Looking to Build a Solid Collection of "Investment Grade" Cards

[octane1749]

Originally Posted by jhs5120

I think the recent sale of the Memory Lane t206 Plank card has shown that baseball cards are not always a safe investment.

I would avoid any low pop commons and I would especially avoid cards from "The Black Swamp Find".

What happened with the Plank card?

What was the "Black Swamp Find"

[sb1]

Originally Posted by octane1749

What happened with the Plank card?

What was the "Black Swamp Find"

These two questions alone, indicates you need to do much more research before ever spending any money on cards. I would suggest you read this forum front to back over the next month and then decide if this is want you want to "invest" money in. Or perhaps just dabble as a collector.

Most of the big returns in any collectible area were/are made by collectors who bought items long before the masses. It is very difficult to jump into any matured collectible arena and hope to make large returns, even small ones such as the 5% annualized return without doing a lot of howework and then just getting a bit of luck as well. The card markets are not unlike any other market, they can take swings from hot and cold on many different issues, as it is can be very thinly traded.

Just some pieces to ponder.

[octane1749]

I couldn't agree with you more. Clearly I am still in the early phases of looking.

I like the idea of focusing on one player/series, but I still want a broad understanding of pre WWII cards before narrowing my search.

This forum is an incredible resource. I do intend to read as much as I can before spending any money on cards. I have also searched on amazon for books on buying cards, but there are very few books on colllecting vintage cards.

[Mikehealer]

Try this one, originally published several decades ago, but still my favorite reference book on prewar baseball cards.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lew-Lipsets-...item564e5d831a

[mrvster]

t206 collect the monster