Are vintage basketball cards market saturated?

[Eric72]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

Much of this high end stuff is playing musical chairs from auction house to auction house push pump redo. All a game.

I agree with this assessment.



Regarding the question posed by the OP:

If you're referring to "saturated" in terms of current supply vs. current demand, the mass exodus of recent hobby newcomers is likely exerting a short-term negative influence on the market. I don't believe this will last long, though. The amount of vintage basketball available isn't really that much.

In terms of actual quantity, vintage basketball cards are in significantly lower supply than baseball cards from the same era. They're in somewhat lower supply than football cards, too. At least, that's the conclusion I drew from an admittedly quick glance at PSA Pop Reports.

While that might be mildly interesting, try comparing vintage basketball pop counts to those of modern cards. It puts things into perspective very quickly. Here's a benumbing statistic:

There are roughly the same number of PSA 10 Zion Prizm Base Rookies as every single 1957 Topps basketball card they've ever graded. Let that sink in. One version, of one card, from one set, in one grade.

So, relatively speaking, vintage basketball is a tiny drop in the overall hobby bucket.