The new breed of collectors...

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

TAnd I do have to laugh at people who claim they don't care about value in their cards. That's just not true. If you truly don't care, will you pay $200 for 1989 Fleer commons that you want? No? Then you do care. It's OK, go ahead and own the fact that you care.

Why would anyone pay $200 for something that's easily obtained for fifty cents?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Why would anyone pay $200 for something that's easily obtained for fifty cents?

They wouldn't, of course.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Because they're aware of, and care about, its value?

I see this differently, I guess. Declining to pay $200 for an '89 Fleer common, to me, shows an awareness of and care for the value of ones own money.

The monetary value of the card is basically zero, so there would be no reason to try and obtain the card in the first place if one is focused on the card's financial value. My 2 cents.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I see this differently, I guess. Declining to pay $200 for an '89 Fleer common, to me, shows an awareness of and care for the value of ones own money.

The monetary value of the card is basically zero, so there would be no reason to try and obtain the card in the first place if one is focused on the card's financial value. My 2 cents.

OK, let's put it another way - would any collector trade a high-value card they don't need for their collection for a low-value card they DO need?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

OK, let's put it another way - would any collector trade a high-value card they don't need for their collection for a low-value card they DO need?

I think, while surely statistically abnormal, it's possible, depending on the details and circumstances.

I wonder if another way to get at this might be: would one purchase a card with the caveat that they would never be able to sell it? Say, upon their death it would be donated to a museum. Would it be fair to describe such a collector as truly not caring about monetary value?

[SyrNy1960]

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I wonder if another way to get at this might be: would one purchase a card with the caveat that they would never be able to sell it? Say, upon their death it would be donated to a museum. Would it be fair to describe such a collector as truly not caring about monetary value?

If you phrase it that way, there are probably many collectors who would fit that description. The mindset being, "well, heck, I'm not around anymore, so sure, go ahead and done it".

[G1911]

I would pay $200 for a 1989 Fleer common, if it's resell value was $0, I collected 1989 Fleer, and I could not readily buy it for one penny.

There's not caring about value, in that I do not care (actually I do care, I actively wish for it to happen) if my collection becomes worth $0 and I 'lose' (I've already budgeted it as a 100% loss) all the money I've put into it. Being a complete idiot and buying something from seller A for $200 when seller B has it available for a penny is a separate thing from caring about the value of my collection. That's being a complete idiot, because it is easily available for less basically free.

I want my collection to lose value. I want it to become worth nothing. Then my $200 could buy me more cards that I derive personal enjoyment from collecting. I don't care about the monetary value, cards are where my beer money goes. I'm not selling, so my collection's value is meaningless to me.

And yes, I have done trades where I have lost a lot of monetary value. If I can swap $$$ cards for cards that I would enjoy more and are not readily available for less, I'll do it. I've swapped much more expensive baseball cards for tougher boxing cards that don't come to market much but are worth little.

It's a hobby for me. My approach is no better than anyone else's, nor have I ever stated or insinuated it is. In fact, in measurable ways, my method is worse than other peoples; I'm sure to take a 100% loss on every purchase. But it quite obviously does exist as an approach, I find it weird people are saying that what I am doing simply does not exist at all as an approach. It quite evidently does.

[FrankWakefield]

Grrrrrr....

$200 for a 1989 Donruss common? No, I'd not pay that, but that doesn't mean I care about the value of a 1989 Donruss common. I don't want a 1989 Donruss common. I'd not give you two dollars for the entire 1989 Donruss set, with free shipping. I don't want to clutter up my house with a box of 1989 Donruss cards.

Right now I'd like to find an E102 of Sherry Magee. I'd overpay for one that's about VG-EX ungraded. I'd pay more than it's worth. That card is a hole in my little set of those. (I lack Cobb, and it's unlikely I get one). But I don't want a mint graded Magee. I'm also after a W572 of Ruth, not graded, and about VG-EX. I have about 60% of those little rascals, and I've grown to like that odd set.

I've paid about 50% more than what I thought some T206 commons are worth, because I wanted the card, I could live with paying too much $70 -$75, for a card that's at best about good.

The player, what he'd done, aspects about the issue, some tie to history, a story that goes with the card... those aspects give a value to the card to me, not the catalog value or the grading cost for a slab. If that weren't so, I would buy a 1989 Donruss set for $2 and then turn around and sell it for $15 (if they sell for that).

[Keith H. Thompson]

I would go shopping in Rochester, Michigan of a Saturday night with my parents. I would stare longingly at the colorful boxes of Wheaties with baseball players and beg my mother to buy the Charlie Gehringer. No, we always got the cheaper Kelloggs corn flakes.
I was a child of the Great Depression, and by that I mean that my mother made my clothing on her sewing machine. As a younger boy in Danville, Indiana (also Sam Thompson's home town) my father shot rabbits for the table, and I mean hundreds of rabbits. My mother tanned some of the hides and made me a jacket.
I think my collecting has been adversely affected by my childhood, but from time to time I pull myself together and dig deep in to the pockets for say --Charlie Gehringer's 1935 World Series Ring, a Harry Wright scorebook or a Tomlinson Imperial Cabinet Detroit Team Picture.