Quote:
Originally Posted by samosa4u
Yep. These are the b*stards who screwed the hobby up. Now thanks to them, 99% of people can't even afford these types of cards anymore. Oh, and by the way, do these super-rich guys even CARE about sports? I mean, if I was filthy rich, and I loved baseball, then I would at least KEEP this Mantle and ENJOY it for a few years, right?
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The hobby is just maturing. The first $10,000,000 coin sold in 2012 and the ranks of 8-figure collectible cars are increasing rather quickly. Part of the maturation process is that some collectors will in fact be priced out of the market for the choicest material. To avoid being one of those, you have to be at or ahead of the cutting edge with regard to those cards that are going to blossom big time. The time for most of us to buy Cobb's toughest rookie post cards, for example, was 5+ years ago, when what I personally consider the silly debate about whether a postcard could be a baseball card was still going on. The time for buying the 1914 Baltimore News Ruth minor league schedule card was way back in 1989 (or before), when it came out of the chute at a penny-roll like $6,000. Cut through the slag and look for rare, significant, undervalued cards in the best condition you can find or afford. They are indeed out there. Then you'll stand a decent chance of being ahead of the cutting edge.
Being on the trailing edge, which is after one of those cards is "discovered" to fall into that category, is immensely more expensive.
May you always enjoy your collecting in any event,
Larry