I'm going to explain EMERALDS to you

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DredJAw

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Ok I wrote this to one of our other members in a PM, I feel most of you should read it when pricing/buying/selling Emeralds.

I spoke with a guy who's been in this business for YEARS and here's what we came up with...

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There's a reason why the so called "no-namers" go for like $65+. It's because these "no-namers" have so few "big cards" that die hard player collectors (fans of the guy, team collectors, etc) have so few high end cards and cards in general to chase.

Lets look at Ryan Flinn for example. His emerald was the most asked about one the store had. It's because Flinn has NO big cards. Zero. No patch cards, no low low numbered cards... his emerald is his creme of the crop. People that collect Flinn know off the top of their head all the cards they have and they're missing. A player like, for example, Sakic has SOOO many big cards an emerald is just another parallel for most of the collectors.

I see it first hand (I work at a card store). I think we're seeing it on ebay now too. The more obscure the player the more the emerald is desired. Knutsen at $66, Williams at $102, H. Sedin at $69 etc etc. None of these guys have anything remotely as big or desireable as your typical star. Hence, for players collectors 90% of them the emerald is there white whale.

Sakic at $20, Brodeur at $30? Does it make sense? yes!

For me, a Lecav collector, the guys got 100 other cards just as big if not bigger. Emeralds just gravy. In fact, I'd take an auto, a jersey auto, patch card any day over an emerald. However, collectors of these "no-namers" have no such luxury to pick and chose.

Pulling an emerald of a no-namer goes much further then pulling a star.
Get what I mean?

Hope this helps
 
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The emeralds are actually going so high because of the reason you listed in addition to the fact that there are a few people trying to complete BAP Emerald sets. BAP Emeralds of the players I collect sell for more than most parallels /10 because of this.
 
There's a lot of truth in that post - but at the same time, I've purchased emeralds of "no namers" for my collections for under 5 dollars. When you look at the huge ranges that each individual emerald can go for... (Example being, CJ said he got a Williams for $10 a short while ago, and then we all know the one that broke $100 last night)... it's really just hard to predict.

Of course not since Mik-Jim (groan) has anyone influenced the prices of a certain type of card as much as Chrystalee :D
 
Not entirely true on other counts.

For example, since you pointed out Sakic - he's at a stage in his career where he's attracting the speculators and profiteers. There's a lot of guys who collect him, and the competition for his high-end stuff gets stiffer as days go by. I've rarely scoffed an emerald for less than $80, and once paid as high as $180. I still don't have the 99-00 BAP Millenium Emerald.
 
Emeralds are just impossible to predict the prices for. The most I've paid for one in my set is $60 (Lecavalier) and as little as $4.99 (a couple of them). I think the reason that they are selling so well right now is that people have more time to focus on such rare stuff like that and not having to worry about the influx of new products on the market. I'm no exception. With very few new Vinny's on the market right now, I have more time and money to put towards that set that I would normally have. Due to trading and buying, I've probably added about 15-20 new emeralds to my set in the past month and a half alone. That's about 20% of what I have now, and I started the set when it came out. It's all about luck of the draw, I guess.
 
While it is true that the minor players have very few cards that are as rare as the emeralds.... I really think that it is set collectors that truly drive the prices up.

Perfect case in point was the early prices on the jiri Fischer 01/02 BAP Signature Auto card. The members of HI & Beckett (I think there were 3 different people at least trying to complete the set) all bid the prices up to the $100+ lecel when they appeared at auction. In this case there were plenty of other Fischer Autos and enough other rare cards to satisfy the Player collectors.

Same with the SPX Spectrum's when SPX was released in 03/04, the player collectors helped.. but there were at least 2 different set collectors that drove the prices, even for common players, to obscene heights!!!

And since we are on the subject of Emeralds - and my auction last night helped fuel it - The set collectors are sure to be having a very tough time finding that particular Williams Emerald (evil grin)!!! Hmmm CJ - what is your Williams #'ed ????
I had 4 of them at one time and have sold/traded 2 of them. Mine were: 2/10,3/10,8/10 and I believe 9/10 (but that was 2 years ago ). That would make it pretty difficult for the set collectors to find that particular card. Same was true of the Maxim Kuznetsov (originally Red Wings ) Emeralds - at one time I had 4 of them also. One of them also was the proud item in a nice ebay scuffle and went for $50++..... and that is even more obscene than the Williams!!

Just My Humble Opinion.

Bruce
 
Myself, I traded 50$ in BV for my Odjick Emerald. And, that's one card that I'll keep for long.

For many player collectors, when they get an Emerald of their favorite player, you can forget to see that card again on the market for many years.

When we see one of those, we keep in mind that this is maybe the last time we see one of these ten , and are really going for it. And, the set builders have to face these hardcore player collectors for nearly every card of their set.

I know I don't add anything to the discussion, but I had to tell you that it is a good idea to say the real things about these Emerald, and to try to understand the thing.
 
As far as the 4 Steve Kariya Emerald's (2 in 99-00 and 2 in 00-01), I've paid between $35-$120. To me, I had no ceiling or limit on how much I would have paid for them.

Another reason...and Emerald of a particular player is hard to find. BAP has huge sets and Emeralds are seeding less than 1 per case.
 
hmmm so maybe ebaying my freshly pulled Ronald Petrovicky 9/10 might be a good idea
 
Kind of funny, I sold both a Shanny 02/03 BAP Emerald and a 01/02 Ciernek Emerald for the same price each. Of course, the Ciernek buyer claimed he was a family friend.
 
Hmmmm,

Interesting topic,

As we speak I have a Radim Vrbata 01/02 BAP Memorabilia Emerald /10 on Ebay,

It couldn't have been more than a day, and I receieve two e-mails from collectors asking if I would end the auction early,

I reply, due to the fact that someone (chrystalee) has already placed a bid on the card, I can no longer cancel the auction. Now should I have ended that auction early, and p***ed off the bidder and the watchers, or should I have sold it privately.

Knowing my luck, I'm goin to end up gettin like $12 for the card.

Thanks
Eli
 
I'm one of those obscure player collectors, and I totally agree with the idea that we pay so much because we have so few really nice cards to chase. I paid over $100 combined for my Sebastien Charpentier 2002 and 2004 BAP Memorabilia Emeralds, yet I'm not at all worried that I'll ever pick up the ones on my John Madden checklist since he's got so many other nice cards.

Sebastien Charpentier has only 56 cards, most of which are base and fairly easy parallels. The RC's are for the most part pretty cheap. I paid bigger money for the 2002 UD Top Shelf RC /100, the 2003 BTP Gold /10, and my two emeralds. Besides my two three-color swatch 2005 Net Prospects silver and gold (also a bit more expensive), those are really the only ones in the entire player collection that are higher end cards. It's easier to pay more for them when you have so fewer to collect overall. If you're chasing a player who will likely not have many (if any) future issues, once again, you're more likely to use the "no ceiling" payment plan if you have limited funds like me. (Vik, that was not a commentary on Kariya, just borrowing your term).

Having said that, it's definitely annoying to pay more for commons than the stars go for. Such is collecting, I guess.

Renee :)
 
Last edited:
sparkly7575 said:
I'm one of those obscure player collectors, and I totally agree with the idea that we pay so much because we have so few really nice cards to chase. I paid over $100 combined for my Sebastien Charpentier 2002 and 2004 BAP Memorabilia Emeralds, yet I'm not at all worried that I'll ever pick up the ones on my John Madden checklist since he's got so many other nice cards.
Click to expand...

Renee,

You just proved my point.
 

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