State of the Post War Market

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

My vantage point is very much a minority perspective I am sure. I backed away from higher grade cards long ago and opted instead for quality mid-grade cards within complete sets that I could more readily afford and stay married. I collect baseball and football sets from the 1950s and 1960s. Over the last month, I have been able to acquire two nice partial sets at what I considered a good value. The baseball partial set was a 1954 Topps set 242/250. It was a largely crease-free vgex partial and all ungraded. On the other side of the coin, the football partial was 137/198 with all the major cards except for one and all graded..very nice. In each instance, I was able to pick up nearly entire sets for the price of about three of the major cards.

I haven't really thought about "the market" front and center all that often in terms of my collecting. My experience has taught me at least a couple of lessons. First, patience is a virtue. I got so tired of hearing this from experienced collectors when I was younger, but it is defintely true. The second a collector determines he must have a certain card at a certain high grade during a specific time table, that collector will likely pay more for that card than he needs to. The person I bought the baseball partial from lost patience and money and bailed on a project because he hadn't adequately planned. Second, I am reminded that most collectors I know outside of Net54 are simply collectors who have a passion for their cards. They often collect with their hearts and not their heads. I think of these folks as the secondary market. They don't even know what Net54 is, and most of them don't even acknowledge the big auction houses because they are too pricey for them. Most of these guys collect what they like and would never sell. Their cards don't come to market. If they get in money trouble, they are going to probably sell to another collector in the secondary market, and no one else will ever know. You have to remember participants here on Net54 are an extremely small percentage of collectors.

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[LeftHandedDane]

I think what most people are saying, which I totally agree with, is that there is not a single market for cards, but multiple markets. The major auction houses traffic almost exclusively in high end, graded cards of the most sought after stars. That market appears very hot, but is quickly transforming from a hobby market into an investment market. Much more data is available and there are many in the market whose primary focus is to turn a profit rather than acquire a prized collectible.

On the other hand, there is the traditional collectible market with its wide range of sub-markets: pre-war, post-war, modern, regional, etc. across one category; registry collectors, raw set builders, and so on in other categories. I think prices in this market tend to change much more slowly except where it bumps into the investment market. As someone who collects in this market - a raw set builder - it can be frustrating to see so much emphasis on high-end, investment grade cards that at times it seems like it gets harder and harder to find the cards I am looking for.

[avalanche2006]

I know what your talking about Ed. I am a high grade raw set builder who is close to completing 1958, 1959, and 1960. I often buy graded cards that meet my specifications and crack them open. The raw cards that I find on ebay rarely make the grade. I am now focusing on SGC graded cards, due to members input.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by avalanche2006

I know what your talking about Ed. I am a high grade raw set builder who is close to completing 1958, 1959, and 1960. I often buy graded cards that meet my specifications and crack them open. The raw cards that I find on ebay rarely make the grade. I am now focusing on SGC graded cards, due to members input.

With the huge amount of those cards floating around (50s-60s Topps), and more coming out by the thousands (or millions, see Leland's) I would think you could still find nice NRMT and better raw cards from those years. I am pretty darned sure they are out there. It's just a matter of finding them.