Posted By:
warshawlawI disagree on the issue of errors and print variations with those who would label them fads. There is a long history of collecting these kinds of cards; many of the acknowledged rarities of the hobby are nothing more than error cards (T206 Magie, Doyle). The key to the emergence of the market on these cards is information flow. I think that as we become more aware of the existence of these cards via the internet and ebay, interest in them grows. I don't see people just dropping these the way they dropped pogs.
On the flip side, I think that a "grab at any price" mentality we are seeing in E cards is inevitably faddish; there will always be collectors of specific cards and sets but I don't see the basic e card as so rare that it justifies the grab whatever you can get at whatever price you can pay for it behavior that we are sometimes seeing. Before the E-warriors out there jump all over me, I am not talking about the really tough cards and sets, nor am I saying that the prices today are entirely reflective of a fad. A good portion of the price escalation recognizes that these cards are much tougher to find than T206s, but it is beginning to feel a lot like an irrational market for the common E sets (e.g., E90-1, E121, etc.) in lower grades.