Posted By:
Craig DMy two cents..
I very much agree with what Mark noted above. When PSA began grading the cards, demand surged for those examples. A relatively small group of collectors really drove the price levels up. That in turn brought out more supply. I personally sent in well over 300 cards. Now that some of the initial demand has been satiated, prices have settled down. A softening economy has also played a role.
My addendum to Mark's comments would be to note the following. As of last week, there were 2862 T3s noted on the PSA population report (plus 467 T9s). I've tracked the pace of T3 submissions and it has slowed dramatically over the last several quarters. Also, there are currently nearly 1,000 T3s listed in the registry. I personally know where another few hundred are, which are not on the registry. Being able to easily account for 1/2 of all the graded T3s says a lot about the supply. There isn't much. As Mark said, they aren't extremely rare, but I contend that a great many of them were graded over the last few years and there just aren't that many more raw cards around. Especially in high grades (PSA-4 +). I believe that T3s will always be highly sought after and that over the years, even slight upticks in demand will have a big effect on prices. They just aren't making them anymore.
I'd say that if you're considering putting together a set of T3 Turkey Reds, now would be a great time to start. Go ahead and buy 'em now. If you don't, I will.
Happy Collecting,
Craig