Heritage Auctions Thread

[Gulag Joe | 582]

5 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I mean, it's rare and there are people who want it. I dunno what to tell you. It's still selling for tens of thousands of dollars on heritage auctions. What's your point again?

That that trash game's hype is no different than the 9.8 A++ hype AND the marketing behind the trash game is no different than the marketing behind people buying 9.8 A++.

[Alder | 243]

17 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

You can scream "rare game" all day long. That Ryan Leaf rookie is a rare card. I'm gonna draw up a comic book and send it to Vista Print to have 50 books made. You can be first in line to pay $10k because it's a rare comic book. Every page will be Stadium Events looking for ways to escape the trash dump. Atwood shows up at the end for the cliffhanger.

You're conflating the extrinsic and intrinsic properties. A shitty sketch by Van Gogh would still be worth millions because of who created it. Stadium Events might not be worth playing, but its rarity as a licensed release is what makes it valuable.

[TDIRunner | 2,740]

If Tim Atwood is responsible for using the internet to manipulate a game worth pennies into 4 figures, than honestly I'm pretty impressed.  He was among the most technologically illiterate people I've ever encountered.  It just makes you wonder what the game would be worth today if he had known what he was doing.  

[Dumars2001 | 164]

Like I have already mentioned yesterday in this thread, watching that Karl Jobst video was a real eye opener for me and there is more likely some shenanigans/artificial things happening in the videogame hobby (it is a high probability, but no one can be 100% sure, especially because the video only showed one side of the coin, maybe he tried reaching out to WATA/Heritage/ETC for their take but they didn't want to talk), but I also have collected sports cards and action figures and everything in both of those hobbies have also went up in price, especially sports cards, which have absolutely skyrocketed (even more than videogames) since covid started, (I am a also a member of some sportscard forums and they also talk about the market is being manipulated, PWCC shill bids, Goldin Auctions is a shady auction house, Gary Vee pumped and dumped the hobby, etc.) so we are not the only hobby that has seen this sudden explosion in prices. I know that video games are a much newer main stream hobby, but record sales seem to be happening in every hobby at the moment.

I guess, we all will have to sit back and see how things shake out going forward. I do sincerely feel that prices would have gone up substantially on their own without this whole WATA/Heritage Auction situation (because comic book collectors were already starting to come in the hobby around 2017 pushing up prices, even before WATA came onto the scene) going on currently but I am also pretty convinced prices wouldn't be where (again, no one knows 100% what is really going on, call me naive, if you want to) they are now without some manipulating happening behind the scenes and if sales were more transparent. Just my humble opinion.

[OptOut | 8,884]

8 minutes ago, Gulag Joe said:

That that trash game's hype is no different than the 9.8 A++ hype AND the marketing behind the trash game is no different than the marketing behind people buying 9.8 A++.

But it IS different, because Stadium Events growth is basically in line with two decades of trends. The games that have jumped overnight have a MUCH greater chance of dropping WAY back down.

Of course they will never drop back to pre-WATA levels, but I'd bet on a 40,000 dollar SE holding its value in 5 years time compared to a 1.5 million dollar Mario fuggin 64! 

[OptOut | 8,884]

5 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

If Tim Atwood is responsible for using the internet to manipulate a game worth pennies into 4 figures, than honestly I'm pretty impressed.  He was among the most technologically illiterate people I've ever encountered.  It just makes you wonder what the game would be worth today if he had known what he was doing.  

Should we tell @Gulag Joe that Attwood was famous for NOT selling his games? Only selling in small numbers for undisclosed prices to unnamed parties?

I.E. The EXACT FREAKING OPPOSITE of all the current WATA/HA hype!

...

No, let's keep that our little secret, it's funnier watching him continue to make an absolute ASS of himself! 

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

I honestly don't know the full story with Tim Atwood and SE bulk buying.  But I can totally see someone deciding to make it a collector's goal to get all of the official NES released games.  The fact that it isn't easy but do able is probably what really drove the demand for the game.  It's that simple: easily definable goal, doable but not easy, something that you can brag about to other collectors.  I don't see anything special about how the demand for SE went up since collectors wanted to be able to brag about having the full NA NES release.  Same shit will happen to other consoles that have soft spot for people and is a realistic goal that can be obtained.  Haven't we seen this start happening with other consoles.  Games that are not great to play but are a rarer release and hard to find yet are part of the official release so it drives a demand for a game that never existed before people wanted to brag about being a "full set" owner.  I'm looking at you N64 with your low release count and fan base built off of loving childhood memories of playing a few games on it.

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

1 hour ago, OptOut said:

First of all, I don't know why you've picked me out of the crowd on this SE thing, I am not a fullset collector, and I don't even own a single US NES game.

Secondly, Tim Atwood is not the progenitor of Stadium Events as a collectable! This is so ludicrously wrong you MUST be trolling! 

