DiMaggio 133

[Centerfield]

Was watching tonight's Spalding 133 DiMaggio on eBay with some interest until it passed $350. It's a nice glove, but there are limits, especially on common models. When I saw its final price of $1,291, I was shocked. After some rudimentary snooping, seems to me that the glove's winner has an inordinate amount of feedback from the seller. I don't know about you, but I'm not taking that final price seriously at all. I'm not calling it a shill bid, but it damn sure looks like the winner was told to bid at certain "reserve" levels for the seller. If my assumption is true, the seller's buying an awful lot back and paying some large fees to do so (not only in this auction, but his past ones as well).

[tally]

I'm not going to say it was schill bidding because I don't know. However, that is a lot more than a DiMaggio 133 usually goes for. I don't think the buckleback that was up there a while ago even went that high.

Mickey

[stockbuddy]

Was that a 75th anniversary glove of DiMaggio's. In the price guide it might max out at 500.00 for a 1949 glove. It was a nice glove, but I wondered about the 75 in the palm pocket and the price did seem to sky rocket.

Dave

[vintagebrett]

Crazy! That buckle back was a lot rarer than this one and I could see someone paying an absurd amount. But the 133's seem to pop up very often.

If you are after the 75 in the palm, there is a lesser quality model in the latest Mastro auction. It has some very silvery stampings for a well used glove!

[ebbets55]

There's no such thing as a $1,300 Spalding 133 DiMaggio. I have only ever seen one DiMaggio that I would pay $1,000 for. I have four DiMaggios I would sell for together for less than half that selling price. Craziness.

JD

[BretMan]

That selling price is definitely a point beyond the range of the expected data.

The same seller also had a run-of-the-mill Hutch "DiMaggio" (which he advertised as a "Joe DiMaggio" model, even though these are regarded as being endorsed by brother Vince) go for $180- about 3X book value.

Looking through the completed auctions for just the last month, if you were dead-set on getting yourself a Joe Dimaggio glove, here's what you could have picked up for a total of about half what this glove sold for:

(3) Spalding 133's
(1) Reach 233 (that included an authenticated DiMaggio autographed ball)
(3) OK (block letter gloves)

I'll take those seven gloves and the autographed ball and pocket the $600!

[YCLIPPER]

I told Brett about this and he thought I should at least mention this on here. He mentioned in this thread another Dimaggio glove on Mastro auctions with alot of silver in the signature on a very worn out glove. As a glove collector myself I have a few Dimaggio gloves and I have sold a few. A while ago I sold a 193 that looked just like this one with all the same flaws except it had no silver in the Signature. It had the exact same paint spots on the wrist strap and also had the name "VIRGIL" lightly in ink on the wrist strap like this one. Also the part around the palm where the hand goes in the lacing was also very worn out to the point it looked like it could brake at any time. These were the reasons I sold the glove,but it had no silver in the Joe Dimaggio signature. I just thought I would let people know. It could just be a rare coincidence that this one has the exact same flaws. I looked to see if I still had the pic of the one I sold but it is long gone.

[Centerfield]

That's interesting, thanks for bringing this to light. I have read about their card alteration practices and removal of signatures from baseballs to make them appear single signed on other forums.

It's funny, many collectors only buy from the big auction houses. It gives them a (false) sense of security. This shows that the buyer must beware in all transactions! Wish we had a before photo, not to compare the glove because I'm cynical enough to believe YCLIPPER without any proof (the glove is too worn to have that much silver remaining), but a photo to actually go to Mastro with and call them on this would be satisfying.

Joe... if you're feeling frisky, give them a call and quote them in the next newsletter.

YCLIPPER... I'm always looking for nice DiMaggio's if you're selling at some point.

[YCLIPPER]

I actually tried to contact the person I sold it to and see what they did with the glove or if they had a picture but I got no response. I am not selling anything right now but I will keep you in mind.

[vintagebrett]

It would be interesting to see where the resilvering took place. Mastro has done enough business that they would be able to tell a resilvered glove if offered one. If they did choose to resilver it, why not mention it in the write-up.

[vintagebrett]

For the people who haven't seen the glove here it is:

http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?action=DisplayContent&ContentName=Lot%20Information&LotIndex=79417&LastLotListing=Lot%20Search%20List&CurrentRow=1

Funny how the 75th anniversary stamping in the palm has not one speck of silver, but the model # right below has quite a bit. The person who used the glove must have had an interesting way of catching the ball to wear one section out, but not the one right below it.

[Centerfield]

I laughed when I receieved their catalog and read "the item shows heavy use, with creases throughout" BUT "DiMaggio's facsimile signature and the trademark have retained their vibrant silver hue". All I can say is that the original owner (who was likely a child or young teen) beat the hell out of this glove, but caught the ball perfectly in the pocket each and every time to only affect the 75th Anniversary stamping!!! Hey, if Henry Yee's 133 DiMagg went for 1200+, this one will hit 500!!!!