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On Hendley
The inexplicable bidding portends nothing about how many negatives Topps will sell. They view these as space-wasters. If they sell at the $10 minimum bid you don't need to sell that many of them to justify the three-person operation that is "Topps Vault." Certainly you justify the man-hours-to-income ratio when you consider those three people handle everything Topps sells on eBay.
As to why the Hendleys went for that price I can only offer an experience I had about a decade ago when I spotted among the Topps Vault eBay postings, an unissued proof of the late relief pitcher and coach Jim Brewer. It had a photo different from the regular card (Brewer was pulling a Tom Seaver and posing with his glove on the wrong hand). The bidding got pretty spirited and neared four figures - so I figured another collector had recognized the new "find." And then Topps put up a second version of the same card in better shape so I bid on that and the same thing happened. After I won that auction I got an agonized eBay message from the underbidder reading "Why? Why? I'm just trying to get a new picture of my father!"
The other bidder was Jim Brewer's son. His motives for overpaying for this card were entirely different from mine (so, happily, since I still had access to the archives at this point I went in and borrowed all of the Brewer images, about 30, and printed them up for him).
Anyway, the point is that the incredible prices probably have nothing to do with our interests in a Bob Hendley negative. Might just be a real Braves collector versus a Hendley relative. Or, who knows what combination.
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