a collector like me. I would much rather have the later print of a lower print run as it's harder to find.

Except this is Mario so I’m not generalizing. Is an oval seal not the most common, least desirable variant sealed by a mile? Unless this is one of those 13th print runs that was super rare compared to the 12th or 14th so someone is pretending to care about it.

[Code Monkey | 2,005]

1 minute ago, DefaultGen said:

Except this is Mario so I’m not generalizing. Is an oval seal not the most common, least desirable variant sealed by a mile? Unless this is one of those 13th print runs that was super rare compared to the 12th or 14th so someone is pretending to care about it.

That's what I'm saying, I do care about it. There are specific print runs which are super uncommon, especially with these black box games. I know Popeye actually just got a run that was only recently discovered and was previously unknown to exist. Some of these 10 or 11 runs are super uncommon and I would prefer them over a third run which is more common.Whether it was released in 1985 or 1988 is really irrelevant to me, I want to track down the items harder to find.

[OptOut | 8,881]

5 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

That's what I'm saying, I do care about it. There are specific print runs which are super uncommon, especially with these black box games. I know Popeye actually just got a run that was only recently discovered and was previously unknown to exist. Some of these 10 or 11 runs are super uncommon and I would prefer them over a third run which is more common.Whether it was released in 1985 or 1988 is really irrelevant to me, I want to track down the items harder to find.

Yeah, but isn't the point of "investing" to try and sell what you've bought at a later point in time for more money? In which case, is there REALLY going to be a huge clamouring market SPECIFICALLY demanding the 13th or 14th or whatever print run because of some arcane minor variation?

It's cool if you're into that, of course. But what are the chances that there's just as big of a fan of variants as you, with MORE than 85 grand willing to buy that game in a year or two?

I think what I'm saying and what Tyler was saying is that you can understand why FIRST PRINT is important without knowing anything about the game. Once you start getting into the minutiae of why the 12th print is rarer than the 11th or whatever, I just see interest quickly tapering to practically zero.

[fcgamer | 4,719]

The final print fixes all the bugs and whatever, therefore it is the ultimate version, imo. That oval seal looks quite nice too.

First print has first print appeal, as it's the original.

Anything inbetween these two ends is pure garbage, lol.

[GPX | 1,369]

15 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

That's what I'm saying, I do care about it. There are specific print runs which are super uncommon, especially with these black box games. I know Popeye actually just got a run that was only recently discovered and was previously unknown to exist. Some of these 10 or 11 runs are super uncommon and I would prefer them over a third run which is more common.Whether it was released in 1985 or 1988 is really irrelevant to me, I want to track down the items harder to find.

The point isn’t about whether there is some interest in this Mario variant print, but whether the interest is worth $84,000 USD?

 

[Code Monkey | 2,005]

15 hours ago, OptOut said:

Yeah, but isn't the point of "investing" to try and sell what you've bought at a later point in time for more money? In which case, is there REALLY going to be a huge clamouring market SPECIFICALLY demanding the 13th or 14th or whatever print run because of some arcane minor variation?

It's cool if you're into that, of course. But what are the chances that there's just as big of a fan of variants as you, with MORE than 85 grand willing to buy that game in a year or two?

I think what I'm saying and what Tyler was saying is that you can understand why FIRST PRINT is important without knowing anything about the game. Once you start getting into the minutiae of why the 12th print is rarer than the 11th or whatever, I just see interest quickly tapering to practically zero.

I think I discovered the confusion here. You're assuming I'm buying these to invest, I am not. I buy to collect and keep, and when I seek out an uncommon variant I'm going to spend a lot of money on, I want one that's truly uncommon. Resale is not considered at all.

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

6 hours ago, Code Monkey said:

I think I discovered the confusion here. You're assuming I'm buying these to invest, I am not. I buy to collect and keep, and when I seek out an uncommon variant I'm going to spend a lot of money on, I want one that's truly uncommon. Resale is not considered at all.

I think I see your name from time to time in the variant forum, which means you're like me. Rarer=better. But I understand both perspectives

[OptOut | 8,881]

12 hours ago, GPX said:

The point isn’t about whether there is some interest in this Mario variant print, but whether the interest is worth $84,000 USD?

 

Yeah this is the point. It's absolutely awesome for people to be genuinely interested in variants and track down all the information. That stuff IS important to the history of the hobby, and fun to learn and talk about. More power to you @Code Monkey for pursuing your passion.

But, to think that anything other than either 1st print or some major well known variant would attract investor interest, THAT'S where I just can't see it. Is that guy who just bought that Mario for 85 grand ever going to see that money again? If he does, it will be on the back of the general "sealed black box" hype, and he'll have to do it pretty quickly IMO.

Once "investors" start to realise just how many sealed copies of SMB of various different prints are out there, they will undoubtedly retreat back to the earliest possible prints, they're not going to go through EVERY print with the same passion as a true collector would to find the ACTUAL rarest.

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

14 hours ago, fcgamer said:

That oval seal looks quite nice too.

 

 

I can respect all opinions except this one

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I was surprised at the 9.2 CIB "Left Bros" SMB 3 selling for $7800 when a 9.0 just sold two months ago for $1980.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

On 9/12/2020 at 11:42 AM, fcgamer said:

The final print fixes all the bugs and whatever, therefore it is the ultimate version, imo. That oval seal looks quite nice too.

