Autographs as an investment

[GrayGhost]

Don't you catch CARP Trav? haha.

I agree w what Trav said though. "Investment" is a scary word. Have fun at it.

[39special]

I agree with Scott and Travis.Its my hobby and I enjoy it.If I were to do it for investment,it would take the fun out of it.

[sdkammeyer]

I'm not an autograph person myself, but as far as an investment I would agree with the others.

As a hobbyist I say that my collection is exactly that ....... my collection, and the money aspect of it means nothing to me.

As a realist (because this stuff does cost money) I see it more as a "really cool savings account" if anything.

I honestly don't see the market for baseball cards falling off anytime soon. Worst case scenario is I hold on to a $1000 card for 5-10-20 years and then sell it off for the same amount that I paid for it originally..... no different than burying $1000 in the back yard and digging it up 5-10-20 years later ..... except that I got to enjoy it for that 5-10-20 years

But as far as getting a substantial dividend off of your investment, collectibles is probably not the way to go.

[Mr. Zipper]

I don't consider my collectibles as an "investment" either. But, when I spend money on something, it would be nice to get something back out of it down the line when it's time to sell.

With this in mind, for someone starting I would advise on avoiding mass-produced material as much as possible. By that I mean single signed balls of common signers, common signed flats, etc. Go for items that are less common. If you really want a signed item from someone who is in plentiful supply, get one with a less common inscription.

If I could tell go back in time and tell myself something 20 years ago, it would be, "one $200 item is way better than ten $20 items."

[RichardSimon]

+++ for all of the above comments.

[travrosty]

especially avoid speculation, buying 100 bryce harper signed baseballs now when he is hot. then next year he breaks his leg and is out of the big leagues forever, then you are done. at the minimum, buy nice, problem free, signed balls and photos of hof players like mantle, ruth, etc. established popular hof players who are deceased. because they cant sign any more legitimately and they are dead and their career totals wont change. speculation just kills the investor.

regfrigerator perry error cards were hot at 100 dollars apiece because they were a short print, proset football card. they later plummeted to the common bin for a dollar. jerome walton upper deck rookie cards were hot at over 20 dollars after his rookie season in which he went on a hitting streak. then we never heard any more from him and his cards are worth nothing now.

[dgo71]

Rule #1 of collecting is collect what you enjoy because then it doesn't matter if it ever becomes "worth" something or not.

That said, I think autographs tend to hold their value than cards, with the exception of the old pre-war cards that are very rare and hard to find in good condition. Old cards have value because people didn't save them, didn't slab them in two-inch plastic, etc. They got put in bike spokes, thrown against the wall in games of War, clipped, thumb-tacked and eventually thrown away by mothers whose sons had gone off to college. In the 80s/90s, everyone and their mother was hoarding cards thinking they'd be a suitable replacement for a 401K account. That stuff was massively over-produced and everyone has it.

IMO autographs hold their value much better, though the return on investment might be slow for common signers. Deceased HOFers like Mize, Slaughter, Feller, Kell, etc. still can be had for next to nothing because they signed everything in sight. But even the $20 autos from 1990 are now approaching the $100 range in most instances. As more collectors enter the hobby, there will be fewer and fewer autographs on the secondary market, and eventually I think most have nowhere to go but up in value.

But always refer to rule #1!