Posted By:
Louis BollmanThere are many different reasons in my opinion why the high-grade cards are not showing up with the same frequency as they once were.
1) There are a fair amount of collectors that had, in my opinion, tremendous net worth that purchased cards from particular issues when they were "hot". After the dust settled a little and some prices have come back to reality those collectors don't really have any incentive to sell at lower prices than when they bought.
2) Some of the collectors that were supposed novices (started collecting in the last 15 years or so) were going nuts for everything high-grade or rare at the same time as they were building nice Topps, Bowman, and Goudey sets. And while some of those collectors started shedding off parts of their collections (the parts that they could rebuild again if they wanted) they kept the cards that were truly special (high-grade, rare, or even high-grade and rare). I personally know of handful of these collections where the collectors are, for the most part, no longer active in the hobby but still hold enough special cards that would make any major auction house's year if they decided to consign and at the same time would drive the collecting community nuts over having to make decisions on which cards to buy and which to pass on.
3) Our's is a small world. When truly special cards do fall into a dealer's hands (speaking for myself and a few others that I know) we already know: A) who wants the cards, B) who is willing to pay a fair price, C) won't give us a hard time if we need a premium price for a premium card, and D) can pay for the card(s) promptly. All of this without having to deal with some of the knuckleheads on *Bay or wait, sometimes a long, long time for your items to reach an audience in a major auction.
4) Many dealers are collectors as well. No one can dispute that the best, most knowledgeable and most personable dealers have enjoyed a great deal of success in the last 10-20 years. So many of these dealers (who are already have the collecting bug and vast knowledge in their perspective area of expertise) will sift off what is truly the best part of the occasional collection if it is something that scratches their collecting itch. And on the occasion that they either have to or want to sell off a part of their own collection they often already have their best customers waiting in line without ever having to go to the open market. For instance, my wife's non-sport collection has been viewed by less than a handful of people outside of our family and everyone that has viewed it in part or in it's entirety has been, what I consider, to be a good friend or client in the collecting community. My wife has only been collecting for about 12 years while our collecting friends that have viewed it have been collecting non-sports for 20-40 years. If she ever decided that she wanted to sell it who do you think would get first shot; someone that has been to our home, helped her collect and traded with her based on need/want versus book price or someone she's never met? This really isn't a tough question.
5) As the hobby advances we have more and more people looking for the best stuff. If a new guy coming into the hobby (or even a used guy that wasn't aware of all of the nuances to some of the issues) just viewed the "Network54" vintage forums they can be armed with the knowledge to make purchases and hold on to things that they come across that would have, in years past, been brought to open market and available for the most advanced collectors to purchase. Go back 10-15 years, at that time could you even imagine a collector in his first months, or even a year for that matter, purchasing (with confidence) a rare cabinet card, an obscure regional issue, or attempt building an "E" card set? I can't. The online communities have given all fans of collecting a resource of knowledge that is the equivalent of hundreds, maybe thousands of years in the making.
Just my humble thoughts on the subject,
Louis Bollman
louis@louisbollman.com