First print has first print appeal, as it's the original.

Anything inbetween these two ends is pure garbage, lol.

I have a first print Castlevania and it drives me nuts because it freezes/crashes all the time (reaper stage a lot with too many objects on the screen) which doesn't happen with a later print cart I ended up eventually buying.

[1upped | 152]

A later print because it’s more uncommon?!?  There are less than 20 round seals sealed....total.....in any variant.....cardboard hangtab or not.....there are literally hundreds of oval seals......they were about $600 less than two years ago.....I’m all about rarity.....but to say oval is even in the same universe as round seal is a joke...

Edited September 18, 2020 by 1upped

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

1 hour ago, 1upped said:

A later print because it’s more uncommon?!?  There are less than 20 round seals sealed....total.....in any variant.....cardboard hangtab or not.....there are literally hundreds of oval seals......they were about $600 less than two years ago.....I’m all about rarity.....but to say oval is even in the same universe as round seal is a joke...

I'm just waiting for a matte sticker SMB to show up on Heritage after that 6.0 sold on Certified Link last year for $22,250. There were only 15 total graded matte sticker CIBs with no sealed copies last time I checked. 

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

Wow, cut hangtab and 9.4! I'm guessing Wata's stance is that it doesn't affect the grade and it just gets noted on the back? On the DefaultGen grading scale you'd top out at like a 6.0 max with a cut hangtab. Part of the box has been physically removed! Imagine trimming the top 1cm from a Star Wars figure card and getting a high grade.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/michael-jackson-s-moonwalker-wata-94-a-sealed-gen-sega-1990-usa/p/7236-72001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

[Brickman | 3,982]

3 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

Wow, cut hangtab and 9.4! I'm guessing Wata's stance is that it doesn't affect the grade and it just gets noted on the back? On the DefaultGen grading scale you'd top out at like a 6.0 max with a cut hangtab. Part of the box has been physically removed! Imagine trimming the top 1cm from a Star Wars figure card and getting a high grade.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/michael-jackson-s-moonwalker-wata-94-a-sealed-gen-sega-1990-usa/p/7236-72001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

Wow. If I was a sealed collector this would make me question their grades. How can you have a damaged box score a 9.4? 

Your comparison to action figure grading is a perfect example. Wouldn’t be acceptable in action figure grading and shouldn’t be in video game grading.

[DefaultGen | 5,400]

It's not the price of these games I constantly rag on that gets me, it's the $919 difference in price between the two that gets me today.
 

[Brickman | 3,982]

40 minutes ago, DefaultGen said:

It's not the price of these games I constantly rag on that gets me, it's the $919 difference in price between the two that gets me today.
 

The speculation continues. Should be seeing graded Switch games any moment.

[DoctorEncore | 3,690]

5 hours ago, DefaultGen said:

It's not the price of these games I constantly rag on that gets me, it's the $919 difference in price between the two that gets me today.
 

 

5 hours ago, Shmup said:

The speculation continues. Should be seeing graded Switch games any moment.

Imagine paying $1000 for a game that sold 17 million copies and was released in an era where it is still infinitely obtainable.

[Brickman | 3,982]

4 hours ago, DoctorEncore said:

 

Imagine paying $1000 for a game that sold 17 million copies and was released in an era where it is still infinitely obtainable.

More money then sense.

I get the feeling a lot of these people are liquidating their comic collection and buying worthless sealed games because gocollect Jeff told them sealed video games are just like comics. He’s probably now buying all the good comics haha.

[Gulag Joe | 582]

On 10/5/2020 at 4:20 PM, DefaultGen said:

Wow, cut hangtab and 9.4! I'm guessing Wata's stance is that it doesn't affect the grade and it just gets noted on the back? On the DefaultGen grading scale you'd top out at like a 6.0 max with a cut hangtab. Part of the box has been physically removed! Imagine trimming the top 1cm from a Star Wars figure card and getting a high grade.

https://comics.ha.com/itm/video-games/michael-jackson-s-moonwalker-wata-94-a-sealed-gen-sega-1990-usa/p/7236-72001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515

With card grading (PSA and BGS) they return the card to you ungraded if they determine it was trimmed or altered in any way. WATA is damaging its credibility with little things like this. I fully agree- the &$^@%#* box has a giant hole cut out of it!

When you're in Europe, or anywhere outside the USA for that matter, and you try to exchange a dollar bill with a small tear or even wrinkle in it, they reject it. Just take WATA graded video games with holes cut out of them, that might make for a more reliable currency exchange!

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

Wow at the 5.0 CIB matte sticker SMB with the top flap missing selling for $16,800. I'm glad that I got one when I did.

[Code Monkey | 2,005]

On 11/17/2020 at 1:32 AM, DefaultGen said:

It's not the price of these games I constantly rag on that gets me, it's the $919 difference in price between the two that gets me today.
 

You're comparing a complete game with half a game. Vice City was sold as 2 games in a book style box and they graded only one of the 2 games. No investor is going to want to pay $1000 for half a game.