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04-16-2005, 01:01 PM
Posted By: <b>Lentel</b><p>I know there has been a lot of talk about the prices of certain item going for above and beyond what they are actually worth. My question is where do you,me, we, draw the line on something we really want or need? If there is that got to have item do we pay twice what it actually might be worth, three times? When is too much just too much???
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04-16-2005, 01:31 PM
Posted By: <b>warshawlaw</b><p>It is impossible to answer because the value of any tangible item is relative and shifting. A card is worth whatever two people are willing to pay for it. I wish I'd put every cent I ever spent on 1974 and newer cards into 19th century and prewar material. The relative valuations of these items have shifted so markedly that I would be sitting on a big nest egg if I had. <br /><br />In terms of overpayment, what is an overpayment? I have a few cards that I paid whatever it took to get a hold of. They are rare and obscure and I treasure them to the extent that I can treasure a possession, far more than their relative values. Is the 1930 Exhibit Jim Thorpe movie card that cost me $275 but that is extraordinarily rare and that I spent years searching for worth more to me than my PSA 7 1954 Aaron that cost me over a grand but that I could replace in a week? Yep. If I had to choose which one to race out of the house with in a Chinese fire drill, Jim is with me and Hank is toast, and I respect, admire and am a big fan of Hank (since both are in the vault, it is bad example, but you get the idea). <br /><br />Collectibles are the only commodities I know of where there is a pleasure derived from the wanting/having that is entirely apart from and in addition to the pleasure derived from their values. When the two converge, you get a sale of something at a price that seems wacky but isn't; someone simply decided to part with something dear to them at a price they could live with. I've sold a number of cards like that, where I put them out there at W-T-F prices and the dang things sell. I've rarely regretted it (once for sure, and I replaced the set I sold for 40% of the sale price, so it came out well in the end).
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04-18-2005, 06:29 AM
Posted By: <b>Gilbert Maines</b><p>You are paying too much if you are sure that if you wait - not too long - you will certainly get it cheaper.