Prewar v. Postwar & Big Names...?

[jchcollins]

For those of you who find most of your posts to be either on this section of the boards, or at least equally divided between prewar and postwar - this is a thread to discuss how you feel about “big name” cards from either era:

I occasionally wonder about my collection, as I realize from time to time that while I have a treasure trove of stars and HOF’ers from the 1950’s and later - the same is not true of my prewar collection. While I do have some type-stuff for prewar and a couple of nice cards here and there - yeah, there are no Goudey Ruth’s or T206’s Cobbs. The issue of how / if folks choose to afford these is what is intriguing to me at the moment. For some that predate my time in the hobby this will not apply, but I started collecting as a kid at age 9 in 1986, getting into “old” cards a few years after that. Old at the time meant anything from 1950 to 1980, generally. Basically I have always thought of the situation as me being priced out of “big name” prewar cards from the getgo. Yes, Goudey HOF’ers were much cheaper in the 1980’s and 90’s then they are today, but as a kid with a limited budget then, it was always relative. When I was a kid, one sometimes saw cards like that at shows, but for the most part, the multiple LCS’s in every town back then did not have a huge inventory of prewar cards. It was the ‘50s on with Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Koufax, Williams, etc. etc. that was most popular, so as a kid this is what I got into, despite a limited budget. Postwar will always be my first love because of this, and I’m fine with that - but every so often I get to daydreaming, and thoughts like “Well, I could sell these 4 or 5 cards here and probably afford a low grade Goudey Gehrig...” start creeping into my head. Funny enough I’ve never been able to pull the trigger in that vein, though. I think subconsciously at least for me, it’s the idea of a certain amount of $$ tied up in one card, or maybe a couple of cards, and what I am comfortable with. Even in lower grade, many of those marquee prewar names are going to be “comma cards” as I recently saw them referred to, insinuating that they are over $1,000. I’ve just never been able to go for that really. I have on rare occasions spent sums approaching that for a key postwar card, but most of my purchases are much smaller than that. A $100 card is still a big deal to me for postwar. Also another factor - not that I’m a condition snob, but I do like midgrade cards for postwar and not beaters. Doing this with prewar names is going to be virtually impossible on my budget, sans you seeing my face on the news for winning the latest Powerball. I guess the idea of spending that much on a card, and knowing it’s still apt to be creased or beat up is a turnoff for me - whether subconscious or not. I routinely find myself looking at T206 HOF’ers on eBay and thinking jeez, they want that much for a PSA 2?

All this to ask - thoughts? Have you been in this boat yourself? Have you ever liquidated a large postwar collection for prewar dollars or vice-versa? Were you happy with your decision?

An odd topic maybe, but this kind of thing intrigues me...

Happy New Year!
-John


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