The new breed of collectors...

[Dead-Ball-Hitter]

The new collector of anything not ultra modern knows very little about the player whose card he or she is purchasing and doesn't believe a card today can be rare or scarce as it is, or will be, available on the internet soon.

Remember the days of searching for years for the cards you wanted or needed and then paying asking price to finally get it/them? Don't get me going on mail order purchases sight unseen!

[Tabe]

The disdain toward new collectors and "shiny cards" is a little nauseating. It comes across very much like "get off my lawn!" Things are different, they're not worse.

And I do have to laugh at people who claim they don't care about value in their cards. That's just not true. If you truly don't care, will you pay $200 for 1989 Fleer commons that you want? No? Then you do care. It's OK, go ahead and own the fact that you care.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Tabe

The disdain toward new collectors and "shiny cards" is a little nauseating. It comes across very much like "get off my lawn!" Things are different, they're not worse.

And I do have to laugh at people who claim they don't care about value in their cards. That's just not true. If you truly don't care, will you pay $200 for 1989 Fleer commons that you want? No? Then you do care. It's OK, go ahead and own the fact that you care.

I wouldn't pay $200 because I can get them for 1 cent and they are available everywhere. It would simply be stupid to pay $200. That doesn't mean one cares if their $200 card becomes worth 1 cent; it means they aren't a complete idiot. I've often far overpaid for what a card would go for at auction or what I could ever hope to resell it for, but if that's what it takes to get a card I need, there is not a cheaper method of acquiring it at present, and that money is in my disposable funds budget, then I do it.

I know I'm in a tiny minority, but I hope the market crashes and my collection loses all it's value. I'm not selling my collection, so it's value is rather meaningless. I want to get more of the cards I'm looking for, because I like set building as my hobby and break from the real world, and it would be much more cost effective to me if the values crashed.

Not caring about value is not a morally superior or better way of doing cards, no method is. Investors, collectors, in-betweenners may do whatever they wish, but some simply are not here for the fiscal side. That isn't superior, but it is an extant method.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by G1911

I wouldn't pay $200 because I can get them for 1 cent and they are available everywhere. It would simply be stupid to pay $200.

"they're everywhere"

"it would be stupid to pay $200"

In other words, you're aware of, and care about, value. You proved my point.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

TAnd I do have to laugh at people who claim they don't care about value in their cards. That's just not true. If you truly don't care, will you pay $200 for 1989 Fleer commons that you want? No? Then you do care. It's OK, go ahead and own the fact that you care.

Why would anyone pay $200 for something that's easily obtained for fifty cents?

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Why would anyone pay $200 for something that's easily obtained for fifty cents?

They wouldn't, of course.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Because they're aware of, and care about, its value?

I see this differently, I guess. Declining to pay $200 for an '89 Fleer common, to me, shows an awareness of and care for the value of ones own money.

The monetary value of the card is basically zero, so there would be no reason to try and obtain the card in the first place if one is focused on the card's financial value. My 2 cents.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

I see this differently, I guess. Declining to pay $200 for an '89 Fleer common, to me, shows an awareness of and care for the value of ones own money.

The monetary value of the card is basically zero, so there would be no reason to try and obtain the card in the first place if one is focused on the card's financial value. My 2 cents.

OK, let's put it another way - would any collector trade a high-value card they don't need for their collection for a low-value card they DO need?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Tabe

OK, let's put it another way - would any collector trade a high-value card they don't need for their collection for a low-value card they DO need?

I think, while surely statistically abnormal, it's possible, depending on the details and circumstances.

I wonder if another way to get at this might be: would one purchase a card with the caveat that they would never be able to sell it? Say, upon their death it would be donated to a museum. Would it be fair to describe such a collector as truly not caring about monetary value?

[FrankWakefield]

Grrrrrr....

$200 for a 1989 Donruss common? No, I'd not pay that, but that doesn't mean I care about the value of a 1989 Donruss common. I don't want a 1989 Donruss common. I'd not give you two dollars for the entire 1989 Donruss set, with free shipping. I don't want to clutter up my house with a box of 1989 Donruss cards.

Right now I'd like to find an E102 of Sherry Magee. I'd overpay for one that's about VG-EX ungraded. I'd pay more than it's worth. That card is a hole in my little set of those. (I lack Cobb, and it's unlikely I get one). But I don't want a mint graded Magee. I'm also after a W572 of Ruth, not graded, and about VG-EX. I have about 60% of those little rascals, and I've grown to like that odd set.

I've paid about 50% more than what I thought some T206 commons are worth, because I wanted the card, I could live with paying too much $70 -$75, for a card that's at best about good.

The player, what he'd done, aspects about the issue, some tie to history, a story that goes with the card... those aspects give a value to the card to me, not the catalog value or the grading cost for a slab. If that weren't so, I would buy a 1989 Donruss set for $2 and then turn around and sell it for $15 (if they sell for that).