You may have heard that a special “Initial Product Offering” (IPO) took place last week via StockX.com, a Detroit-based company billing itself as the world’s “Stock Market of Things.” The product that was up for sale, between Monday afternoon and Wednesday evening, consisted of exclusive 2019 Bowman Chrome X Baseball cards from The Topps Company.
A total of 35 Bowman Chrome Baseball rookie cards and 65 Bowman Chrome Prospects cards – all of them authenticated, graded and encapsulated by PSA – went up for sale and each was crash-numbered to 31. That equates to 3,100 cards, and all of them received grades of either PSA Mint 9 or PSA Gem Mint 10! Suffice it to say, it was a unique offering of some top-notch cardboard. The 3,100 total cards were broken down into two different items: 1,100 single-card boxes and 400 five-card cases (2,000 cards). Collectors and investors alike had the chance to purchase the PSA-graded cards by placing “blind bids” for the most they were willing to pay for the items.
The player selection was solid and included Fernando Tatis, Jr. (Padres), Pete Alonso (Mets) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Blue Jays) from the rookie card assortment, and hopeful up-and-comers like Royce Lewis (Twins), Tim Tebow (Mets) and Jo Adell (Angels) from the prospects lineup. Here’s the catch: Buyers did not know which player – or players, if they blind bid on the five-card cases – they were bidding on. That element did not seem to faze too many of the participants, however. The final results below speak for themselves.
The first item, the single-card offering, attracted a total of 2,665 blind bids. From those, StockX took the top 1,100 bids since that matched the number of single cards up for sale. The lowest of the top bids was then established as the item’s “clearing price,” which became the final price each of the top 1,100 bidders paid. That means 1,099 bidders bought the item for less than what they bid! The clearing price: $50.
The second item, which was the five-card case, attracted a total of 2,221 blind bids. From those, StockX took the top 400 bids, again matching the number of units up for sale. The lowest of the top bids then became that item’s “clearing price.” The clearing price: $300.
These look awesome!