Beckett rhymes with irrelevant, sort of

I stopped by my favorite card shop a couple weeks ago, Chris' Comics in Seabrook, N.H., and picked up a 2002-03 UD Premier Collection Signatures Gold of Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg, numbered 23/50, for $10.

Once I got home, I checked its value in the Beckett Hockey Card Plus Winter 2004/Spring 2005 price guide. With the multiplier, the card, which would probably rate at Mint, books at the high end for $45. That's a $35 difference. It's also a deal I'd make day after day after day.

To be honest, I've never been a real big fan of Beckett, especially after bumping heads over a piece they agreed to publish, but never did. (Full disclosure - They did send me a check.)

But this discrepancy shows just how they cater first to dealers, and not collectors. Furthermore, it only reinforces how irrelevant Beckett is when it comes to the marketplace, either online or in a store. When the going rate on most items listed on eBay is 25 percent of Beckett's lowest book value, don't you think it's time their numbers truly reflected market conditions?