Investment potential- which cards will do best?

[Delray Vintage]

I know many on this board do not invest in cards, they collect. However, for those who love collecting but hope to make a decent return, which cards will appreciate the most in the next 10 years? Let's say you could buy 200k in cards today, what would you buy?

[bbcard1]

I think a lot of us will say a nice T206 Plank. If I were going to go with something more "high risk" I would pick up a couple of high grade big names (Ruth, Cobb, Gehrig) and put a portion into a very high grade Tattoo Orbit set, which I think has always been underappreciated and might possibly considerably outpace similar sets as is it seen as representative art form of the era...wish there were a couple more A-list hall of famers. I would see if i could find a really strong Delong set as well...

[Fred]

Usually for me the best investment is the card I didn't purchase. I always pick the dogs but I enjoy the pack of mutts I have.

For "investment" purchase I would look toward "tough" 19th century material in VG+ shape.

I'm going to guess a lot of collectors will say the popular collectors cards are good investments because they are "popular" and therefore high demand:

T206 (Wagner, Plank)
Jackson cards (E90-1T210, CJs)
33 Goudey Lajoie

Ya gotta wonder how much more Ruth can rise. He's still a strong buy candidate.

[glchen]

I would think in general, mid to high grade key cards of big name prewar HOFers should do well. (e.g., Ruth, Wagner, Gehrig, Mathewson, Cobb, Wojo, Young)

BTW if I had 200K to blow on cards, I'd probably try to get a Baltimore News Ruth in lower grade condition if one were still available for that amount.

[rainier2004]

200k?

Id buy 200,000 1990 score sets, another 100,000 1989 topps set and use the other 199k to buy the most beautiful e107 matty and wagner i could and call it a day....the shipping on the sets would be brutal though.

[egbeachley]

These kinds of questions are usually answered with a single great card like a quality T206 Plank and a few spectacular HOF'ers. And maybe you buy a handful for the $200K and 10 years later they go up to $300K. But that doesn't mean the great cards are the best investments since you could purchase 1,000 good T206 commons for $20 each that may go up to $40 each in 10 years.

Yes, it takes more time to find and sell in quantity. But you may sell at a time when there are NOT 2 bidders who really want the quality cards and you take a loss. This doesn't usually happen with commons.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by rainier2004

200k?

Id buy 200,000 1990 score sets, another 100,000 1989 topps set and use the other 199k to buy the most beautiful e107 matty and wagner i could and call it a day....the shipping on the sets would be brutal though.

Steven, I had a friend who has a small room in his house just for storing 'investment' lots. He has '87 Topps wax boxes stacked to the ceiling. Anyone remember the Greenwell/Will Clark rookie rage?

I have my thoughts about this, but I'm currently cornering a couple of markets, so can't say.