Something is Wrong With the World When This Happens

[RichardSimon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Bowman-Chrome-IKE-DAVIS-Red-Refractor-AUTO-1-5-/350345708656?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Baseball&hash=item51923b4470

Now I am a Mets fan, and Davis looks promising, but,,,, this,,,, ???
Do these people have their heads screwed on straight???

[Peter_Spaeth]

Definitely not worth more than $900.

[Peter_Spaeth]

in REA it would have sold for double that. :D

[Rob D.]

"Wrong with the world"?

Welcome to Drama 101.

[quinnsryche]

Complete waste of money. Could get 6-10 T206 HOF'ers for that or a nice Cobb. It will NEVER be worth that price and when he fails or becomes just a "good" player it'll be worth 1/10 of that (or less). Forrest Gump said "Stupid is as stupid does"

[Orioles1954]

I'm sorry, I always get annoyed pre-war collectors snap at the prices of modern insert cards. So what if he might be a prospect that might bust? What about tobacco or caramel collectors who shell out thousands of dollars on a beat to crap type card of someone who never made it out of the minor leagues? Granted one is based on artificial rarity, but who are we to judge how someone spends their money on the hobby?

[Wesley]

Was Cornelius Doyle a good player?

[docpatlv]

Agree 100% with James. I wouldn't pay that kind of money for modern, but as the saying goes "one man's pork is another man's steak".

[Peter_Spaeth]

i agree 100 percent ... with Tony. Remember PSA 10 Jordan rookies?

[docpatlv]

Why does it matter where he wants to spend his money and if it's a good "investment" or not? Some people like large screen LCD's, others like to spend their money on gambling or playing golf. Some like 2008 Ike Davis cards. What difference does it make? It's his money.

[quinnsryche]

The question is not what can this person spend his money on, but is it an intelligent decision. You are well within your rights to cut off all your fingers if you so desire, but does that make it a smart choice? I wouldn't be so quick to jump on someone's right to voice an opinion in a public forum like this. It's a chat board about the hobby. This is a hobby related issue and all comers should be allowed to state their opinions as long as they are not vulgar or violent.:)

[docpatlv]

Tony,

I assume you're responding to my post. I don't think I really "jump[ed] on someone's right to voice an opinion..." I simply asked why one would care how another person spends their money. As I stated before, I wouldn't spend that much on a modern card, but obviously there are some people who will.

[tinkereversandme]

This is a forum where people share opinions. Geez. I think it's foolish because it's an obvious bad investment. There is a Red variation and 40% of all the ones on earth are on eBay, but the regular variation is a $70 item and then there's an orange variation that sells for half the red (makes sense) and then there's a blue variation that sells for half of the orange and so on. At least with pre-war stuff, it isn't created out of marketing (a lotto-like reasoning) and the stuff holds it's value pretty fine. Not to mention the guy has been in baseball less than a week, as well. Hey, if you want to pay $1,000 (or if you don't like this one, there is another on eBay at $1,800) for this, fine with me but don't be surprised if you can only get back a few percentage points in return for your purchase ten years down the line. And if you want to talk to a colleague who invested $5,000 in J.D Drew rookies back when, I'll give you his contact information. Thought Drew would pay for his kid's college in ten years.

Regards,

Larry

[benchod]

Well it may be a bad financial decision but in the grand scheme of things it hardly proves "there is something wrong in this world"
I agree with Rob; unnecessarily over dramatic

[T206Collector]

I agree that "to each his own." Also, it might be a good short term investment and sell for $2000 next month. Cobb is great, but Ike is still playing -- which is good and bad.

But I once sold a Travis Lee rookie, shortprint (1 of 100) in 1998 for $100. Card is totally worthless now -- and was within a couple of years.

[quinnsryche]

Tony,

I assume you're responding to my post. I don't think I really "jump[ed] on someone's right to voice an opinion..." I simply asked why one would care how another person spends their money. As I stated before, I wouldn't spend that much on a modern card, but obviously there are some people who will.

Yes and no. It was just an opportunity to respond to that "type" of response which I have seen many times before. Nothing personal (honestly!) I have always wanted to have my say about the newer stuff, of which I was a collector of not too long ago. I finally got it through my thick skull that this current stuff (unless it's Pujols, Jeter or Ichiro) is practically worthless when the next new thing comes out. Tables at shows are brimming with this kind of product yet older material is getting tougher to come across. To all those who prospect that stuff, have fun at your own funeral.:D Thanks for listening.
Tony

[Robextend]

Agreed, to each his own. However unless this guy is the second coming of Albert Pujols it is not a good investment. But then again, if this was bought by an Ike Davis collector, the cornerstone to his collection might have been purchased...hehe

[Rob D.]

Interesting that whenever someone on the board shows some ungraded T206 beaters that he or she bought for $20-$25 each, no one responds with a "That's a poor investment" post. More likely he or she will be congratulated on the "beautiful cards."

(And the amount of money spent is irrelevant in a discussion such as this is. Some folks would say spending $20 on any baseball card is reckless, and $1,000 to other collectors is like a drop of water in the bathtub.)

More often than not, I think spending money on autographs is ridiculous, but my guess is the original poster would disagree.

[slidekellyslide]

I'm never surprised by what people will pay for stuff. I also don't care how people spend money that isn't mine, but nevertheless it is interesting...I saw Keith Olbermann buy up a bunch of Alex Gordon Topps rookie cards and all the variants of said card...he paid what I think are outrageous prices, but to him it was probably nothing.

