Liquidity & Investing vs collecting

[Peter_Spaeth]

Mine seems to have normal looking borders?

[Bpm0014]

Brendan, the Wagner seems to have more of a curvature on the top of the card. The Cobb Bat On may have that same curve on the bottom of the card.

Look closely on the bottom of the Wagner....left side to about midway thru his name....fairly pronounced.

[Luke]

I never took a close look at the Wagner. That is a terrible hack job, geez. Can't really believe that Mastro did such a bad job and that PSA still slabbed it.

I've seen plenty of Cobbs with normal borders. Tiny borders and high grades almost always equals trimmed.

I want to clarify something I said earlier. I said that cards can be good investments, but I don't mean that all cards are. I wouldn't want to put my money into high grade Jordans or high grade 50's RCs right now. Cards like the Cobbs shown are incredibly risky because a lot of them are $800 cards in holders with a high # on the plastic case.

However, if I had $100k that I wanted to invest in cards (I don't) I am confident I could get a decent return over the next 5-10 years, and I bet a lot of other collectors on this forum would be as well.

[rhettyeakley]

This is one of the least "fun" threads I have ever read.

I am both a collector and a bit of an investor/dealer, as I find it fun to make a bit of money on the side and it allows me to buy more cool stuff without spending "family money" (ie, my day job salary).

To each his own I suppose but I find the thought of investing in high end slabs a bit too sterile and cold, no different than investing in gold or silver (there is nothing wrong with investing in those but not nearly as much fun).

I do find the OP's admission that he is willing and ready to manipulate the market for a card and openly admitting to that a bit troublesome & makes me feel a bit squeamish at the same time. What doesn't make as much sense to me about the premise he puts forth is that if he is aggressively bidding on and winning every copy of a card that comes up for sale and then corners the market he has to be sure someone out there is taking his place in the items he later sells as we have all seen the price of certain cards go down once all the larger collectors have filled their sets out and the bidding isn't quite as spirited. I suppose he could go straight sale (no auction) but I don't see too many 50-100k cards changing hands outside of the auction format, although I'm sure they do.

This thread is a great way to make a fun hobby feel just a little less fun.

All that said, to each his own!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

This is one of the least "fun" threads I have ever read.

I am both a collector and a bit of an investor/dealer, as I find it fun to make a bit of money on the side and it allows me to buy more cool stuff without spending "family money" (ie, my day job salary).

To each his own I suppose but I find the thought of investing in high end slabs a bit too sterile and cold, no different than investing in gold or silver (there is nothing wrong with investing in those but not nearly as much fun).

I do find the OP's admission that he is willing and ready to manipulate the market for a card and openly admitting to that a bit troublesome & makes me feel a bit squeamish at the same time. What doesn't make as much sense to me about the premise he puts forth is that if he is aggressively bidding on and winning every copy of a card that comes up for sale and then corners the market he has to be sure someone out there is taking his place in the items he later sells as we have all seen the price of certain cards go down once all the larger collectors have filled their sets out and the bidding isn't quite as spirited. I suppose he could go straight sale (no auction) but I don't see too many 50-100k cards changing hands outside of the auction format, although I'm sure they do.

This thread is a great way to make a fun hobby feel just a little less fun.

All that said, to each his own!

Plenty of folks with lots of money have inhabited and continue to inhabit the hobby. And I don't doubt that many of them were/are attuned to an investment as well as a collecting angle. But something about the in your face tone of this thread -- or I should say the OP's posts -- seems different in kind.

[boneheadandrube]

I think the term "Hot Potato 8's" should be an industry term for cards like those Cobbs.

[ALR-bishop]

I knew from the first paragraph of the first post that I was going to be one of the dumb guys who never eventually gets it.

[the 'stache]

Then, come sit with me at the dumb guys table, Al. The bar's open. What are you drinking?

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

I knew from the first paragraph of the first post that I was going to be one of the dumb guys who never eventually gets it.