buying more?

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Posted By: scott

with the feeding frenzy and rising $$ on pre-war,do you find yourself buying more..getting while the getting is good?

scott

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Posted By: dan mckee

I find myself broke and unable to buy. Not fun.

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Posted By: identify7

No, I am not buying more. Actually, I am working with a fixed monthly card budget, so with higher prices I am obtaining less cards.

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Posted By: john/z28jd

I also am buying less because prices are higher and i cant afford anything i want.Soon will be time to start that 56 topps set because i still need to buy cards!

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Posted By: T206Collector

And I'm not entirely sure why. I think it has to do with having less cash flow lately, but I'm not even buying low value/low grade stuff that still appeals to me.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I'm in the fixed budget/fewer cards group. It also doesn't help that set like t209 and t210 that no one used to collect are now popular and I can no longer get these cards for what I used to a year or two ago

Jay

My place is full of valuable, worthless junk.

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Posted By: Josh A.

I have been putting together the 1933 Goudey set and have noticed prices on these cards, even the high #'d commons have been rising over the past year. So to answer your question, I've been buying less.

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Posted By: Josh K.

I shouldnt be, but in the past month I have bought more than normal. Ive also sold off a number of cards to pay for a good portion of the new purchases.

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Posted By: Julie

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Posted By: DJ

I used to purchase 4-5 cards a month. I haven't made a purchase since the first week in May. I keep getting outbid. At this point now, I'm 'saving up' for my dream cards in EX condition which never was the case before.

DJ

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

I am buying more...

because I don't want to be kicking myself in 3 years for NOT buying when I should have.

I am already kicking myself for not buying more 3 years AGO.

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Posted By: J Levine

I was buying less, in fact, had not bought any pre-war since rhys sold me a standard biscuit. In the last two months that was my only pre-war purchase...until yesterday when I picked this up for what I think is a big bargain price--

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5218324819&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&rd=1

Joshua

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Posted By: tony

My opinion is to be patient when these things are peaking the way they are. The frenzy wont last forever nor can they keep increasing at the rate they currently are going, although the pre war stuff will continue to rise in value long term. Not at the rate their going the last couple months though.
Save your money and wait, the same cards out of reach right now just might be more affordable when the interest hits a downward trend.
Plus buy saving your money now, it will be there when that card pops up later.

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Posted By: Kevin Cummings

I could probably buy more if I branched out and looked for stuff other than what's specifically on my want list, but the way my luck runs, once I had spent the money that would be when the items on my want list would show up on ebay.

I think the broader appeal of pre-war cards and the rising prices have definitely limited my Old Judge purchases.

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Posted By: identify7

I don't know, Tony. Cards have increased in value in the eighties way faster than they are now. From that perspective, I think that Hal is right.

That is, so long as you are not purchasing cards with money which is important to you, unless you understand everything that is involved.

For me, if cards dropped in value 90% tomorrow that would be good news. Because I could buy many, many more. But that is not such good news if you get caught holding cards which you had planned to sell, or if you had cash which you need for other things tied up in them.

"I see nothing in the present situation that is either menacing or warrants pessimism... I have every confidence that there will be a revival of activity in the spring, and that during this coming year the country will make steady progress."
- Andrew W. Mellon, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury December 31, 1929


"All safe deposit boxes in banks or financial institutions have been sealed... and may only be opened in the presence of an agent of the I.R.S."
- President F.D. Roosevelt, 1933

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Gil,

That FDR quote from 1993 has inspired me to remove all of my stuff (baseball cards) from my safety deposit box and stuff it into my mattress.

Card prices seem to be on the rise. Personally, I hope that card prices DUMP and take a big hit because then that would make them more affordable. I could care less if my collection of cardboard takes a hit in the "bottom line" because that's not why I collect. In fact I WANT TO SEE THIS HAPPEN!!! If the opposite happens then I figure that all of the cardboard I have will probably be sold because then it would not longer be an enjoyable hobby because adding to the collection would be more and more challenging.

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Posted By: Darren J. Duet

Pretty much the same.

