Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

Was surprised how much this glove went for in the Mastro auction last night:
http://www.mastronet.com/index.cfm?acti ... rrentRow=1

Add on the ridiculous buyer's premimum and shipping this person spent a lot of money. Hope they like it!

The price they paid is nearing the absurd for a glove like that, at least to me it is. You could pick up a handfull of very rare gloves for that price. Its truely amazing what some people will spend on an item if it catches their eye.

I would not have personally paid that much for the glove, but I think there is plenty to consider here…

1. The remarkable premium placed on quality, for all gloves. Although I suspect a similar premium wouldn’t be place on an early-60s import with a box in mint condition.

2. I suspect when you see an item like this being sold – low to mid grade quality but absolute mint with a box, the buyer may not be a glove collector, but more of a toy collector or an Americana collector. I think this sports auction ran with another Mastro auction that featured many non-sports articles.

3. Perhaps eBay has become the common man’s auction house, and other’s, like Hunt and Mastro, may carry a bit more prestige and as a result a price premium.

I can't say I'm totally surprised by the price paid. Burker brings up some good observations, maybe a crossover appeal here, Americana, toy collector or maybe a Sears Roebuck collector might have had their interest whetted.
And, this appears to be a very early glove. Can't tell if full web or not, but one-inch maybe. So could be 1900 to 1910 or so. That's early for a box and glove in somewhat untouched condition. Box has a few stains and silver stamping might be a bit faded but these early total box and glove combos don't come around that often.
I was a little fearful after looking at the picture and seeing the glove resting on a stand on what has to be, I would think, a fairly fragile box.
Glove might be lightweight.
It seems as if prices on the really nice conditioned gloves is on the rise to me, also in the Hall of Famer areas, big name HOFers.

I think the bottom line here is that money was not a factor for the buyer, like it is for most of us who buy/trade/sell gloves through ebay etc. If you are a millionaire then $2700 is petty cash. I agree with the above that the buyer was most likely not a pure glover.