OT: When a Card is so Unpopular, it Becomes Popular
 

This is off-topic, but it's something that old card collectors can relate to with rarity. Certain pre-war issues weren't popular when they were made, but became popular over time due to their rarity. The Topps Living Set being printed right now has a case of that happening overnight.

If you don't know what the Living Set is, the basic/quick answer is that Topps makes three new cards each week using the 1953 Topps design and new artwork for the set. For one week, those three cards are for sale and however many are ordered during that time, that's the full print run.

It's been going on for over a year with no set end date, but it didn't catch on right away. The Nick Markakis card printed during week two suddenly became a chase card because they only printed 2,678 copies. Some cards have over 20,000 copies printed. No card has challenged that low mark until yesterday when the print run for Howie Kendrick was just announced at 2,633 cards, making it the lowest print run out of 183 cards printed.

Now that Kendrick card that wasn't selling for $7.99 (or less if you bought bulk) is now the most sought after card in the set. Quite literally meaning that it went from the least popular to most popular card overnight.

Anyone who was collecting the set since week one also just got a little boost in value because it makes putting together a set that much more difficult.

You could make a case for any of the 1952 high numbers. Apparently, there was so little demand for them at the time that a bunch were dumped in the ocean. They've been highly sought after ever since I got into the hobby in the early 1970s.

So E Topps might be the next big thing?

This was my dating strategy in high school!

Or, mayhap, the Living Set has lost some of its luster, and people aren't collecting it in the same way they did last year. In which case Howie Kendrick may be the lowest printed card du jour, but print runs in future weeks/months may depress even more, as spending $25 a week (is that right?) for this set on a forevermore basis is less interesting to the bulk majority of collectors

It's $14.99 for all three cards at once. The popular players are still selling. Vlad Guerrero just sold 27,000+ cards during his week.

The suddenly popular part was based on the price jump once the print run was announced. A card that was selling for $5.00 from people who bought in bulk on Ebay, was now between $59 and $154 on Ebay. One for auction is now up to $55 with four days left. Anyone who invested in them is now making a huge % return on their investment.

Are they, though? There's currently 183 cards sold 3 at a time for $14.99. If you bought all them in sets of 3, you've spent $914 before shipping. If you sold 181 of those cards for $5 per card, and then sold the Kendrick and Markakis for a hundred or so apiece, you've only made $200 on a $900 plus investment.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking, but if it's in reference to my post, I was talking specifically about the Kendrick card. They sold for $5 on Wednesday morning and $55+ after the print run was announced. So yes, it became popular suddenly and strictly because it was unpopular. That did not happen with other cards that had low print runs. Once it was announced that it was the hardest card to find in the set, then it became sought after. If someone bought them at the bulk rate ($3.75 each for 20 cards) then you get quite a return on that investment.

Ah, my mistake. I thought you meant major profits on buying the entire set.

Topps Living
 

It is such a foolishly market manipulated set. Card #171 Shin-Soo Choo had 2,737 made. Card #177 Tim Beckham had 2,777 made. There are multiples of both cards selling at less than $15.00 buy it now. Topps made 2,633 Howie Kendrick cards, and it's suddenly selling for $50+? You could have bought as many as you wanted from May 8-15, but now it's extremely desirable?

In a way this reminds me of 1996-97 Topps Chrome Basketball. There was almost no dealer interest in ordering so the only way this product appeared was through retail channels and not heavily printed.

Then you had cards such as a Kobe Bryant RC and those cards exploded in the secondary market. Yep, that's correct, no dealers wanted the product until they could not have any and then the prices exploded.

A perfect corollary to this disucsion

Rich

Or those green and red metal ones people are paying stupid money for.

Ah yes, the world of Precious Metal Gems (also basketball) which has become the best 90's insert set.

Rich