Posted By:
Al C.risafulliThere are all sorts of reasons for participating in this hobby. Some people do it because they love the cards, some people do it because they love the investment angle, some people collect shiny stuff, some people collect 19th century stuff. Whatever. It's a big hobby.
I do know that we all think it's fun to find a card at a price significantly lower than its true "value," and that most of us love when a set we're working on catches fire (as long as we're done collecting it) and prices go through the roof.
Personally, I don't really collect out of speculation. I collect stuff I like. I buy it, and hang onto it until I don't want it anymore. Then I sell it, give it away, or trade it. I don't want to deal with the pressures that go with investing - this is a hobby for me, and I choose to do it for relaxation.
For me, it's the history of the game and the people I've met that make the hobby fun. But yes, there are people who have made a great living in this hobby by being able to spot trends and stay ahead of them, and if that's what they enjoy, awesome.
In any aspect of life, however, people tend to get irritated by boasting or by consistent references to money. We all know that this hobby costs money, and that rarities cost more than common items. Personally, I'm more interested in reading about someone's excitement about the hobby.
The gentleman who collects T-cards with one particular personalized stamp (I'm so sorry I can't recall your name) has, in my opinion, one of the most interesting angles to this hobby I've ever heard of, and I'll never get sick of seeing examples of that stamp. Yet the investor would look at that stamp as something that reduces the value of the card. At the same time, Jim (for example) collects only cards in PSA 8, and is just as enthusiastic about his approach to the hobby as anyone else on this board. In my opinion, that's what makes this hobby so great - it attracts everyone for different reasons, and yet as different as all of our approaches might be, we can all come together and share knowledge and experience in a forum like this one.
To me, the ultimate collector-investor is the person who buys up shiny modern cards, finds the important rookie cards and special inserts, and flips them for a quick profit, while building the "base" sets for their own collection in the process. It takes an insane amount of knowledge - both of the hobby, the investment angle, and the game itself - to be successful at that. It's a piece of the hobby that I'll never understand, and yet it's as legitimate a part of the hobby as any other. The people who have done well at this have done VERY well, and it's a lot more difficult to do than to seek out a scarce 19th century card that's virtually guaranteed to increase in value if you hold it long enough.
-Al