I was out of the hobby for a few years.....

[Rhotchkiss]

In 2015, I jumped back in starting collection 3.0. Initially I focused on Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Paige, etc. But within months I landed back at my roots - t206s. By 2017 I was buying all the Wagner, Cobb, and Plank items I could. By 2018 I added Jackson and Ruth to that list, as well as classic cards of Young, Mathewson, and Lajoie (Rose Co PC, Cracker Jack, W600, E107, etc). Aside from a few sets, my focus remains rooted in 2017-18 endeavors/players. However, I began selling stuff last year. This was because the appreciation was too impactful.

In my experience, most Wagner and Cobb items are 3-5x more today than what they were in 2017. Almost everything I bought before 2020 is up at least 3x. Things have come down somewhat in the past year compared to highs in 2022, especially Cobbs, but the major players are WAY up from pre Covid levels. Prior to that, these items had slow be consistent appreciation since 2012+/-.

My suggestion is to get a subscription to VCP (vintage card prices.com). It’s a very useful site. You can see the trend in sales over the past almost 20 years.

My gut is that, barring a major recession, prices will not go down, and they will flatten and stay stagnate for a while. Even if we have a major recession, which I believe is coming, I think many of these items will retain most of their value - the demand is real and the supply is limited.