As I See It...

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Yoda

As one who started collecting in 1951 and saw the birth and collector joy to our gang of the new 1952 Topps, I am first, foremost and always will be, a collector. But at the same time, I am a wholesale seller to the AH's in order to upgrade the collection and be on the lookout for fresh opportunities. This, of course, has been more and more difficult as vintage card prices, for those cards I seek, has increased exponentially. Therefore, my current strategy is to downsize and increase the cash flow in order to upgrade the core collection while hoping to stumble upon chances to grab something on my revised, more realistic want list.
These days even hard core collectors have to run their card collection like a business; projected cash flows, target marketing, e.g. B/S/T, distribution, etc.
It ain't like it used to be.

It never is. Remember the doom and gloom, sky is falling forecasts over the early 1952 Mantle sales? The derision for the "Rolex guys" throwing money around as loudly as their Hawaiian shirts? Or the 'day traders' swapping 100-count boxes of 1989 UD Griffey cards at local shows in 1990? The "smoke detectors without batteries" (to quote Dennis Purdy from his infamous VCBC screed on PSA) derision when PSA started? The entire phrase "shiny crap" to crap on a decade of cards? In the 45 years I have been involved with the 'Hobby' there has been one 'the sky is falling/you kids get off my lawn' after another.

Change is hard and nowhere is it harder than when old fart collectors (including me!) have to adjust to new collecting instrumentalities, attitudes or cost structure. So is there an investment mentality now that never was there before? Hell yes, and there has to be for 99% of vintage collectors, or you are stuck collecting 1950-55 Callahan, 1960-61 Fleer, 1961 Golden Press, etc. I love all those sets (and for that matter, TCMA, Rowe, SSPC, etc.) but I am very happy I heavily collected vintage cards 30 years ago because I could never afford to do it now.