Anyone watching the insane basketball card prices?
 

All the big rookies seem to be on fire. I’ve watched the Dr. J in PSA 8 jump from $800 to $4600 in a couple of years. It is getting to the point where I am tempted to take some money off the table.

LeBron and Kobe Topps Chrome rookies are going for mind-boggling money.

Even the Magic/Bird RC exploded, and the bird and magic second years. insane.

the panini prizm silver craze is insane.

My only basketball card, which I picked up for a song years ago, but certainly wish I had of purchased more.

Not sure how true this is but its been said this craze with BB cards is due to the game being so international and is mainly driven by Asian's?

Irv. I have about 135 of those in psa 9. Picked them up for dirt cheap. Couldn’t give them away at the National last year. Now they are on fire.
The Jordan stuff is hot because of last dance I think.

I haven't followed them for a while now but I did see one a couple months ago or more sell for $140 U.S., IIRC?
I heard the Last Dance was a major reason for his cards rising exponentially but it looks like everything is going through the stratosphere.

Just did a quick search and found this one. 10's are selling much higher of course.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1992-1993-T...p2047675.l2557

The golds sell at a premium. I love this card because the image is great and 84 Topps was my first set I collected. This is also technically his first Topps card.

Didn't see that was the gold card. :o

I didn't know this was his first topps card.

The 9 I have I purchased it 7-8 yrs ago at the Toronto card Expo for $5.00 dollars CDN. It was on a Sunday with a snow storm coming so the seller was in a hurry to pack up and offered it to me. I thought what the heck and grabbed it.

What's also insane is people are buying 1989-90 and 1990-91 Fleer Basketball cards. I might actually have to pull mine out of the basement.

Not too mention Skybox and Hoops. Its crazy

Its so crazy because the first half of the 90s was really the junk wax era. the second half have some of the rarest and most iconic insert cards of all time. in baseball, basketball, football and hockey. really great artwork and design. Skybox in the late 90s was churning out masterpieces.

Basketball Rookies
 

All basketball RC's of anyone in the HOF or HOF bound are on fire.

The only set that still has not gone crazy is the 1948 Bowman set with the exception of Mikan of course.

Last couple of Dr. J RCs closing in an 8 have been $5200 and $5677. BINs have also sold at $4500 and $4800 in recent days.

A PSA 1 Russell RC should be about a $2,000 card now judging from the "A" that closed for nearly $1500.

The Chamberlain IA RC has gone from $400 or so to $1375 in a few months.

1961 Russell from $400 to $1400.

On paper at least my collection is doing great!

OTHER THAN JORDAN, are the early 1990's basketball cards worth anything. Like Stockton, Ewing, Bird, Magic, etc,... ????????

Thx.

This is my one and only Basketball card got this from one of those Halloween fun bags that had packs of assorted cards back in 1981 or 1982 Donruss was included too

Shaq UD rookie prices are strong.

So, before only the MODERN basketball cards were exploding in prices, but now VINTAGE basketball has gone up too? What the hell is going on here? lol

I dunno but I sold my PSA 8 Dr. J RC over the weekend and bought a low grade replacement at less than 10% of the price. In these trying times I am not going to try and time a bubble, just set a price and when it hits, sell and replace with 'collector grade' cards. I enjoy the lower grade ones even more, frankly, since I can put them in my albums instead of dealing with those friggin' slabs. Nothing like looking through an album...Waiting on the bubbles forming on other older basketball cards so I can sell them too.

Now, if they can just inflate a bubble on postwar vintage hockey...

I did the same thing and moved a Dr. J. rookie just over a week ago. Numbers are just too good to pass so I figured I would take the profits and invest in multiple other cards. Crazy time for basketball. I just wonder where the ceiling is on all of this. I cannot imagine it gaining much more steam but who knows.

It is starting to spill into lesser HOFers too. Take a look at some of the 1969 Topps prices: yikes! Frazier's RC has doubled in an 8.

Even the lower graded big boys are moving. My low grade Alcindor is worth a multiple of what I invested in the entire set. A year ago it was a $200 card, now more like $550-$600

I noticed other Alcindor/Jabbar cards getting crazy prices. His 70, 71 and 72 card is rocketing in the lower grades as well. It is not just the rookie card with Jabbar. Much more fun following this market than the stock market that is for sure.

1968 Mira Alcindor
 

Agreed--1000 times more fun than following the stock market. Anyone see any recent sales of this one? I see a guy on Ebay with a BIN price of $250k. I have one in a 7 and would take less than half that :D:)

2009
 

Is the Steph Curry rookie card going crazy in PSA 8 or higher? Is that also the last year Topps produced basketball?

thanks.
John

Oh God, please don't say that! We Canadians are already struggling with the weak Canadian dollar - what do you think will happen if those Gary V. maniacs start jumping all over hockey? :eek::eek::eek:

The Bird/Magic rookie had settled in at around $1400 in PSA 7 and $2500 in an 8 for a few months recently (after the spring basketball boom). Then in the last two weeks, those have doubled again.

