Is the baseball card market a "perfect" market? The Demise of the "price guide"

[Julz24]

And speaking of never changing...

I have March 2003 (monthly) Beckett VINTAGE magazine (remember those?) that I carry around to shows. Not as a price guide, but more as a reference. The interesting thing about the price guide aspect, as it relates specifically to POST-war cards, is that for all but a few star cases and some commons, the prices are NO different in this 10 year-old magazine than they are in one of the latest monthly baseball Becketts. Food for thought as to the "value" of those cards or the necessity for monthly "update" price guides.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. I actually do the same thing In a way. The only price guide I use as a reference is a modern card checklist from 1999. If the price in the checklist is around $50, I know I should be able to pick it up for less than $10. If the price is $100, I can probably find it for $10-25. There are however a handful of cards that are actually worth more than they used to be.

My wallet is always thanking me for not collecting heavily during the late 90's - early to mid 00...