Posted By:
Greg EcklundAdam,
There are definitely different emotions at play between stocks and cards. With stocks, the emotions of greed and fear can be incredibly powerful and can cause normally rational people to say things like "It's different this time" when greedy or capitulate and sell at the bottom of the market when fearful. I believe it was Warren Buffett who said that his best market advice was "To be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy".
I agree with you though, that 95% of these crazy prices lately are not due to greed at all, just people who also enjoy the hobby but have more to spend than most of us. The emotional attachment to cards deals mostly with fond childhood memories, a love for baseball, etc, rather than greed. I'm sure it is a nice feeling for people to say "Gee, that E98 Connie Mack is worth about 5 times what I bought it for 10 years ago", but that isn't the driving force behind why they collect.
I too, would welcome a correction in the vintage market, but it doesn't look to be in the cards (excuse the pun) anytime soon. Being able to buy twice the cards for the money I spend would be just fine with me.
All the Best,
Greg