Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquarian Sports Cards
I love the knowledge and learning about the cards themselves, not everyone is the same. That being said, if you are the kind of guy who collects because he loves the game and the history and old bits of cardboard, then, to me, it doesn't make sense to be in the high-end market in the first place. If you ARE in the high end market then the monetary value both present and future IS important to you. I feel it's incumbent upon the buyer of such items to be able to rely on themselves.
I wouldn't call high-end buyers who don't know their stuff lazy, just naive in believing they can trust anyone 100%. Even reputable people and companies make mistakes, though they tend to be the ones who fix their mistakes quickly!
I guess how I feel is, if you're in the high end market, unless you won the lottery or inherited all your money, odds are you're fairly smart. With the application of that intelligence to the cards you buy, you should still be reasonably safe, just don't abdicate your decision making abilities to a third party.
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Scott,
Thanks for the response. Kinda lets me know what your outlook is on card collecting as well as what’s going on currently in the hobby. It probably would help to give a bit of a background of what type of collector I am. Currently I’m basically a single player collector as well pick up Orioles memorabilia. I have collected cards in the past, but now I’ve narrowed my focused on those type items (basically because I can’t afford everything).
I do really like learning about cards and the different oddball issues that are out there, but what I was referring to is I really don’t desire to gain knowledge on whether a card has been trimmed, re-colored, corners rebuilt, some type of alterations, re-glossing, etc. Really didn’t think at all about that when purchasing a graded card. A raw card I looked for some of those type of things, but not graded; maybe I was naive. Basically looked at centering, registration, etc. on the card.
Now I think there’s probably a difference in what we’re referring to high end and high grade. I’ve been collecting Brooks Robinson for quite a while now and several years ago I thought it would be cool to pick up some higher grade cards. Most of the cards I had in my collection were probably EX or EXMT; in that range (probably not centered well either...). Didn’t think much about centering when I was young or even when I started getting back in the hobby. Several of the people, likely here on Net54, messed with my mind and now I typically see centering issues first thing (wish I didn’t listen!). Anyway, I was just wanting to add some higher grade cards (7-9 in my thinking is higher end). So, I wasn’t doing it for an investment, but to just have a nicer card in my collection. I sure wouldn’t like it if I spent a higher amount for these cards and find out they are altered; no better than what I had originally.
By the way... I hope to pick up a few pics in the auction!