Great topic. Here are my opinions as a lower level budget collector…I think that it is several factors why autograph prices are. The economy has been difficult for a lot of us these last few years and there is a lot of autograph stuff out there. Since the 80’s a ton of stuff has been signed. Sellers are often trying to generate money because they are trying to fund another project or liquidating which gives the buyer some negotiation leverage. The number of collectors is also getting smaller; the high end stuff buyers are usually “older” collectors who are starting to look more at retirement and fixed income planning. And collectors are looking at long-term ROI. I am working on a 1957 set and I often struggle do I really want to spend $200-$300 on a common player who died in the 1970’s versus buying several signed HOF items in that same price range. ¬ I know the 1957 card may be harder to find but so will be another buyer at some point. I also collect a lot of signed Seattle Mariners stuff that I know has very little value thus I refuse to pay much for it. Not going to pay a player $5 to sign an 1987 Mariners card when I can get Wade Boggs to sign a card for $5
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