[jason.1969]

I was an obsessive collector the as a kid all the way through college (1976-1992), even spending my textbook money on cards. Lest you imagine any Honus Wagners, my best cards were (and still are!) '54 Topps Aaron and '54 Bowman Mantle, both in the G range.

Here I am now, 20+ years later, with a good job and a chance to add some of the cards I could only dream of as a kid--again, no Wagners..."just" a low grade Ruth, Gehrig, and DiMaggio in the next 1-2 years. Have also already filled the holes in my Hank Aaron collection since those cards were cheap enough to not worry about much.

What I feel like I've seen, after two decades out of it, is that the Aaron prices I paid this year seemed about what I would have seen 20+ years ago. And gosh, low grade early cards of some awfully good HOF players (McCovey, Perry, Palmer, Seaver) are practically free on eBay. On the other hand, there are PSA 9-10 cards of common players going for more than what I hope to pay for my Babe Ruth!

Hardly an educated answer but I suppose I view the investment question the way I would look at a first house. May go up but you still derive value from living there. If you love finding and collecting cards, that's worth a ton. If you don't, there are probably safer and smarter things to put your money into.