Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankWakefield
What Leon said... think about stocks, do you always hold a stock until you can sell it for a profit? No, sometimes you sell a stock to free up cash to buy something else. I think baseball card collectors do that to some extent, to free up money to get another card; and ball card speculators are all the time selling cards to get money to buy more cards to sell.
I'm glad ball card collectors sell cards, that puts cards out there on the market for me to have a chance at buying. Card speculators churning around in the ball card market does annoy me a bit, probably for no good reason.
One more aspect... how certain are you the the guy selling for a loss is the same guy that won the card at auction 2 months previously? There could have been an intervening transaction.
I've sold a few E90-1s at a slight loss. I didn't buy them in the first place with the intent of making money on them, I was looking at putting a set together. Back in the day, the Mitchell card was the really tough card. But what it took to buy one was eclipsed by a few of the HOFers eventually. I think this was because there were more buyers (not just collectors) buying pre war HOFers. Look at the cost of the Mitchell (among the E90-1's I sold) back in 1990 compared to the cost of an E90-1 Cy Young, then look at the cost today... a collector eventually wants Mitchell to fill the set; a HOFer speculator has no need for a Mitchell. Compare the 1990 cost of a T206 green Cobb, to the 1990 cost of the Polar Bear Demmitt's and O'Hara's; compare that to the differential in their 2021 costs. Demmitt and O'Hara are less plentiful, yet Cobb costs much more and the cost has increased at a greater rate. I sold those few E90-1's because I had realized that I wasn't going to pay what I deemed high prices for the HOFers in the set that I lacked... Not a bit of that thought process is in the head of a speculator in old ballcards (they may think of themselves as investors, speculator seems the proper label to me).
An afterthought, maybe that 2 month later bidder was a shill bidder.
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yes...all relevant points! I sold my 51 bowman mantle a few years ago for a small profit...and then rolled this $$$ into cobbs and ruths.
I missed the runup on my mantle for around 8K to current levels 25k+...but my ruths have made up the difference I lost on the mantle.
I think the only $$$$$ I've ever lost on cards has been on type "rarities!"
the t207 red cross lowdy...t208 fireside...etc.