Memorabilia vs Cards and trends...

[1880nonsports]

A post!!! You must be working in the house :-)

[TaxMechanick]

Yes indeed Henry; I have been working from home since mid March, and going strong!

Best as Always,
Glenn

[GaryPassamonte]

Hi Glenn. It's been awhile.
I think in many instances, an item's extreme rarity crushes its demand. Some things are virtually not obtainable and because of this they become less desirable. Kind of distorted economics for a nonessential commodity.

[TaxMechanick]

Hey Gary,

It is great hearing from you! It looks like I will not be seeing you in AC, unless, perhaps (postponed from July/August to) December show pans out.

Yup, I certainly agree. Even on the card front, sometimes I hear (i.e. Leon has said to me) that "it is too rare for its own good"!... the story of my life!

Best,
Glenn

[GaryPassamonte]

Many times I'm in the same boat, Glenn. We collect what we like and like what we collect. That's why we've been around so long!

[Hankphenom]

As a memorabilia guy myself, I don't really see that side of the hobby as any kind of weak sister (or some such expression) to cards, or to autographs for that matter. The top pieces go for millions like the top cards, there have been hundreds of items sold for six figures just like the best cards and autographs, and there are very active markets with healthy prices for every area of memorabilia I follow. Perhaps some niches have lost appeal over time and prices have dropped, but look at what happened to photos during that period, for example, and I could only wish that collectors would lose interest in the great old pennants, pins, ad pieces, notebooks, tickets, and all the other "oddball" or "3D" things that get me excited and their prices would take a sudden plunge so I could buy a lot more.

[JeremyW]

Great pieces bring great prices. Cards or memorabilia. Ruth seems to still be the king.

[bigfanNY]

The question supplies a good part of the answer. There is a fairly well defined market for a large number of cards. Especially graded cards. The price difference between buy and sell prices within a range is known. And these cards are relatively liquid. A person can turn an Aaron rookie into cash within a few days. And liquidity is an important part of any market. Most folks sleep better when they know that if something was to happen they could sell their assets. Many Memorabilia pices ( And I collect mostly Memorabilia) are not as liquid. Takes time to sell at Auction etc. And not as portable. ( Sceen from Accountant where he has Action #1 and some rare cards that fit in a backpack in case he has to run.
For me Game used items and large display pieces might not be as marketable but I collect what I like.
J

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by JeremyW

Great pieces bring great prices. Cards or memorabilia. Ruth seems to still be the king.

+1 for both. The question of the thread is how does memorabilia track with cards, and I would answer that historically they have trended closely, from my observation over many years. Whatever ups or downs are happening overall to cards, I would say the same is probably happening in general to memorabilia, also. I doubt if there has ever been any great divergence between them.