19th Century Cards

[perezfan]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

I personally past on all 19th Century cards if they are not graded. I don't want to spend the money to get them graded and wait almost a year to put them in my collection. I agree , most 19th Century are probably already in collections and will only be sold when the collector passes away. I haven't seen much to add to my collection lately plus at the current high prices on everything it has driven me out of the baseball card hobby. I really can't add anything to my collection due to the high costs of what I want and still need. So now I'm a Non-Sports Collector for the most part, just can't add anything to my baseball collection. It's great for the value of my collection, but it has driven me from collecting anymore.

This post most closely echoes my sentiments as well. But rather than turning to non-sports, I have made some killer Golf acquisitions. Just as cool as Baseball, and the history runs even deeper. And the prices are soooo much better... items like early gutty and mesh pattern golf balls, hickory irons, long-nose woods, figural statues, trophies, etc. Very rewarding, when the baseball stuff has all dried up or become unaffordable/unattainable.

[Snapolit1]

It’s not that complicated. A large part of the escalation in post war is basically investors. They may like baseball too, but their primary
Goal is to buy an asset that has wide societal recognition and will be in demand for years to come. That card is not an 1893 card of some dude know only to SABR people and folks on this board.
Not passing judgment on what Anyone collects.
It’s like saying why do the rents keep going up on Fifth Avenue in NYC and not at the nice little strip mall 13 miles away.

[puckpaul]

Don’t see much talk about the Round Album on here. This should be hot too! Just beautiful, up there with the N162’s as my favorite early sets. (Thought I would match Ted’s posting...I have rest of the set too).

I think the early stuff suffers from name recognition and bragging rights issues for the fast money. But it’s beautiful, rare, and collectible so should get some spillover.

[aelefson]

I love any 19th century baseball item but I have never loved paying the high prices most of the cards sell for. I have instead focused on memorabilia and ephemera. Below are some trade cards which are significantly cheaper than similarly aged baseball cards. The graphics are interesting and some of my favorite ones are for baseball equipment dealers.

Alan