Didn't see anything from Gary V about it. Just glad I got my '80-81 set when I did

Oh Shoot... Now I can't even afford a Lew Alcindor rookie in poor. :eek:

1980-81 Bird Magic
 

I remember walking into a card shop in Southern Cal summer of 1990. I saw a stack of Bird/Magics (probably 10+). Pack fresh--He had them priced at $15. I was poor as could be but managed to get 5 of them. He had unopened packs and boxes as well. Pretty much as many as you could buy. If i remember right the packs were $2 a pack and i was able to assemble an entire set--never got the Bird/Magic but got both Bird and Magic alone. That set was one of the most challenging to put together in terms of navigating through the 3 player per card phenomenon. Fun and satisfying though and i still have the set as a reminder of a really cool time to collect.

I had forgotten about this card that I heard about on my local radio station. My wife recently asked about it as I was telling her so I decided to look it up. :eek:

With the recent exposure this card and others have gotten, is it any wonder why things are so hot currently? (one of many articles on it)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...rd-18-million/

The nuttiness continues. I recently wondered if I could get $2500 for my Bill Russell RC in a 1.5 holder, only to discover that one sold for $3,199!

Been away for a while guys, felt the need to chime in on this. Prices are insane on Hoops cards, been out of the loop for a while and started checking ebay sold prices tonight. I only have a fraction left of the Hoops collection I once had but I kept some nice ones. Except for my SP authentic Vince RC's that is, sold two PSA 10's last year or so for around $250, you can put another zero after that now! Here's what I got left that's HOT!!!!!!!

After the recent doubling of Bird/Magic PSA 7 rookies to around 3000 in the last couple weeks, one went for 3450 last night and another for 3950 tonight.

Bizarre.

HOLY _HIT Jeff. If you sold all those shown, you would be a very wealthy man!!!

Bought most of mine in the last 1-2 years, and some very much more recently. Have really enjoyed the diversion of Vintage Basketball, but glad I got what I did, when I did. It's prohibitive now.

Sold a centered Kareem PSA 6.5 in the initial phase of this bubble at $3300, and boy does that look foolish now. I love the cards too much to sell out, but it's tempting.......


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You're in a tough spot now. You're currently sitting on $100,000 or $200,000 USD worth of basketball cards. Do you HOLD or SELL? How much will they all be worth next year? These cards are being bought and sold at inflated prices, and it's not going to last.

I started collecting Kobe Bryant rookie cards a few years before he retired. It wasn't very expensive at that time, and he was my favorite player. I decided to get only PSA10's and do a registry set. Since then the prices have exploded for all of these rookie cards so now I'm not sure if I should sell or hold on to what I have. Can these prices be sustained?

For sure, when things escalate 500-800% in the span of 3 months, it's clearly not sustainable or real. I'd expect anyone who has these cards and doesn't want to hold them indefinitely should sell off now. I'm definitely considering selling one of the Magic/Bird cards, as there is no reason for a non-speculator to hold both.

I'm probably in only 10-20% of the current value of these cards, though, and have searched them out with care. They were all bought pre-runup in prices, and a few early in the runup at pre-prices. I'd like them to be part of my long-term collection, so as long as I don't have higher collecting priorities they'll probably stay.

When you start looking at the POP's of these key cards compared to their Baseball counterparts, it's shocking. I don't know that I'd ever find another '61F PSA 7 Wilt with comparable eye appeal, for example.
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Your Wilt is mouth-watering, for sure! But is this card, or any basketball card, ever going to reach the same level as the 52' Topps Mantle or the Leaf Jackie? Right now, if you make the right moves, you can turn your $20,000 USD into a million dollars, and I'm being serious here. When those Gary V. BARBARIANS make an exit and the prices plummet, will you be happy you kept them? Again, you're in a tough spot. I say this because none of us know how much higher these cards will go. Maybe the PSA 7 Wilt will be worth MORE by Christmas! Whatever you decide, I wish you nothing but the best. You have awesome cards and thanks for sharing them!

HOLY DOUBLE _HIT Jason. You will get 300K or 400K by this time next year I predict.

Not sure I agree with a total hold. I don't think this market will keep running over the next year. Pick a price point where you will feel good and sell the ones you don't really value for your collection when they hit it. Remember, bulls make money but pigs get slaughtered.

I am in the same boat on a smaller scale. So far Ive dumped my Jordans and my Erving RC (and replaced the latter with a raw copy in vg-ex for less than 10% of the price because there was a hole in my album). Still holding the 1957 Russell and the 1961 Fleer Russells and Wilt and Elgin because I think they have room to go, but when they hit a price point I have in mind, they go too. I will not sell my 1969 Topps though, because I got some of those cards when i was a little kid. My Alcindor and Wilt may be worth some money but I remember the day I got those cards so vividly that I doubt I will ever sell them. I just love that set.

