One more way to ruin the hobby - fractional ownership

[WhenItWasAHobby]

One clear example, in my mind, of fractional ownership that has ruined the hobby is that PSA under Collectors Universe is a publicly traded company. Ultimately, PSA answers to the stockholders and the users of their service are secondary.

PSA engages in a service that is very subjective, and to keep cost low they offer a service of inspecting a card for typically 20 seconds without a rigorous, scientific program to detect alterations. The bottom line is meeting corporate objectives, so it's easy to see how a company like PSA get caught up in a scandal like this.

[Sean]

When I bought the Cobb Back I had to borrow $50,000 from my girlfriend. I offered her a 1/3 share in the card instead. She declined.

Not exactly the same as what is discussed in this article, but similar I think.

[Johnny630]

TOTAL KABOOKIE THEATER B to THE S

I have some Ocean Front Property in New Mexico you wanna own a fraction of it

[packs]

How would this even work? If you owned a "share" of a card but never possessed the actual card, what say do you really have in its being offered for sale? Couldn't the person with a majority stake leave it to his children who will then outlive all of the other "shareholders"? How many generations is someone really willing to follow the card around for and wait for it to be sold?

[tschock]

You only really own what you currently have in your hand. Everything else is up for grabs, by legal or illegal means.

[btcarfagno]

This idea has been going on in the horse racing industry for decades. I have no idea about its success or failure as a concept in that industry, but it does seem to be even more prevalent today than it was ten years ago. So it must not be doing too bad.

Apples to oranges horse racing to sports cards I get that.

[ToddW.]

Let's not forget the biggest question -- who gets to include it in their PSA Registry.

Haha.

[chalupacollects]

Originally Posted by packs

How would this even work? If you owned a "share" of a card but never possessed the actual card, what say do you really have in its being offered for sale? Couldn't the person with a majority stake leave it to his children who will then outlive all of the other "shareholders"? How many generations is someone really willing to follow the card around for and wait for it to be sold?

I would think they may have to put a time limit on ownership where it has to be sold to avoid generations of families having to deal with following the card(s) around...

Bigger question is what if they drop a million or two on a card that later on is found to be altered, conserved or Moserized???

Who takes that hit?

[packs]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

I would think they may have to put a time limit on ownership where it has to be sold to avoid generations of families having to deal with following the card(s) around...

Bigger question is what if they drop a million or two on a card that later on is found to be altered, conserved or Moserized???

Who takes that hit?

I don't know....how can you really gauge when the best time to sell the card will be? If you put a time limit on the sale you might be setting yourself up for a loss due to forced sale at the wrong time.

[Mutton Chop Yaz]

It doesn't work, as demonstrated by the Simpsons episode that gave rise to my user name:

https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Three_...d_a_Comic_Book

https://simpsonswiki.com/wiki/Carl_Yastrzemski

[timzcardz]

Originally Posted by chalupacollects

I would think they may have to put a time limit on ownership where it has to be sold to avoid generations of families having to deal with following the card(s) around...

Bigger question is what if they drop a million or two on a card that later on is found to be altered, conserved or Moserized???

Who takes that hit?

That's the beauty of it. You only take a fractional hit!