 

I love how all your knowledge of video games seemingly comes from puff pieces and marketing hype, lol! You are EXACTLY the kind of rube Jim Halpern and all of the HA and WATA boys are looking for. Good luck to ya.

I just spit my coffee out. “Rube” JIMMY AND THE WATA BOYS! Opt you are a treasure. Please don’t ever change. And don’t fall for the trolling bait lol. 
 

please god make us a jimmy and the wata boys meme. 

Edited August 25, 2021 by WalterWhiteJr.

[guitarzombie | 924]

As much as I don't care for Stadium Events (as you all know I just think of it as a rare variant haha) the arguments that its been hyped up is completely ridiculous.  

Even though I know its impossible to argue with someone not willing to change their mind, no matter how wrong or ILL INFORMED they are, let me explain something to @Gulag Joe

Stadium Events does suck.  But the ONLY reason why its expensive, is because when people usually collect Nintendo games, they want EVERY ONE.  677.  Everyone gets to 676, but theres always one missing.  STADIUM EVENTS.  Why?  CUZ ITS RARE.  You can count on one hand when someone went to a garage sale and found it.  So its expensive because everyone who has 676/677 out bids each other to get it.  Who wants it the most?  This drives up the value.  Now maybe more come out here and there.  But the price has been driven up by the wealthy (or those who can afford it) and now its become more of a status symbol.  Tim Atwood did not drive the price up.  If you actually knew anything, you'd know that it wasn't until like 5 years ago people didn't even know he was real, until someone posted a picture of his boxes of sealed ones.  He also apparently has GIVEN THEM AWAY and had people sign NDAs.  I could be wrong about that.  But for him to show that he had 18 sealed ones (at one time) would actually LOWER the price of it because there are now more to know that existed.  Plus you didn't see all the OTHER stuff he had sealed that no one talks about.  Zombie Nation, Kid Klowns, Sword Master etc.  Stuff you probably aren't even aware of because if its not something created by Nintendo you wouldn't know anything about it.

[AdamW | 713]

5 hours ago, zoiks66 said:

The easiest and cleanest way for it to be proved that the explosion of values of sealed video games isn’t 100% caused by the market manipulation of grading companies, auction houses, and/or fractional share companies would be for buyers of the 6 figure games to reveal themselves and not be affiliated with a grading company, auction house, and/or fractional share company.  That would prove that there is actual demand at these prices.  I honestly have never believed anyone without a corporate agenda has bought any of these high priced sealed games.

The people on both ends of some six figure Pokemon game deals are known, because they talked about the deals on Facebook and Instagram. AFAIK none of them are associated with any of those entities.

[FireHazard51 | 2,043]

11 minutes ago, WalterWhiteJr. said:

I just spit my coffee out. “Rube” JIMMY AND THE WATA BOYS! Opt you are a treasure. Please don’t ever change. And don’t fall for the trolling bait lol. 
 

please god make us a jimmy and the wata boys meme. 

@OptOut that is some odd word choice.... I feel like most of these results are from a wrong search of "rub" or "tube" since "you rube" was high related search term too.

[WalterWhiteJr. | 1,162]

1 minute ago, FireHazard51 said:

@OptOut that is some odd word choice.... I feel like most of these results are from a wrong search of "rub" or "tube" since "you rube" was high related search term too.

It is definitely an obscure word. You don’t hear it often. It’s perfect. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

1 minute ago, WalterWhiteJr. said:

It is definitely an obscure word. You don’t hear it often. It’s perfect. 

You hear it a lot in wrestling haha.  It also works well for politics.  

[AdamW | 713]

2 hours ago, 3rdStrongestMole said:

I'm confused.  Are you saying that Stadium Events is actually not rare?

Also...

Of course,  everyone's favorite baseball player Honus Wagner! No wonder the card sold for 3 million... 

And Jawas are my all time favorite Star Wars characters. Why wouldn't I pay tens of thousands for a vinyl cape edition!?

Yeah... solid. SOLID arguements here.  

We covered the Wagner thing earlier. It actually is kind of a Stadium Events; it's valuable because it's rare, but if it was a Babe Ruth or someone that was that rare, it'd be worth waaaay more. Someone above did the math on value scaled to known high grade population between LeBron James and Wagner, and James wins.

Edited August 25, 2021 by AdamW

[OptOut | 8,884]

Thank you, thank you, I'm here all night folks! 

[AdamW | 713]

37 minutes ago, OptOut said:

But it IS different, because Stadium Events growth is basically in line with two decades of trends. The games that have jumped overnight have a MUCH greater chance of dropping WAY back down.

Of course they will never drop back to pre-WATA levels, but I'd bet on a 40,000 dollar SE holding its value in 5 years time compared to a 1.5 million dollar Mario fuggin 64! 

