What I Don't Understand about Baseball Card Economics

[barrysloate]

Yes David, any one hundred year old baseball card with pure white borders gives me pause. They are generally made with cheap paper, and paper tones over time.

But I want to get back to the idea of processing information. If I am thinking of buying a card in PSA 10, I really have to consider that the card may have been bumped from a 9 holder, or it may have had a slight alteration. I just don't know. As such, while I might deem it to still be worth a premium over a 9, and cannot see any way it could reasonably worth ten times that. Ask the fellow who just purchased the 52B Musial in a PSA 10 how he is feeling right now. Again, I don't think the information that is out there is being calculated into purchases.

I understand the idea that people who pay a lot of money to get a 10 are willing to do so because they want to own the best. But in so many instances they are not getting a 10. And nobody likes to feel he was ripped off. Again, I know some disagree but I find all of this unfathomable. I guess to each his own.

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Yes David, any one hundred year old baseball card with pure white borders gives me pause. They are generally made with cheap paper, and paper tones over time.

But I want to get back to the idea of processing information. If I am thinking of buying a card in PSA 10, I really have to consider that the card may have been bumped from a 9 holder, or it may have had a slight alteration. I just don't know. As such, while I might deem it to still be worth a premium over a 9, and cannot see any way it could reasonably worth ten times that. Ask the fellow who just purchased the 52B Musial in a PSA 10 how he is feeling right now. Again, I don't think the information that is out there is being calculated into purchases.

I understand the idea that people who pay a lot of money to get a 10 are willing to do so because they want to own the best. But in so many instances they are not getting a 10. And nobody likes to feel he was ripped off. Again, I know some disagree but I find all of this unfathomable. I guess to each his own.

I have done it twice. Ego and personal satisfaction are the two primary reasons. Money was a distant third.

One was $2,500 the other was just over $3,000 so not life changing money but it is all relative. Both were 9's bumped to 10's.

I have never looked back with any level of dissatisfaction.