Is a PSA 8 Collection of 80's/90's Rookies Worth it?

[stevecarlton1972]

I posted a similar question in the Baseball Thread, but I wanted to get Football Collectors opinions? I have been going through the various 1980's/90's rookie cards that I would love to collect: 1981 Montana, 1986 Rice, 1984 Elway & Marino, 1989 Sanders, 1990 Emmitt Smith, etc.

Right now the PSA 8's are in my range for a majority of these rookie cards (Some PSA 9's). I'm collecting more for enjoyment (as I collected back in the 80's and 90's and sold my collection back in the day when I was in College). But I still want them to have value too.

Is a PSA 8 collection worth it? Or PSA 9 or PSA 10 the only cards that will hold their value years from now?

[Peter_Spaeth]

I would buy these cards because you like them, not as a value proposition. They are all extremely common except perhaps in 10 and even then I think once you get to the 89 rookies there are tons of 10s.

[jefferyepayne]

I would agree with Peter. Trying to predict future value for any card is difficult and even more so for modern sets that were over produced. Anything less than a 10 just isn't likely to spike in value for cards this common.

The cards you mentioned are still very iconic cards that anyone would love to have in their collection regardless of grade. Pickup what you enjoy and can afford and be happy with whatever happens from a value perspective.

jeff

[vthobby]

For some of the same reasons presented but how about this?

PSA 8s in this era usually "look" like 9s or VERY close.

My point is this, You will have VERY clean RCs of incredible icons that look like 9s almost and at a fraction of that cost of a 9.

They will certainly at least hold their values.

Not a lot of risk here!

Enjoy!

Peace, Mike

[gustomania]

IMO, cards in the 80's generally need to be a PSA 9 or PSA 10 to be in the realm of investment grade (mostly PSA 10's).

Consider the 1984 Marino. There are already 3,000 + PSA 9's and around 350 PSA 10's. In order for this card to make a huge financial swing IMO you would need to own a PSA 10. Any big collectors looking for investment will be in at the PSA 10 price level's considering they go for around $1,000.

Consider the 1981 Montana. There are 1700 PSA 9's and 100 PSA 10's. Still readily available but the 10's are priced over $10K making the PSA 9 a decent alternative.

As a comparison look at another iconic card such as the 1957 Johnny Unitas. In total Johnny U has 2600 PSA graded cards. He has approx. 525 PSA 7's and around 190 PSA 8 and 9 (Total). You can get in around $1200 or so on a more premium PSA 7 of Johnny U that has better eye appeal than many 8's.

So, back to your comparison, I don't see much value in PSA 8's in the 1980's and generally not a ton of value in most 9's. There just not all that rare. I think collecting in football cards from the 70's and 80's is purely having fun understanding that although value may not go down, any modest increases likely wont outplay the market over time unless you invest in high grade and specimen's with great eye appeal. IMO in football 3 of the best investment of iconic cards are the Unitas, Brown, and Namath based on them being lower POP and rarity.

However, that being said, collecting is supposed to be fun and collect what you can afford. As a poster above mentioned many PSA 8's have similar eye appeal to a PSA 9 and can be very enjoyable. I however would not count on them having any significant surges in market price given the qty available of each card.

[stevecarlton1972]

Originally Posted by gustomania

However, that being said, collecting is supposed to be fun and collect what you can afford. As a poster above mentioned many PSA 8's have similar eye appeal to a PSA 9 and can be very enjoyable. I however would not count on them having any significant surges in market price given the qty available of each card.

Thanks for the response as I agree with it very much. I guess I should have been more specific in saying that all I am looking for is a PSA 8 to generally hold it's value. If I buy a 1984 Dan Marino Topps Rookie PSA 8 for around $40-$70 (that seems to be the going rate), then I hope it is still in that range 5-10 years from now. I'm really not collecting thinking these PSA 8's will increase in value, but I just don't want them to bottom out because they are not a PSA 9 or 10. But my hunch is there are enough 'non-high end' collectors like me who will always looking for PSA 8's because they are the best of both worlds: Affordable and still a good conditioned card that is mostly centered.

Originally Posted by gustomania

PSA 8s in this era usually "look" like 9s or VERY close.

My point is this, You will have VERY clean RCs of incredible icons that look like 9s almost and at a fraction of that cost of a 9.

They will certainly at least hold their values.

Not a lot of risk here!

Enjoy!

Peace, Mike

This sort of sums up my original post.