Posted By:
Bruce Dorskind
John
We are sure your classmate is an important factor in the Art Market
To the best of our knowledge, there is no one in the baseball card
market that serves a similar role.
The dealers and auction houses who choose to "advise" selected collectors
have a vested interest in said collectors acquiring the items they own
or are selling.
We assume that your friend is "auction house neutral" Certainly art
consultants influence the art market.
In baseball the auction houses influence the market to the extent that
they uncover and offer material to the public. They exercise greater influence
when they sell said material in an auction as opposed to privately.
However, the direction of the market (let's not be so foolish to deny that
the value of items is what has drawn so many new collectors to the hobby)
is influenced by what people are willing to pay.
If this was a market, as it was when we first began collecting in 1975, where it
was rare for an item to sell for more than a few thousand dollars (exception
Wagner, Lajoie etc) many of the collectors with very large collections would
not he in the hobby. There are certainly exceptions, including yours truly.
Long time collectors like Keith Oberman and Jay Miller also were not drawn in
by the value.
But the market and the interest and the international recognition in the press
and the countless millionaires who are now "collectors" has a great deal to
do with the fact that the prices of rare baseball cards have exploded and continue
to rise against every other economic trend
Bruce Dorskind
America's Toughest Want List