So many insightful, well-thought out posts today. What surprises me mainly is that the guys with little cash on this thread are the smartest of all. I can't understand how you guys don't earn more money to buy more expensive cards. Seriously, you guys need to live up to your potential. Thanks for the tips, I'm actually about to buy two new cars this week.

I don't know who Jeff is, and that's a fair point. The topic of the thread was about what's hurting the hobby, and my take is that diminishing availability and high prices have made it very difficult for young collectors to break into the hobby. There's gonna be a huge generation gap, and that's bound to hurt the hobby.

pre-war HOFers were never the area that fed new kids into the hobby. And while prices for pre-war are at or near all time highs, availability has never been higher with all the auction houses and the popularity of the Internet. Plus, beat up T206 commons can still be had for $10. I do appreciate your take on it as being a new comer to the pre-war arena.

Consider it from the newcomer's perspective, because once you're "in" of course you know the network. Auction houses aren't well advertised unless you're on mailing lists or post here, and they're frankly kind of intimidating and probably not the best choice for a beginner anyway. You're right, eBay helps, but you gotta know exactly what you're looking for. Most of the vintage baseball card internet sites I came across when I jumped in looked dead and few actually posted an inventory; however, there are several sites about vintage cards that are amazing for learning about the hobby. Much has been said in these forums about the lack vintage cards at local card shops or even at well-advertised shows.

Incidentally, I got my start on eBay and through the classifieds/craigslist. I went to one show (Chantilly), and it actually kinda turned me off.

Tex - you're comparing it with what you think was available in pre-war 10-20 years ago. I can assure you there is quite a bit more available now due to the internet/auction houses etc. then was available 10-20 years ago.

Tex....
 

While I would agree that some great pre-war cards get taken off of the market I think there is still a lot to go around. There are also a lot of great cards that get recycled. It's patience that counts when you are in a marathon. regards

Well, I do agree w/our new collector that the entry price points on many vintage cards are daunting for someone new and/or w/o ridiculous disposable income. One of the factors that's turned me off from vintage collecting over the years is the need to assess each purchase as though it was an investment simply because of the amount of money that has to be committed to a purchase. I was lucky enough to obtain much of my collection before the heavy price boom in vintage hit. I never thought I'd spend anywhere close to four figures on a card (T206 Wagner excluded, of course) and now it takes high three and into four figures to get hold of any of a wide variety of cards that a starting collector would find attactive otherwise. That has to be very intimidating and discouraging to a younger collector w/presumably fewer financial resources and larger looming expenses (starting a family, and so on).