Lot's of great points brought up in this thread, and it's been fun to read.
I felt Wonka's first post pretty much summed up the way I view things, as far as this topic goes.
I know from my own experience, if I were collecting things from my high school days, it would be more along the lines of concert shirts, heavy metal on vinyl, bongs, and guitars
But seriously-
In grade school, I collected the current Topps cards-could have cared less about condition. My small collection was left behind during a move across the country, and I (entering junior high) became focused on girls
Fast forward to mid thirties,,,,I decided I wanted to collect "something", and the first thing that came to mind was "baseball cards". I didn't even know about century old cards-I was buying modern cards, then picked up a couple of cards from the 50's and 60's.....then discovered pre-war. Instantly I was hooked- I couldn't stop looking at them all (on ebay). They were, and still are, always out of my price range. I sometimes go for months without a pick up.
But I am still hooked on them-T206's (damn these things
). I understand that there is an investment side to things, but I try to put that out of my perspective for the most part-meaning, I am not buying cards because of what they may or may not be worth in the future. I hope they at least retain their value-but if they don't, oh well-I had a blast collecting them and I love them, and that's worth whatever I pay for them (to me).
So, you can't base the future of the hobby on what high school kids are doing......at least when it comes to pre-war cards (in my humble opinion
). Adults who want to collect things (some at least) will always find an attraction to pre-war cards, and their mystique of a time long past.
Sincerely, Clayton