The funny thing is, the people buying Mario games would likely agree with you...but they'd add that there is an almost zero chance of the SE's value rising significantly, but a fair chance of the SM64's value doing so.

That's the difference between a mature market (rare NES games viewed as part of the NES full set) and a very immature market (video games of major cultural significance viewed in that context). Some people view the latter as an investment opportunity. Sometimes they win big, sometimes they get burned. Or, more realistically, every time it happens, some people win big and some people get burned. Our own favorite hamster? Won big. The evil market manipulators who bought one of, what is it, two? Three? sticker sealed SMBs still known to exist for a measly 100k or so? They will almost certainly win big. The person who bought the SM64 for 1.5m? Could go either way. The idiot who bought Pokepark for $22k? Yeah, they're probably gonna eat that one, if they actually pay up.

[arch_8ngel | 1,597]

11 hours ago, BriGuy82 said:

@arch_8ngeldid you happen to see this? 

I haven't.  

What is the summary that led to the @ mention?

 

EDIT:  I've "seen this" in the context of being aware that this discussion is going on.  I'm just not big, at all, on watching web videos, so I haven't watched this one, either.

Edited August 25, 2021 by arch_8ngel

[TDIRunner | 2,740]

There is so much going on the video that I think a few things aren't getting as much attention.  I just wanted to mention how cringy it was that a person who openly admits to recently not knowing that vintage video games existed, could be considered "one of the world's most avid video game collectors."

[OptOut | 8,884]

Oh yeah, the Pokepark, lol, that one was awesome! 

Smart money on the table, let's spin the WHEEL!!! 

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

12 minutes ago, AdamW said:

We covered the Wagner thing earlier. It actually is kind of a Stadium Events; it's valuable because it's rare, but if it was a Babe Ruth or someone that was that rare, it'd be worth waaaay more. Someone above did the math on value scaled to known population in a 10 between LeBron James and Wagner, and James wins.

Oh yeah, this makes sense. I don't doubt that.  I was trying to combat the point that SE was artificially inflated somehow. You see things like this in every collectable market. But,  to this point,  Super Mario 64 is supposedly worth 1.5 milli and its not rare. And if it's a condition thing, the Wagner scored a 3 and still hit that number.  A mint Mantel rookie sold for I think a million less? My point is, the rare shit ass card sold for more than the uber popular mint rookie card... 

The logic here does not explain the SM64 sale. Possibly the Zelda and or SMB sale, but this Mario 64 thing is anomalous bull shit. 

[OptOut | 8,884]

1 minute ago, TDIRunner said:

There is so much going on the video that I think a few things aren't getting as much attention.  I just wanted to mention how cringy it was that a person who openly admits to recently not knowing that vintage video games existed, could be considered "one of the world's most avid video game collectors."

I'm gonna do it...

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I'm gonna!

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It's coming, you know what's up!

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Making you wait a little. You know you want it!

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Here he is! You've all been waiting for him, here he comes again!

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World's biggest video game collector, my BEST friend!

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And his dog:

[3rdStrongestMole | 430]

Anyways, if any of these "intelligent" investors out there had any sense, once you see a 9.8 Mario 64 come up for auction and you are down with dropping a mill on it, why not hit up Facebook marketplace and be like "100k bounty for any mint condition sealed SM64s!"... because you'd sure as fuck be able to bring some out of the woodwork with that instead of bidding something up to ungodly prices...

[captmorgandrinker | 1,649]

16 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

I haven't.  

What is the summary that led to the @ mention?

 

EDIT:  I've "seen this" in the context of being aware that this discussion is going on.  I'm just not big, at all, on watching web videos, so I haven't watched this one, either.

Trust me and save yourself the 53 minutes.   Nothing you couldn't put together from a summary of reading through the thread.

[BriGuy82 | 768]

12 minutes ago, arch_8ngel said:

I haven't.  

What is the summary that led to the @ mention?

 

EDIT:  I've "seen this" in the context of being aware that this discussion is going on.  I'm just not big, at all, on watching web videos, so I haven't watched this one, either.

It's really nothing new, basically the same old story with the suspected collusion between wata/heritage/go collect etc... It looks like there are several articles popping up about the topic as well if you type in wata and fraud. Seems to be picking up a tiny bit of steem.

[CIB_Wholesale | 418]

29 minutes ago, TDIRunner said:

There is so much going on the video that I think a few things aren't getting as much attention.  I just wanted to mention how cringy it was that a person who openly admits to recently not knowing that vintage video games existed, could be considered "one of the world's most avid video game collectors."

that title is probably more deserving on Rarebucky. I wonder how much of all the new games being 'sold' passed thru him.

he gave sealed collectors super rare games at good prices and wont get any credit or any grading badges

 

never thought i'd ever say that (about prices) lol. most games were passed on by resellers but rb made sure the game was packed well and so there is a great service to condition on rbs part saving from being damaged

Edited August 25, 2021 by SealedWholesale