A Perfect 10: Gem Mint SGC E98 Black Swamp Find Ty Cobb Surfaces on eBay

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Pre-War Cards

$249,000 is the current asking price for a perfect-graded Ty Cobb caramel card

Finding perfect caramel cards from the pre-war era is often a nearly impossible pursuit. One set where a few have been found, though, is the E98 Anonymous set. And that’s because of the famous 2012 Black Swamp Find, a large discovery of them in Ohio that were virtually untouched.

Many 8s and 9s were found in that landmark discovery, as well as some perfect 10s. But as I wrote before, flooding the market with that many high-grade cards has essentially hurt their value. They can still be quite expensive but are not as pricey as they high-grade cards from that set would be if the find never took place.

The Black Swamp Find is back on the radar of collectors as a perfect 10 Ty Cobb is on the market via eBay. The card is a gem mint SGC 10 and, from what I can tell, could be the only Cobb out there with a perfect grade. It’s tough to say conclusively because SGC’s pop reports are getting an overhaul. But they have only one Cobb that received a grade of 98 under their old system and this one is a a 10 in the new holder. It could be that same card simply reholdered or it could even be a card that was formerly graded a 9 by PSA.

Regardless of whether or not it’s the only one, it’s quite the card. The asking price is $249,000 and the eBay seller is Cardology, which is operated by former NFL player Evan Mathis. Mathis is a well-known collector who is famous for once owning the Mickey Mantle PSA 9 that sold last year for nearly $3 million.

It will be interesting to see if the card moves at that price. A PSA 10 Honus Wagner first sold for $239,000 back when the find first happened. But it was offered again in 2017 and sold for just under $100,000 that time. Prices obviously cooled on the cards since the initial discovery. Another thing is that the card is graded by SGC and, while certainly reputable, their stuff does not always sell as high as PSA graded cards.

The flip side is that this is Ty Cobb and his stuff is the hottest it’s ever been right now and this comes almost a year and a half after the Wagner sale. Plus, while Wagner is undoubtedly a superstar, Cobb is a bigger name and up there on Ruth’s level for a lot of collectors. And if it turns out that this is the only 10, that would be an even bigger selling point.