[T206Collector]

I started buying up Jeter minor league rookie cards when he was still in AAA. I probably had 100-200 at one point before 1996. After he won ROY and the Yankees won the 1996, 1998 and 1999 WS, I went to "cash in" my Jeter cards. I made a little money, but because PSA came to the fore front in the interim, and none of my Jeter's woulda graded a 10, I was basically able to earn a couple hundred dollars.

Given how well I predicted (guessed) the Jeter phenomenon, I always thought that my early minor league purchase decisions should have been rewarded like a lottery ticket..... but no such luck!

Also, bought 50 Frank Thomas 1990 Topps rookies while he was still in college on a hunch. Cost me $.25 per card. Wound up selling most of them for $4. The Leaf was the way to go, not the Topps. Made a couple hundred, but shoulda made a bank!

Oh well!

:rolleyes:

[ullmandds]

I have 15 bernie williams rookies, 12 pedro martinez rookies...and looked high and low for an unopened pack w/christian okoye's rookie in it...all worthless now!!! And my Phil Sims rookies aren't exactly hot either!

[packs]

I remember years ago I went into K-Mart and bought a retail box of like 8 packs of 1999 Ovation cards. It must have cost me like 15 bucks. I open the box and pull a Ben Grieve ROY GU bat and autograph card numbered out of /25. I sold it for $450 on eBay all the way back then. I'd bet you could pick it up now for $4.50.

[prewarsports]

On the flip side, in 2001-2002 a signed Bowman Chrome rookie of Albert Pujols was like $500 and people were complaining about how overpriced that was. I know there have not been many cards like that in the last 10 years, but every now and then the cards end up being decent investments and I think that is what keeps people going. That card is worth several thousands of dollars now.

I remember in 2000 a friend of mine bought a Vince Carter UD Authentic SP or something graded a 10 for like $2000 and then sold it about a year later for $11,000. It is probably not worth much now but for him it was a great $2000 investment.

To these guys it is a hobby and a business just like vintage cards are to us. Maybe when they realize how bad new card investments are overall they will turn vintage cards.

Rhys

[Mark]

I'm not enough of a relativist to agree that there's no such thing as wasting your money.

[doug.goodman]

That's the kind of thing that makes (part of me) hope the kids falls apart.

Brien Taylor anyone?

Doug

[packs]

Why would you hope someone fails? What happened to Brien Taylor was terrible. You enjoyed it?

[Neal]

nevermind

[metrotheme]

People get caught up in the quick hype when a prospect does well out the gate. This happened with Heyward a month ago as well.

[3and2]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2008-Bowman-Chrome-IKE-DAVIS-Red-Refractor-AUTO-1-5-/350345708656?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Baseball&hash=item51923b4470

Now I am a Mets fan, and Davis looks promising, but,,,, this,,,, ???
Do these people have their heads screwed on straight???

Richard, As a fellow Met fan. I agree, way too much money for that card. But, it sure has been an exciting week and a half since he's been called up. With Santana on the mound let's get this rubber match game. Let's Go Mets!

[martyogelvie]

It happens a lot in the modern card collecting world. cards/players will get a lot of hype and their cards will go through the roof. The Jeter/Mantle/Bush spoof card that TOpps put out a few years back had some parallel or serial numbered versions that reached this type of hype... looking back, i suspect the buyers have a tad bit of remorse, but who knows.. maybe they don't.

[sportscardtheory]

This thread reminds me of when people say AVATAR sucks. Entertainment is subjective, so no one is wrong, just like cards. If someone wants to pay for Ike Davis, what is it to you.

[BCauley]

I remember years ago I went into K-Mart and bought a retail box of like 8 packs of 1999 Ovation cards. It must have cost me like 15 bucks. I open the box and pull a Ben Grieve ROY GU bat and autograph card numbered out of /25. I sold it for $450 on eBay all the way back then. I'd bet you could pick it up now for $4.50.

On a similar note, I picked up a set of '99 Topps Chrome Traded back then and had doubles of Corey Patterson in the box. He was the "Hot" player in the set at the time. I sent one to BGS and it came back a 9.5 and immediately threw it on ebay. Darn thing sold for $500. I couldn't believe it. I then bought a bunch of '55 Topps I needed for my set.

[packs]

I remember when that Patterson card was huge. Anyone else remember good ol' Toe Nash? He was labeled "The Natural" by Peter Gammons and his Bowman auto was going for hundreds of dollars before he even played a minor league game. Another huge bust was the Nomar Topps Traded. It's almost worthless now but man, it was huge.

[M's_Fan]

You have to understand the psychology of the participants in every speculative bubble. First, they always think "this time its different." Second, even if they realize they are in a bubble, they always think "I'll be smart enough to get off this train before it crashes."

Modern cards excite people BECAUSE of the volatility, just like some people get a thrill out of the rough and tumble world of currency trading and casino gambling.

If you look at it this way, you can see why the hardcore modern collectors play this game. Unfortunately, some newcomers to the hobby get mixed up in the hype and get burned, and never collect again.

[packs]

I would start investing in Pedro Alvarez of the Pirates

[timzcardz]

If anyone already said this here then I missd it, but some people are in this hobby, whether it be vintage or modern, just for the fun in collecting and don't look at it as an investment. As such, if you want the card, and you have the money, then you will pay the price.


Now, is there anyone here that can honestly say that they have never overpaid for a card?

Is there anyone here that can honestly say that they have never bought a card that later was less in value than they had paid for it?

We're all guilty of it.

It's just relative, and if you aren't struggling to feed your family because of it, then it really doesn't matter, unless of course, that other idiot outbid you and that is what really ticks you off! :D

[ScottFandango]

All modern rookie collectors hope they can find the NEXT PUJOLS,

the Pujols Bowman Chrome $5000 rookie....

especially in cards numbered ledd than 100!

i wish them luck!