Bobbleheads and Certificates of Authenticity

I get asked all the time if a bobblehead is worth more with its Certificate of Authenticity (COA). Easy answer is yes, the COA definitely adds value.  Some people will only buy bobbleheads with a COA, while others could care less.  And most bobbleheads now do not come with a COA.  However, in the early years of Twins and Timberwolves bobbleheads, all game giveaway bobbles came with a COA. Unfortunately many of the people who received the giveaways tossed the COA.  Because of that, there are a lot less COA's than there are bobbleheads, that's pretty much a fact.

If you are a collector who needs COAs to complete your collection, my buddy Bill can hook you up. Check out his site at Minnesota Fan Store.  If he doesn't have a COA you need, email and ask for it, he'll probably be able to find one for you!

Twinsfest = Success

My buddy Killer and I went to Twinsfest on Friday afternoon.  This was the first time the event was held at Target Field.  I'd say for the most part the Twins did a great job, obviously it was a lot different when they held it at the Metrodome.  We had a lot of fun tho and pretty much had a semi all-access pass for Target Field.  It was quite a scene to be in the Legends Club and Suite level while overlooking a field covered in snow!  We also checked out the Champions Club.  Pictures below.

A white, snowy Target Field

Champions Club

Champions Club Bar

Now - onto some more fun stuff we found at Twinsfest!  The first thing I wanted to do was check out the Twins Yard Sale.  This was something new and is exactly what you think of when you hear "yard sale."  Knowing they'd have bobbleheads there (from a little recon I did before Twinsfest) we went straight to its location (which was in Legends club between home and 1st base).  We were probably 200 or so back once they opened the gates, so we weren't the first at the yard sale.  Most of the bobbleheads were in boxes with a label on the top.  I saw a few that intrigued me, quickly opening one and much to my surprise it was one I was hoping for.  I grabbed 5 more and kept looking.  There weren't any others that I needed, but certainly some good deals.  They had multiple 91 World Series sets as well as the Managers set.  I told Killer that I wanted to check back later to see if they put out anything new.  So we went back a couple hours later and I asked one of the Twins employees if they'd be putting anymore bobbleheads on the floor.  She was super nice and helpful and said all they had left were 2 of the 91 World Series sets that were on the way up but other than that, what they had was displayed.

Lastly we went to the sports collectors area.  This is the one area I think the Twins could have done better with.  I'm not sure where it could have been held, but where it was....basically in the hallways of the service level (otherwise known as the bowels of Target Field) was poor.  The lighting was bad and the hoards of people created a traffic jam as there wasn't much room to move.  I saw a few dealers with bobbleheads that intrigued me for a variety of reasons but felt like I had spent enough on the 6 I already purchased.

Speaking of - I didn't say who they were, for a specific reason.  I'm still somewhat in shock that I found the 6 I did.  They are 6 of the 10 giveaways from the 1965 Heroes set!!  See the picture below!

I could have been a touch luckier but I certainly wasn't the earliest bird to the yard sale and because of that I missed out on the Harmon Killebrew bobblehead from this set.  You ask how I know that...well I didn't until we walked through the collectors area. One of the dealers I was chatting with had a box similar to the ones I purchased with "Killebrew" on it.  He mentioned he got it at the Yard Sale and immediately I said, "dammit!"  So, its all about luck and timing.  I had a lot of luck but not quite enough to get the Killebrew one.  However, I'm still super fortunate for landing these...6 that I figured would take years to find.  Now I'm only missing 2 - Killebrew and Quilici. Eventually, maybe my timing will be right and I'll find those too!

2013 Best Garage Sale Finds #1

The final blog post in this 5 part series of my best garage sale finds in 2013 is a simply a humdinger!  Ok, and I got extremely lucky, you'll see why once you see the picture of the bobbleheads.  Much like my second best find, I was lucky because I saw the posting the night before.  Many times for garage sales, no contact information is left, only a street address.  Why you ask?  Because the seller wants people to come to their sale, even if you don't find what you came for, there is probably plenty of other junk you might have an interest in!  This poster had left their email address, I took advantage of that and asked a couple questions. The next morning, I checked my phone and had a response.

The sale wasn't super far away but not exactly on my way to work either.  As I wrote in one of my first blog posts, I'm completely unsure of garage sale etiquette.  Plenty of listings specify a time the sale starts and ends.  Some listings go as far as to say "No early birds" or something along those lines in a harsher tone!   This particular sale started at 9 in the morning.  Typically I'm well into my day at work by 9 in the morning.  I figured I'd drive over to the sale and do a quick drive-by.  If other people were there, I'd stop.  I drove by...and unfortunately it was on a cul-de-sac...so I couldn't get a good glimpse of what was happening.  I figured, why not stop and at least try to talk to the seller.  The lady was still setting up but invited me to look around.  I mentioned I emailed the night before about the bobbleheads.  She pointed me in the right direction and I was ready to buy a few bobbleheads!  I knew she only had Twins bobbleheads, but what I didn't know is she had 2 of the more rare and valuable Twins bobbleheads.  Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew. I always try to negotiate prices, unless I feel like the price is just so fair (or low sometimes) then I won't.  I got those skills from my dad!  The prices were marked on each bobblehead.  $5 for Carew and...yep, you guessed it, $5 for Killebrew.  I snatched those 2 up quickly, browsed a bit more, got 2 more, paid and left. The Killebrew one goes for over $100 on eBay and the Carew goes for anywhere between $35 and $50 typically.  Oh and each of these had the COA too!  

Seriously, I was super lucky with this garage sale, luck certainly has a part in becoming my best overall garage sale find in 2013!

The debate over COAs

A Certificate of Authenticity, commonly known has a COA is extremely important in the world of collecting. Bobbleheads are no different.  The Twins included COA's with all of their giveaway bobbleheads thru 2009. I'm not sure why they stopped, but I don't believe any bobblehead since has had a COA.  The Timberwolves also produced COAs with their early bobbleheads.  Below are a couple different COAs. The first is for Kirby Puckett's first Twins giveaway and the second is Kevin Garnett's first Timberwolves giveaway.  Typically COAs will include a picture of the bobblehead along with the date it was given out.  On the back there is usally a number which indicates the production number.  There is a total production run, but I've read multiple times that number is skewed because the teams typically make plenty more in case they run into any issues when giving them out.  Sometimes they offer season ticket holders, sponsors, and employees the chance of buying these bobbleheads too.  One can never be entirely positive of the true production run of any bobblehead.  

The major question I've ran into concerning COAs, what is their value?  I've heard a variety of opinions on the subject.  Some people say they are just as important as the bobblehead while others say the COA doesn't decrease the bobbleheads value much at all, if anything.  I tend to lean towards the latter.  For example, I certainly would pay $20 for a Puckett bobblehead, but I would never even think about paying $20 for a Puckett COA.  The bobblehead is ultimately the bigger prize.  There are some COAs from the early bobblehead giveaways that are pretty rare and hard to find, those are worth a bit more than their counterparts of the mid to late 90s.  I have plenty of COA's but also have plenty of bobbleheads without the COA.  I've never made it a point to collect the COA and probably never will.  

But, to each their own!