A Hell Of A Year!

[chriskim]

Don't forget PSA graded Goldin into their 10s family.

[buymycards]

I keep an eye on all of these things, but hardly any of them cause problems for me because I rarely use the grading services, I don't collect modern cards, I rarely buy new packs or boxes, except for gifts for my grandchildren, and I have no interest in a T206 Honus Wagner card.

I keep plugging along collecting my low grade tobacco cards and collecting a few vintage non sports sets. My eBay sales, (mostly low grade, low cost items), have hit a new yearly high, and it is only August. The sales in my Flea Market booth have been insanely great, and so far this year, I have had a lot of fun going through the 750,000 cards that I was able to purchase.

It has been a great year in the hobby, as far as my little niche is concerned. And, tomorrow, my wife and I are taking 4 of my grandsons to the card show in Wisconsin Dells.

So, to me, the things that you mentioned in your post are just noise in the background.

Rick

[BobC]

Originally Posted by buymycards

I keep an eye on all of these things, but hardly any of them cause problems for me because I rarely use the grading services, I don't collect modern cards, I rarely buy new packs or boxes, except for gifts for my grandchildren, and I have no interest in a T206 Honus Wagner card.

I keep plugging along collecting my low grade tobacco cards and collecting a few vintage non sports sets. My eBay sales, (mostly low grade, low cost items), have hit a new yearly high, and it is only August. The sales in my Flea Market booth have been insanely great, and so far this year, I have had a lot of fun going through the 750,000 cards that I was able to purchase.

It has been a great year in the hobby, as far as my little niche is concerned. And, tomorrow, my wife and I are taking 4 of my grandsons to the card show in Wisconsin Dells.

So, to me, the things that you mentioned in your post are just noise in the background.

Rick

That is super Rick, glad you're doing so well. This change from Topps and Panini no longer having a license to produce sports cards in a few years really only has a huge direct impact on the modern card market going forward. Not so much vintage, and especially not pre-war. And since you don't really get involved withe TPGs, all that nonsense shouldn't bother you much either. I would guess for you, any possible impact would be much more (years) down the road if these changes start turning younger collectors away from taking over from oldtimers as they eventually leave the hobby. Doubt that would ever completely happen though, and if anything, can see some of these current/future issues actually turning more younger, modern collectors to vintage and pre-war cards more than ever.

[GasHouseGang]

Originally Posted by buymycards

... The sales in my Flea Market booth have been insanely great, and so far this year, I have had a lot of fun going through the 750,000 cards that I was able to purchase...
Rick

I must have missed this story. You bought 750,000 cards?! Where, how, and what were they? Were they all vintage or a lot of junk wax? Please start a separate thread or direct me to where this has been discussed on the board. I would like to read about it.

[Bigdaddy]

Just remember, markets do not like chaos or uncertainty.

Only Marines run toward chaos.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Only Marines run toward chaos.

And lawyers. Show me chaos and I will show you lawyers flying lazy circles overhead. The Lawyer's Prayer: Lord, please bring conflict among the people so that thy servant may eat.

But I digress.

Bob I love the idea of the manufacturers pre-slabbing the chase cards. We already have that to some extent with many of the products offered online in factory-sealed cases. Like Topps Project 2020:



Or many of the Vault offerings:



That would be so great, to get rid of the TPG lotto nonsense.

[egri]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

And lawyers. Show me chaos and I will show you lawyers flying lazy circles overhead. The Lawyer's Prayer: Lord, please bring conflict among the people so that thy servant may eat.

But I digress.

I'd hate to see what a Marine JAG does.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

And lawyers. Show me chaos and I will show you lawyers flying lazy circles overhead. The Lawyer's Prayer: Lord, please bring conflict among the people so that thy servant may eat.

But I digress.

Bob I love the idea of the manufacturers pre-slabbing the chase cards. We already have that to some extent with many of the products offered online in factory-sealed cases. Like Topps Project 2020:



Or many of the Vault offerings:



That would be so great, to get rid of the TPG lotto nonsense.

I was kind of aware that Fanatics was doing some things already, so the idea of factory holdered Uncirculated cards struck me as something I could see them pushing, and if it really took off and got accepted by the hobby, would be a big hit to the TPGs. I can't tell the difference between a 9.0, a 9.5, and a 10.0. So why not just mark it Uncirculated right from the factory and away the nonsense, right. Man, there is so much they could do.

