Seems to me Johnny M and Jewish Collector are correct, as are everyone else.
What were our expectations? As a 10 year old kid buying a pack of cards, I wasn't thinking about future value at all. And the same for buying my first T206 in the mid 80s. I just liked seeing a card from some player's playing days.
Have I ever thought about an increase in value? Yes. Although I think the value doesn't change, the value is nominal; what changes is the dollar amount at which buyers and sellers are willing to engage in transactions. I've bought graded cards, and for years whenever I bought them I cracked them out. The last few years I've left some of them in their slabs. Is that a tacit decision on my part recognizing that I'm gonna sell that card one day?
I mention the slab cracking to help folks see 2 perspectives: I'm buying this card to collect it because of the player, what he did on the field, the set and it's history, and the visual image of the card; vs I'm buying this card because it's going to increase in value. The 'buying to collect' folks get frustrated and thwarted with rising prices; while the 'investor' guys depend on that price increase.
Seems to me that in one way it sorts out the collectors and the investor/speculators. If the cards I'd bought as a 10 year old were still worth pennies I'd be ok with it.
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