[FourStrikes]

Originally Posted by the 'stache

The market for vintage baseball cards in 2002 was completely different than it is today. The blue chip cards ('55 Topps Clemente, '52 Topps Mantle, '54 Topps Aaron, '51 Bowman Mays, to name a few) have seen their selling prices skyrocket.

I know it sucks to see a card you had selling for an astronomical amount, but every man that has collected cards seriously has witnessed something similar. "I couldn't get xx for xx card in xx, but now it's selling for xx". Or, "I should have bought xx in xx when it was selling for xx."

And Rickey Henderson, in 2002, was still playing. Today, he's retired, and a Hall of Famer. I would also expect that PSA's grading standards are much more stringent today.

Lots of factors go into what you're seeing.

back in the mid-1980s I had a 1954 Aaron, Mays and one of the Williams cards (probably in 2016-speak PSA 4-5's) that I
traded to a dealer at a card show for these 7 1948 Leafs plus a few commons (NO SPs)....

sure, they're not all beautiful (the Spahn has tape residue at corners on back as well as the corner clip) but to this day, I'm
still happy I made the trade, as I still have them today - and RAW.

never chased the set/never will, and the desire to upgrade just isn't there, and I'm happy they're still here!

while there's plenty of stuff I sold or traded back in the day, I had a few of each of the above 54 Topps when I made the deal.

I absolutely agree, Bill - and others - that we've all played the "shoulda/coulda/woulda" hindsight game at some point or another
and more than likely will continue to do so as we see the prices skyrocket, but...

DS

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