Yes, this is OT but still a valid subject - Have they petered out?

[botn]

Shocking there has only been one reply. I would have thought the numerous defenders of the new era in the hobby would be explaining why so many of the rookie cards which went up 500%, and some much more, have now pulled back.

All one has to do is take a look at VCP to see the direction of the trend. The "demand" we saw was artificial, at least on the grade 8 and lower, as I had been saying all along. There were also panic buyers who did not want to get left out as they saw prices double, sometimes each week. Will not deny there was new money but most of it was not here to stay. The market increases were also not due to PSA's aggressive marketing campaign like some have offered as explanation for the move.

Fact is that certain people from the non-existent "buying group", have been banned from auctions, others are liquidating or have moved on. Recent price drops are not due to sales being too close to the National or because examples offered are low end or have some perceived flaw. In the end, as has always been the case, nice examples for the grade will do well. And we can continue to expect strong prices being paid for 9s and 10s assuming the pull back on the 8 grade and lower has not impacted that part of the market. Guess time will tell.

[Jobu]

While I do not disagree with what has been posted, it should also be pointed out that the centering on that card is really bad and the non-centered cards have not gone bananas like the centered cards (there are exceptions). This makes sense because, as a fellow board member once told me, "Topps is known to have some serious issues with centering, but only from 1951 to 2016."

[Joshwesley]

I've been in the hobby for 1.5 years and it's easy to see what's been happening the last 6 months..

There is going to be lots of folks stuck with PSA 8 and 9 HOF rookies that just lost 80% of their value.

I've never thought any of this was sustainable.

Too much supply... The rare (pre-war) stuff IMO is where the value for investing purposes (long term).