Gone from the Blue-Collar Guy

[parkplace33]

The amount of money coming into the hobby right now is crazy. Are baseball cards for Main Street or Wall Street? In the last 10 years (and really the last 5 years), people looking at cards as an investment vehicle has exploded. We have moved into a new phase, treating cards like gold or some other commodity.

At the last card show, collectors walking around with bags full of cards, most for trading or trying to get the best price. It looked like the NYSE floor to me. I guess this is the future.

[Fred]

Originally Posted by parkplace33

The amount of money coming into the hobby right now is crazy. Are baseball cards for Main Street or Wall Street? In the last 10 years (and really the last 5 years), people looking at cards as an investment vehicle has exploded. We have moved into a new phase, treating cards like gold or some other commodity.

At the last card show, collectors walking around with bags full of cards, most for trading or trying to get the best price. It looked like the NYSE floor to me. I guess this is the future.

What this observation seems to indicate is that a lot of serious collectors that are trying to trade current value in their cards so that they can get something they want without having to pay the exorbitant prices being asked in today's "market". When the cash totally dries up at shows, it'll probably reinforce that this bull market has reached the end. What happens after that is beyond me. Will card prices stagnate and sit at this level for a while before some other monetary real world market fluctuation (not related to cards) drives the prices back up or down.

I think the OP is probably like most of the "real" collecting community. I'm at the point where I am really considering dumping a lot of my stuff because it's about the right time. Time will tell.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by Fred

What this observation seems to indicate is that a lot of serious collectors that are trying to trade current value in their cards so that they can get something they want without having to pay the exorbitant prices being asked in today's "market". When the cash totally dries up at shows, it'll probably reinforce that this bull market has reached the end. What happens after that is beyond me. Will card prices stagnate and sit at this level for a while before some other monetary real world market fluctuation (not related to cards) drives the prices back up or down.

I think the OP is probably like most of the "real" collecting community. I'm at the point where I am really considering dumping a lot of my stuff because it's about the right time. Time will tell.

Brilliantly Said Fred I agree. I said this before on here, I think people blew it off but I think a lot of money that has come into this market over the past 14 months has been from crypto. Many big cards are playing Musical Chairs from Heritage, to Mile High to Memory Lane Ect. Pump Repeat Recycle... Will it fall? I don't think enough for it to affect these crazy levels I could be wrong. Def a lot of Speculating in Cards over the past year.

[Luke]

I get the idea of being kind of stuck in your ways and it being hard to adapt, but to me it feels pretty natural to adapt to new niches as I get priced out of some. T206 is still my favorite set to collect, but my dollars go a lot farther elsewhere and I have about 10 other sets and certain type cards that I'm always happy to add when they show up, and those buys always feel like a bargain to me.

I know we all have our condition preferences, but limiting yourself to just graded cards with big numbers on the label seems a little extreme. To each his own obviously, but if I ever got to the point where a crease or a rounded corner made me not want an otherwise nice card, I'd have to ask myself if I really like cards, or if I am a perfectionist who used to like cards.

If everything I like shot up 20x tomorrow, I'd start working on that matchbook set from 1935 and collecting team issues and photo packs from the 40s, etc. There's always something out there that's underappreciated and underpriced for how cool it is.

[BobC]

Originally Posted by Luke

I get the idea of being kind of stuck in your ways and it being hard to adapt, but to me it feels pretty natural to adapt to new niches as I get priced out of some. T206 is still my favorite set to collect, but my dollars go a lot farther elsewhere and I have about 10 other sets and certain type cards that I'm always happy to add when they show up, and those buys always feel like a bargain to me.

I know we all have our condition preferences, but limiting yourself to just graded cards with big numbers on the label seems a little extreme. To each his own obviously, but if I ever got to the point where a crease or a rounded corner made me not want an otherwise nice card, I'd have to ask myself if I really like cards, or if I am a perfectionist who used to like cards.

If everything I like shot up 20x tomorrow, I'd start working on that matchbook set from 1935 and collecting team issues and photo packs from the 40s, etc. There's always something out there that's underappreciated and underpriced for how cool it is.

+1. Well said!

[Casey2296]

Every thread needs a card.
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