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Posted By: John

Buying about the same....but really watching the prices of some issues that I feel have not caught up to the craze and purchasing those. For the most part, I buy cards in the fair to very good range and have still been picking up decent condition T205's and T206's for reasonable prices. I have not landed a caramel card in over six months. Even in off-grades they are commanding what I feel to be too much.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I've always bought cards I wanted when I could afford them/when I saw them. Since much of what I collect isn't easy to find, when I see them is usually more of an issue that whether I can afford them, so I don't really pay attention to the rise and fall of the market on those items. After all, acquiring cards is why God made credit. If the item is common but in demand, however, I think there are still good deals to be found if you are patient, even with the big price rises. I spent quite some time looking for a T206 Evers portrait because I simply wasn't happy with the price I had to pay for a card in the condition I wanted. I could have had one quickly if I'd wanted to pay 30%-50% more, but I waited it out and found one. Ditto for some other "basic" T and E HOFers I've recently purchased at what I felt were decent prices. On the other hand, when our "peerless leader" was offering a Zeenut Chance that I'd long wanted I did not hesitate to pull the trigger even though it was a lot of money (to me) because you just don't pass up cards on your "mega want list" when they surface. I learned that the very hard way some years ago, but I'm stupid and will do it again...heck, I had brain farts at the National last year TWICE. Fortunately, I found one of the cards still in the case when I went back the second day and happily bought it; the other I'm still kicking myself over passing on. Damn you 1958 Bell Brand Gino Cimoli short print, you will be mine some day!!!

I will say that in terms of what I am buying, I have been buying a lot less boxing (by volume) because of the big price increases over the last few years and a lot less E and T baseball too. I'm also getting my butt kicked royally at auction on high grade boxing lately; my internal pricing instinct needs revision upwards I guess. What I'm gonna buy a lot of at the National (I hope)...sorry, that's a secret. I'd have to kill you all if I tell

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Posted By: DJ

As a collector of Original Boxing Broadsides as well from the 40's and 50's, I feel your pain.

I remember focusing on an n172 card that I wanted in a glossy catalog and realizing that it was one of the top five on my want list. I valued the card at $1,800 in that condition (it was VG) and I was going to go $3,300 max. In my 25+ years collecting (sold off a lot throughout), I never thought I would pay double of what I think something is worth. Well, the card sold for $6,300 and I shook my head.

That's the sign of the times I guess and you basically have two types of philosphies. The one that says that I will probably have to pay $10K for that same card in five years or the one that says that 'the bubble will burst' and maybe I can pick that card up for $4K in a couple years.

Monitoring prices as I do, I'm hoping prices do come down and hope for the steady increase that used to occur in vintage cardboard. Only the future knows....

DJ

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Posted By: Bob donaldson

Definately less. Partly becasue of less disposable income and partly because of prices.

Bob

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Posted By: Glenn

Buying less for now. I anticipate having some more money and getting back to my normal purchasing pace in a couple of months though.

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Posted By: Adam J. Moraine

I am in the same league as Dan & Jay. Which isn't fun at all.

Best Regards,

Adam J. Moraine

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Posted By: tbob

I think Hal makes a tremendous point. A lot of people are holding off buying cards thinking the prices, especially on caramel cards, are going to peak and tail off and they will be able to pick them up more cheaply. I think you'll be muttering to yourself a year or two from now that you didn't buy them now just like I do when I see the prices from 2003 and even 2004 that I passed on. Caramel cards, while I am on the subject, are not being flipped like other cards for some reason. They are going in to collections. Sure you may have some released for sale when a guy decides rather than to complete a "master" set of all colors, to keep one nice set and sell off duplicates to fund buying other issues, but by and large the number of E94s and E98s (I have noticed lately) for sale has really dried up. The prices of Zeenuts have really taken off lately and how about the T210 Old Mill cards which as Jay mentioned have started climbing. It seems like collectors have finished the T205, T206 and other sets and are fishing around for eye appealing sets to work on.

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Posted By: Bruce Babcock

Buying less. Down to about 2-3 cards a month on ebay as opposed to 6-7 a few years ago. Prices are up, supply is down.

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Posted By: pete

i'm trying to complete the t206 but since prices have skyrocketed, i'm having to part with some of my other high priced collectibles just to keep in the game...i'm tired of paying $25 for a $10 card.

pete-

ps. my truck is for sale too!

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Posted By: john/z28jd

you gotta think of it the other way Pete,you used to pay $10 for a $25 card! Now youre paying full price,think of it as a limited time sale offer,but it got you hooked and now you have to keep buying it