Definitely an interesting read, though not necessarily as applicable to the vintage, especially pre-war, baseball card market. I always thought baseball cards were the top component, by far, of sales and activity of the U.S. sports card market. Yet on that CL50 Index referenced in the essay, there were only 15 baseball cards (30.0%) on it, with only one of them being a pre-war card ('33 Goudey - Ruth). Also noticed how 49 of those 50 cards referenced were PSA graded versions (only 1 by BGS), seeming to further push the reliance almost solely on PSA grading for applicable market confidence and measurement. And though he also discussed issues with card grading backlogs and the cessation of acceptance of new submissions by some TPGs, not a single word about the suspected, and still unresolved, card alteration issue still hanging over select sellers, TPGs, and the hobby as a whole.
But if this guy's arguments and predictions are even close to true, we are definitely not a hobby anymore, but an emerging new investing commodity market and industry, with all these slick young, new, business and investment types entering into it. But I fear not so much as to promote, take part, and enjoy card collecting themselves, but more so to figure out how to jump in and take more money from collectors like us. He even got our hobby into a comparison with Bitcoin, of all things.
So if this is truly where things are headed, I think I finally have it figured out. I just need to get Kanye, Megan Thee Stallion, or maybe the Biebs, to pose with a few S74s and upload and post pictures of it on Twitter or Instagram. Maybe then my silk collection will actually be worth something. LOL.
