Card prices skyrocketing

[ASF123]

I always try to have cards in my collection that I just find enjoyment in so that if I woke up tomorrow and they were worthless, I'd still enjoy collecting them.

I am very much trying to achieve this state of zen, but as a your standard returning collector/junk wax kid, I find myself with some lingering trauma from the first crash. Having been through it once already, how do you turn off that voice in your head that worries about spending $ on cards, only to have the market one day declare them all worthless and terrible? I certainly enjoy the cards for themselves, but I'd like to get to a point where that's the only thing I'm really thinking about.

[68Hawk]

Originally Posted by ASF123

I am very much trying to achieve this state of zen, but as a your standard returning collector/junk wax kid, I find myself with some lingering trauma from the first crash. Having been through it once already, how do you turn off that voice in your head that worries about spending $ on cards, only to have the market one day declare them all worthless and terrible? I certainly enjoy the cards for themselves, but I'd like to get to a point where that's the only thing I'm really thinking about.

They were wrong about those cards being worthless. The cards had only fallen in value to those who sold.
To those who kept, and kept selectively for truly historical players and important issues, those same cards are worth ALOT of money.

The lesson is, as it has been for centuries, hold until the market shows you you've invested well and then CHOOSE to take your profit, while at the same time looking for things you believe have unfulfilled potential and be willing to hold them for as long as it takes for that potential to be realized.

Sportscards were a craze from the second they arrived 150 years ago.
They had immediate and overwhelming attraction, people didn't need to be sold on them.
While focus changed among the population and art, furniture, ceramic and others became popular because of design, sportscards are rooted in the most widespread human interest on the planet.
Sports.
And these cards connect us in a somewhat truly indescribable fashion.

IMPORTANT sportscards are just at the beginning of taking a place in human collecting history in terms of being valued more highly than any other collectable - IMO.

If you buy, even now, with the superior knowledge you've gained as a true hobbyist, selectively for the rookie cards and other important issues of sports greatest players, there are still fortunes to be made.

And Vegas Dave is a slimy neer do well who will look like a half eaten pork dumpling in 24-36 months.

[Exhibitman]

Daniel makes some good points. The last 50 years of collecting experience have been cyclical booms and busts. What goes up comes down but it does not seem to go to zero and it usually comes back stronger after a time. If you can hold until you are ready to sell you are not likely to see it go to zero unless the rest of the world goes to zero, in which case we have other issues.