Quote:
Originally Posted by Rich Klein
C'mon now. How many of us over the years have bought cards because of the possible expectation that they are or will be worth more than we paid for them.
Rich
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I'm not saying that cards are worth their potential to you or to any other specific buyer. I'm saying that the
market values them at their potential.
Obviously, to the vast majority of buyers, cards are only worth whatever their current state suggests because most buyers aren't looking to improve cards. But even if just 1% of the bidders in an auction are looking for cards to improve, that would be enough for those improveable cards to be sold at their potential, as opposed to at whatever their current state suggests.
A very common example of this fact is that every time you see a 1986 Fleer Sticker Michael Jordan card listed at auction with the (ST) qualifier, because it has wax on the back, it always sells for much more money than its grade suggests it should be worth. A PSA 8 (ST) is going to sell for something close to what a PSA 8 without the qualifier would go for. Recently, PSA stopped adding the qualifiers, so you'll find them as straight PSA 6s instead, but the effect is the same. These will sell closer to what PSA 7s and 8s go for than they will what PSA 6s sell for. The reason is obvious. It's because the buyers know they can crack the cards out, wipe off the wax from the back with a pair of pantyhose and resubmit it for a higher grade. The same is true for any card with improvable flaws, whatever those may be. It is what it is. But it's definitely true whether we like it or not. In the limit, all cards that can be improved will be improved. It's inescapable.