I've been working on a couple of UFC fighter collections recently and thought I'd chase down some more parallels for my Neil Magny and Randa Markos collections. Outside of the really big names it seemed like UFC card sales were pretty flat. The Ruby # / 8 parallels for both fighters popped up at about the same time on eBay and I put bids in on both of them, thinking I could probably land them without breaking the bank. Well, apparently the UFC market isn't as flat as I thought. The Neil Magny Ruby went for $26.88, which was probably 2-3x my personal maximum value on the card. The Randa Markos card blew that out of the water, selling for $47.50 to someone who wanted it a lot more than I did.
I went back to play in the shallow end of the pool, grabbing this Randa Markos Blue parallel, numbered # 54 / 88, for a couple of dollars. There are times when I will chase a card to a higher price than I am willing to pay, but I've found lately that I have an easier time letting even the rare cards go if the asking price feels too high. UFC is still kind of a side collection for me, so I'm not willing to chase too hard for fighter cards.
On a completely unrelated note, our pet tarantula can make quite a racket when it's hunting. We got it near the end of December because one of our twin sons was obsessed with spiders at the time and I was hoping to feed his interest in science and nature. He doesn't care too much about it, but his two brothers talk about the spider from time to time. It's kind of cool sharing a room with a spider that is so large that it makes audible sounds. I am not creeped out by that sort of thing. I had Emperor Scorpions in the past and currently own a couple of Kenyan Sand Boas. It's pretty cool to watch the spider hunt. It will knock the crickets down with its legs and then pounce with its fangs. In MMA terms I guess you could say it wears the opponent out with body shots, then goes to grappling to finish them off.
That is a bummer you missed out on some limited number cards. It seems like UFC cards are really touchy with prices, and not just the big names either. One day cards jump up and a week or two later they are down which is odd considering many fighters only fight once or twice a year.
ReplyDeleteI'm not too bummed about it. Someone out there really wanted them. Over the last couple years I've been able to accept that with limited print runs there are going to be some holes in my player collections.
DeleteThat's kinda cool to hear that there are some UFC cards out there that actually demand some big $$$. I've been slowly building a collection... but mainly low $$$ relics and a handful of autographs.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your tarantula would freak me out. Love spiders... but not quite sure about big spiders that make loud noises ;)
I don't know enough about the market to say definitively what sells well and what doesn't, but it seems like the # / 8 and # 1 / 1 stuff does pretty well. I think adding the women's divisions really pumped a lot of interest/money into the cards. In the breaks it seems like most people have a few favorite male fighters but are pretty happy to pull any hits featuring female fighters.
DeleteThe tarantula is no more. It died during a molt. We think it might have been a mature male. They usually die a few months after becoming full-grown, whereas female tarantulas can live for much longer. I wrote this post a while ago, so that part of the post was a little outdated.
Oh man. Sorry for the loss. I've always been close with my family pets. I even got a little teary eyed when my ex-girlfriend's guinea pig passed away.
DeleteYeah, apparently molting is a dangerous time for tarantulas. I feel bad that it died, but I think we did everything you're supposed to do.
DeleteMy wife's dog is getting old and it seems like she's getting close to where we'll have to make a determination about her quality of life. That's going to be a really tough day for us. She got her dog while I was deployed overseas during our first year of marriage, so she's just always been there with us through 11 crazy years.
I totally understand what you mean. I personally put dogs in a league of their own. Losing a family dog for me would be like losing a sister or brother. My ex has a Bernese Mountain Dog... and I miss the dog more than her.
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