[Northviewcats]

Originally Posted by buymycards

I keep an eye on all of these things, but hardly any of them cause problems for me because I rarely use the grading services, I don't collect modern cards, I rarely buy new packs or boxes, except for gifts for my grandchildren, and I have no interest in a T206 Honus Wagner card.

I keep plugging along collecting my low grade tobacco cards and collecting a few vintage non sports sets. My eBay sales, (mostly low grade, low cost items), have hit a new yearly high, and it is only August. The sales in my Flea Market booth have been insanely great, and so far this year, I have had a lot of fun going through the 750,000 cards that I was able to purchase.

It has been a great year in the hobby, as far as my little niche is concerned. And, tomorrow, my wife and I are taking 4 of my grandsons to the card show in Wisconsin Dells.

So, to me, the things that you mentioned in your post are just noise in the background.

Rick

Enjoyed reading your post, Rick. If we spend to much time worrying about the future we forget how blessed we are today. Hope your have a wonderful time with your grandsons at the Dells.

Best regards,

Joe

[todeen]

Originally Posted by Northviewcats

Enjoyed reading your post, Rick. If we spend to much time worrying about the future we forget how blessed we are today. Hope your have a wonderful time with your grandsons at the Dells.

Best regards,

Joe

Originally Posted by BobC

Oh I agree, but look at how these younger people, and the influx of flippers and investors with all of their new money, are already making big changes to the hobby. For example, NFT's look likw the new big thing coming along, yet for the life of me I could never see wanting to own one, especially not at what people are already paying for them. Heck, I can't afford any of them. Yet you watch them keep pushing them, especially to the younger generation. And the majority of new cards are already being sold online anyway, yet sales of sports cards seem stronger than ever. At least for the forseeable future we should still have cards shows and card shops to still go find cards in the wild, especially vintage and pre-war, at least on a secondary market basis. So that should be good for some time going forward at least. It is with the new, modern card market where I think the biggest changes to the hobby may come, at least initially.

I'm with you and like to actually be able to hold, touch, see, and even smell the cards, but we're more old school collectors. Now it is all about the internet, social media, and so on. The younger collectors are going to change things whether we like it or not. Only time will tell how much though.

I'm 35, all this talk about youngsters controlling the hobby makes me feel really old!

Anyway, totally agree that all of these changes have had little impact on my collecting preferences. I am eclectic in my choices and I don't use TPG, I don't collect modern rainbows, the players I collect have mostly retired, I have started buying SGA team sets, and MiLB team sets, and I collect more memorabilia than cards.

It's all water under the bridge for me except for Jonathan India. I like his swagger. Waiting for Topps Update to drop to grab his RC.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[BobC]

Originally Posted by chriskim

Don't forget PSA graded Goldin into their 10s family.

I covered that with the comment about the potential partnering of a grading and selling company in the industry. Just didn' mention them name. Thanks, i may go back and edit that.

[abothebear]

BobC, interesting thoughts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did try something like that. But I would be surprised if it worked. Cards have to have at least a token connection to the traditional way of understanding cards. To completely break from that is going to fracture consumers’ acceptance or what a card is. It is a psychic bridge too far. The idea that these things can be found in the wild at random is part of what makes a card a card.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by abothebear

BobC, interesting thoughts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they did try something like that. But I would be surprised if it worked. Cards have to have at least a token connection to the traditional way of understanding cards. To completely break from that is going to fracture consumers’ acceptance or what a card is. It is a psychic bridge too far. The idea that these things can be found in the wild at random is part of what makes a card a card.

Oh I agree, but look at how these younger people, and the influx of flippers and investors with all of their new money, are already making big changes to the hobby. For example, NFT's look likw the new big thing coming along, yet for the life of me I could never see wanting to own one, especially not at what people are already paying for them. Heck, I can't afford any of them. Yet you watch them keep pushing them, especially to the younger generation. And the majority of new cards are already being sold online anyway, yet sales of sports cards seem stronger than ever. At least for the forseeable future we should still have cards shows and card shops to still go find cards in the wild, especially vintage and pre-war, at least on a secondary market basis. So that should be good for some time going forward at least. It is with the new, modern card market where I think the biggest changes to the hobby may come, at least initially.

I'm with you and like to actually be able to hold, touch, see, and even smell the cards, but we're more old school collectors. Now it is all about the internet, social media, and so on. The younger collectors are going to change things whether we like it or not. Only time will tell how much though.