I am getting to the point where I want to trade some of the highly appreciated cards for others I would enjoy more, like a UD certified signed MJ card or another signed Wilt card.

Good points all around.
 

Good stuff here. I think we're all in agreement that this run-up in prices is artificial, and being driven by forces that aren't well-meaning or sustainable. It's also really clear that vintage basketball was severely undervalued until recently, given considerations of collectability and relatively low volumes out there. I still don't believe that justifies the aggressive rise lately.

I'm certainly going to sell off pieces I don't want to hold permanently. One of the Magic/Bird cards will go, I'm sure, and I have a spare Kareem RC with PSA in the 5-6 range due to be done grading in the next few weeks which may go if prices hold strong. In fact they have probably 120+ raw 1960's/70's basketball cards of mine now in various stages of (endless) grading.

Personally, I caught the vintage basketball bug late last year and have been adding since. Rounded out the Jordan Star run as well, which I've really enjoyed. Not to sound foolish, but for the cards I decide to hold, I really am ok with them losing significant value in future. I won't kick myself for not selling at the peak. If there were a burning need to raise funds for a higher priority, I'd move them. But basketball has been enjoyable in itself. I'd also feel differently if I were in deep in terms of investment in them.

And like you said, Adam, some of the cards have emotional attachment as well. Several came from someone who has become a good collecting friend, and it'd be tough to let them go.

But for anyone's particular situation, if selling cardboard would make a fundamental difference in your own financial independence, I'd hope anyone would do it.
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Jason, I have the exact same trio of 1961 Fleer Russells and Wilt IA in the same condition. Kinda wish i'd splurged on the 8s now.

I had a 6 Russell I sold last year---tooo sooon!

I have been in the market for a Kareem rookie and Bob Cousy rookie since the end of last year. I was trying to be picky for a low grade nicely centered version of both of those. I kept putting it off because the prices had been relatively stable for a long time. Guess I missed the boat on those two. Especially Kareem. His prices are insane.

By the way who is Gary V?

That's what I don't understand: who is that guy and why does anyone care what he thinks?

I just did some research… For what it’s worth. Seems like he is a pump and dump guy. Just like people do with penny stocks in the stock market. This guy talks stuff up and people jump on and ride the wave and try to jump out before things crash. Kinda sad that this is what has had happened to the hobby over the past 4-5 months. I guess I’ll hope that prices come down and I can buy a few things for my collection.

I can now only afford a reprint Alcindor rookie. :(

Excellent post! Yeah, I think that's what Gary Vaynerchuk did. He probably spent like half a million on basketball cards, and now he is going to turn it into ten million. Again, I am not sure about the numbers here. He might have spent a million or more, but based on the way he is behaving, it's OBVIOUS that he has invested quite a bit into it. Go look at his Twitter account!

Just looking at GV's Twitter account I really don't see anything nefarious or ill advised regarding any sports card?
What I do see is a guy, who is obviously passionate about cards, advising people of the pro's and con's of sports card collecting and the pitfalls/pluses of getting into it, especially if you are a newbie.

His Twitter account has links to stories he has written and the 2 I looked at, I honestly didn't see anything about pumping cards/prices up nor anything else of that nature. Maybe there is more to this story that I don't know about but to me, at least, he just seems like a passionate collector who is not afraid to share some advice.

https://twitter.com/garyvee?ref_src=...Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://www.one37pm.com/strength/spo...-value-grading
https://www.one37pm.com/culture/news...g-sports-cards

You are a simple chap, Dale. ;)

You can't see what's going on, but I can. There are lots of "PUMP POSTS" on his Twitter account:

I can't stop buying ... oh my God ... can't stop ... I love these basketball cards so much ... they are so ADDICTING ... I love these 86' and 61' Fleer cards ... collecting them is so much FUN! YAYYY!!!

Those are all PUMP POSTS, my friend. And you know how I can see this? Because I'm guilty of doing it myself, but not to that extent.

Probably the GREATEST PUMPER of ALL-TIME lurks on this forum. He has purchased cards that were at one time worthless, and when he retires, he will probably make a few million. And I don't envy him or anything like that. I have actually praised him many times. PUMPING takes a lot of hard work and dedication, and if done well, you can score big.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ec1u6MRW...pg&name=medium

Nice cards...

Gary V
 

I think Gary V is a multi-millionaire who also fell back into the hobby, he doesn't need to pump and dump this stuff--he might actually just be having fun.

One of my regrets is selling my Magic/Bird PSA 7 in January for $400. It's now 4K :( There was no way to predict that spike at that time so I don't feel too crappy about it. I usually don't dip into my PC but I kinda needed to to make down deposit on a vintage baseball set. Oh well, lesson learned I guess.