A bit OT : What does Strassberg speculation say about the vintage Mkt

[Leon]

This sort of reminds me of the little old lady that found the 1869 Peck and Snyder and was subsequently on The Tonight Show and many other media venues with it. That card sold in Memory Lane for around 75k. It's not a 75k card (and wasn't then). About a few days later I got a call from the person who bought it, the gentleman that owns Tri-Star, whom I have met a few times. I guess he Googled the card and found mine on my website and since we knew each other a little bit, gave me the call. I told him I thought it was a neat card and I like mine a lot but it really wasn't quite as valuable as what he paid for it. He said he would get 2x the price of it back in advertising. I think several months after that he consigned it to another auction house and it did only bring about 40k-50k, if I remember correctly. So the bottom line is that some of these very high profile cards come with benefits that have nothing to do with the actual value of the card itself.

I have no issue with anyone spending their money the way they want to. I just hope they don't think the 100k+ card is going to rise a whole lot in value. Historically that has not been the case.

And one last thing. I firmly believe that any GOOD publicity for any baseball card collecting is GOOD for ALL of us. So kudos for the whole spectacle, in that respect .

regards

[barrysloate]

Leon made a good point. It's quite possible that many of the bidders at the high end are in the process of starting businesses and just need some kind of splash to get off the ground. Clearly whoever wins this card will have his face on TV and in newspapers, so maybe that's what he's buying. Because baseball card wise, he's getting virtually nothing for his money.

[mark evans]

I agree with you guys and would clarify my view that there's nothing wrong with the purchase, even if just because the buyer likes the card alot.

[DeanH3]

Check out this Strasburg. Auto'd 1 of 1. Not my cup of tea but someone likes enough to shell out 100k+.

http://cgi.ebay.com/2010-Bowman-Step...58371064372602

[tbob]

Ask all those people who bought cases and cases of 1981 Donruss and Fleer and Topps cases so they could pay for their kids' college education how that is going.

[Misunderestimated]

At least the autographed card is going for more money..... That seems like a better value than the super-duper-duper referactor thing...

[Matthew H]

It's kind of funny how alot of people think these bidders are crazy (I do too).

Everyone in my family thinks I am crazy for spending the money that I do on cards. I'm sure all of you has at least one person like that around you so I guess now we know how they feel.

I think it's good that modern card manufactures have figured out a way to make cards valuable again. They made opening packs exciting. Good for them. As time goes by, the hobby needs new collectors and that's what its getting. Remember, we need new generations of collectors for our cards to hold their value too.

Otherwise our children won't get half the money we spent when they dump our collections

[chris6net]

I am going to invest in a case of RA Dickey,s Cards!

[PolarBear]

Originally Posted by Leon

T....He said he would get 2x the price of it back in advertising.....

Good point. Think of all the publicity the guy got who bought the Bonds HR ball.


As far as the market goes, it shows that the vintage market is established and stable, the modern market is speculative.