Heritage RC Auto or 1st Bowman Chrome Auto?
For Bowman Chrome autos, there are many different choices with parallels being in the double digits. However, when it comes to Heritage, you have two choices for an auto: Blue Ink or Red Ink. Red Ink autos are always #/ whatever year the design it is based off of (other than some exceptions from 2014 and prior, or a few low numbered veterans in more recent sets).
Because both of these autos for each player are the most desired, I decided to dig deeper into the price difference between the Heritage Rookie Blue Ink auto and the Base 1st Bowman auto.
To do this, I selected 20 players with values ranging from $20 to $1,000 in an attempt to make a cohesive multiplier. The 20 players included both ungraded and PSA 10 sales, but staying relative to each other to make sure it does not skew the multiplier.
After synthesizing all the data, it confirmed my belief I have had for a while: they are worth the same. The multiplier ended up being .994 in the end, in favor of the Heritage RC auto being higher in value. With that being said, .994 is virtually 1 to 1.
Now, that does not mean that every Heritage RC auto should be worth the same as a BC 1st auto, or vice versa. There are clear trends for each player. For Victor Robles, his 1st Bowman is worth 1.78 times as much as his Heritage RC Auto. For Shohei Ohtani, his Heritage RC Auto is worth about 1.2 times as much as his 1st BC auto (the 2018 Bowman release).
Some of the higher end players have the ability to pull the multiplier one way or another, but what I will say is this: when you’re buying a Heritage RC auto or a 1st Bowman Chrome auto, do your research to find out which is more valuable for the player at hand.
Moving onto the best choice for an investment, here is a brief snapshot of Mookie Betts’ Heritage 9.5/10 versus Bowman Chrome 9.5/10.
Heritage Blue Ink 9.5/10 (+764.45%)
Bowman Chrome Base 9.5/10 (+865.14%)
The first Heritage gem sale was in May 2015, so I kept the same relevant time period with the 1st BC gem.
The 1st BC auto had a larger percent gain, but the Heritage auto gained more value over the same period of time. While the Heritage auto is a great investment for rookie autos, I still believe the 1st BC auto has a higher probability of increasing over time (matched by this quick snapshot).
The next time you’re going to invest in only 1st BC autos, are you going to consider throwing some money at Heritage rookie autos?
