Rising Tide Lifts All Boats, But . . .

[Edwolf1963]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

It seems a lot of the E cards are priced below where they were priced a few years ago, even the big names like Cobb, Wagner, Matty, etc. I think these qualify as cards that have fell on lean times or at least cards that haven't risen with the tide.

Agreed, I haven't seen the "E" Series really come around (in general) since the bubble during the recession. Exception may be the E94's, Purple especially. E98's - I was wondering if Black Swamp Find played some role into the prices of the low-mid cards? More supply, higher end coupled with less demand overall? E93's, E95's, E96's and E97's seem generally soft to me. Perhaps not so much with the occasional Cobb, Matty, Wagner - especially in mid to higher grades, but overall, in general interest and prices seem flat.

[Rich Klein]

Scott:

Here is the equilibrium. When the most expensive cards in any set get out of the reach of collectors (in any condition) as part of the cost of the set. Let's say 1955 Topps Clemente, e.g. then collectors give up in trying to complete the set and put back those cards into the marketplace.

And when that happens, well.... then the mid condition commons and "stars" go down in price but not the superstars. A few years ago that happened with sets such as the 1949 Bowman Hi Numbers where there were major buying opportunities in those cards/

Rich

[Touch'EmAll]

Cards with top flight centering for the grade are bringing some really nice prices. Cards with average or below average centering for the grade aren't doing as well.

[philliesphan]

1933 DeLong set has decreased in price/value mightily over the past 5-10 years.

[ullmandds]

d cards seem to be low as ever these days...as mentioned many e cards are still pretty low. many high grade e94's/purple e94's have hit the market in recent past and they have garnished strong prices.

if this is true...as many here seem to think...that recent dramatic rise is due to many "non-collectors" entering the market...then "commons" will continue to remain stagnant unless they are uber high grade and the cards that will continue to rise will be the big name hof'ers especially in super high grade.

[glchen]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

...

if this is true...as many here seem to think...that recent dramatic rise is due to many "non-collectors" entering the market...then "commons" will continue to remain stagnant unless they are uber high grade and the cards that will continue to rise will be the big name hof'ers especially in super high grade.

I agree with this also. In the past when set collecting, I would find myself spending $$$$ on commons that I would only spend one minute looking at, after I bought it, and I would put it in a box with the rest of the set, and never look at these commons again. After a while, I just could not justify spending so much money on commons and preferred to spend it on cards that I wanted to look at all of the time.

I also wonder if the rising prices on the "key" cards in the hobby is having an effect on depressed prices in other areas. For example, a collector might have a 1951 Bowman Mantle or 1955 Topps Clemente as a second or third tier card in their want list that they want to pick up someday, but just not right now as their working on whatever set they are trying to complete. However, as the prices of these key cards have skyrocketed, collectors are thinking, hey, I better get one of those cards now or I might never be able to afford one in the future. So, they are trying to chase that runaway train. Of course, if they are able to purchase those key cards, they have a lot less money to spend on those commons in that set they were working on.

[Beatles Guy]

Popular 50's sets such as '53 Bowman are suffering. I listed a bunch of nice ones this week at a .99 starting price and the reception has been cold. I could be proven wrong by Sunday, but the number of watchers is low.