Anyone watching the insane basketball card prices?

[Exhibitman]

As seldom as we agree on anything, D we agree on that! I am emptying out my boxes of stuff I really don't much like and selling it off. Last several years I bought a lot of basketball from my childhood, in part because it was so cheap. At lowest ebb I was picking up PSA 8 1970s HOFers at less than the cost of grading. That's been over for a while. The prices I am checking, though, wow, and not just on big rookies. The average big star in 6 or better from Topps is up anywhere from 200%-500%. Take the 72 Maravich in a PSA 7. Third year of Pistol Pete, good shape for a 72 but not spectacular. Used to be about a $25-$30 card. Now $150.

Oh, and my Magic card is up to $811, closing tomorrow. That used to be the MJ price. Sure wish I'd picked one up...

[Dpeck100]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

As seldom as we agree on anything, D we agree on that! I am emptying out my boxes of stuff I really don't much like and selling it off. Last several years I bought a lot of basketball from my childhood, in part because it was so cheap. At lowest ebb I was picking up PSA 8 1970s HOFers at less than the cost of grading. That's been over for a while. The prices I am checking, though, wow, and not just on big rookies. The average big star in 6 or better from Topps is up anywhere from 200%-500%. Take the 72 Maravich in a PSA 7. Third year of Pistol Pete, good shape for a 72 but not spectacular. Used to be about a $25-$30 card. Now $150.

Oh, and my Magic card is up to $811, closing tomorrow. That used to be the MJ price. Sure wish I'd picked one up...

If everyone had the same opinions at all times the world would be a boring place. Haha

It is really a fascinating situation because for years I have read posts by some who post basketball cards and make reference to the fact that the spread between them and baseball was incredibly wide and they had room to move up significantly. If you asked them to be honest did they think the market would price in such a huge change in six months I would imagine the answer would be no but the reality is there has been so much new money come into cards and people are dying to get it put to work. As I have said many times on various boards because you can't short cards or build derivative trades around them to slow the momentum it is a one way trade.

The guy I referenced above got the Dr. J sold in ten minutes. Pretty wild.

[samosa4u]

Let's stop and think here for a second.

New money ... cards from all genres have taken off ...

Is this true?

First, let me ask you this: if we were to select fifty different collectors from this forum and you were to ask them to name you their top three sports cards, then you'd probably get fifty different lists, right?

So, if new money is coming in from different people, then shouldn't all cards or most cards be going up? Think about it ... a Leaf Jackie has quadrupled in value, whereas the Bowman Mays hasn't gone up a dime. Are there more Jackie fans than Mays? I don't think so. Mays was the greatest. By the way, I own both cards, and so I'm not trying to pump one and shit on the other.

The Clemente hasn't gone up and nor has the Koufax or the Aaron. Vintage baseball is meh.

The OPC Gretzky is on fire, but the rest of hockey is not.

Boxing is flat too (except for maybe a few Ali cards).

[Dpeck100]

There are loads of cards going up in value. Perhaps some are going up more which I think is natural but all one must do is look online and it is pretty easy to see.

I focus on wrestling, a few boxers, and cards of wrestlers from other sports and this list has been scorching hot. In wrestling Hogan, Andre, Flair, The Rock, Steve Austin, Undertaker, and some others have gone up the most. I think you are seeing a lot of collectors focus on the biggest stars. A few nights ago a 1982 Wrestling All Stars Dick The Bruiser PSA 8 went for $62. Is that up from a year ago? Yes. This was a $40 card so up over 50%. I think that is great. In the same auction a PSA 7 82 Hogan went for $2,025. This is up over 600%. Obviously a huge divergence but still both are up.

A BGS 8 1986 Panini Tyson went for $7,300. This is up over 1,700% in the past year. In the same auction a PSA 9 1991 Ringlords went for $270 and that is up 800% and so you are also seeing lots of variance within the same athlete by card. Even PSA 6's of Tyson are in high demand. A board member here just sold a UK back for over 2k and he had offers even higher after the auction closed so you are seeing high demand for star cards even in more modest grades.

The 1994 Miami Hurricanes Dwayne Johnson has exploded. A PSA 10 went for over 6k the other night and this was a $725 card. There are plenty of Rock cards from older wrestling sets that have probably barely moved in valued because of lack of demand. Collectors are focusing on athletes best cards or their rookie card.

Taking this back to basketball.Check out the price on this Hakeem PSA 10. $8,600 with three days to go.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer-...QAAOSwAnJfRcBk

There is a PSA 8 at over $300.

I honestly don't see how anyone could be watching card listings and not see prices going up.

[samosa4u]

Yes, I know the AS Hogans and Panini Tysons are on fire (you don't have to keep pointing that out, David! lol).

I have been watching eBay sales, and I think that certain cards are being targeted here. I could write you a list of about twenty or thirty cards that have exploded, and at the same time, I could name you about a hundred popular cards that have not gone up a dime. Why is that? Isn't new money pouring in from all over America? It makes no sense to me that a 1957 Topps Bill Russell can go from $3,000 to 30,000 USD in just a few weeks, and yet, the 1955 Topps Sandy Koufax stays flat. It just doesn't.

[Exhibitman]

Looks like Cousy is next up...

[jad22]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

Looks like Cousy is next up...

Insane prices for Cousy currently.