OT - Example of why card collecting is dying re: Topps

[Exhibitman]

Various points:

Let's give the vintage card snobbery a break. Most of the modern collectors out there are not 'day traders' looking only to make money. There are many enthusiastic, committed, passionate collectors who like modern cards every bit as much as some of us like T206s [which I personally find boring, but I digress]. Having a pissy, superior attitude towards them isn't the way to make the vintage side of the hobby attractive.

None of us know what the next 5-10-20 years hold. We don't need to know that in order to make some pretty accurate assumptions about the hobby as a whole. The times will vary, technology will change, but the basic habits of people don't change. Card collecting took off in the 1970s and has been a big hobby activity ever since. It used to be shows and stores and collecting clubs, now it is eBay and internet auctions and chat boards, but the basic activity remains the same: chasing cards, socializing, and slinging $hit with friends.

The doom and gloom always seems to focus on some past peak moment for the hobby: the 1991 National, the insane prices some cards fetched, the billion dollar modern market, etc. The peak of the hobby was a fad, it wasn't sustainable, and it wasn't what any of the experienced hands at the time were into it for, so citing that peak as evidence the hobby is dying isn't realistic. As long as collectors collect stuff and teams play sports there are going to be collectors collecting sports cards. We may not see 100,000 people at a National clogging the aisles for goodie bags--I hope--but 30,000-40,000 hardcore collectors seems to be sustainable.