Put all your eggs in one basket. 52 Mantle or ..........

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

FWIW (which ain't much) I know several non-collectors or newbie collectors who are 'meh' as to a Mays or Aaron RC but absolutely freak out when they see a 1952 T Mantle in person. As Ryan says, it is the 2nd most iconic card.

I think you could argue it's the first. Not everyone is into prewar and Mantle played for the Yankees in their greatest era, and was a folk hero in a way Wagner never was.

[Johnny630]

The 52 Mantle is the last card most collectors will ever sell. They’re hard to let go.

[Mark17]

If you diversify in several key top-line players instead of just getting the one Mantle, you can, when/if needed, sell off one or two to raise $10k or $20k, while keeping the rest. If you tie it all up in just one card, you have just 2 choices going forward: hold or sell.

So, for financial flexibility, and possibly tax ramifications (spreading out a realized gain over more than one year to stay under certain thresholds,) holding several quality cards provides more options.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by Mark17

If you diversify in several key top-line players instead of just getting the one Mantle, you can, when/if needed, sell off one or two to raise $10k or $20k, while keeping the rest. If you tie it all up in just one card, you have just 2 choices going forward: hold or sell.

So, for financial flexibility, and possibly tax ramifications (spreading out a realized gain over more than one year to stay under certain thresholds,) holding several quality cards provides more options.

Great Point Mark !

[Fred]

You know, I can remember a time when we collected what we wanted because we liked the stuff and enjoyed the hobby. The valuation of the cardboard wasn't part of the equation to decide on whether or not to make an addition to the collection. But then again, that's when it was a hobby and in most cases collectors weren't breaking the bank to get a piece of cardboard.

To answer the poll question - I'd take several different rookies because I'd rather look at several cards that include Aaron, Clemente, Mays, Musial, Koufax, Robinson (Jackie, Frank and Brooks) and many more. than only being able to see a Mantle.

Don't get me wrong - Mantle was great, but I'd like to have a variety of cardboard.

[dmats33312]

Originally Posted by Fred

You know, I can remember a time when we collected what we wanted because we liked the stuff and enjoyed the hobby. The valuation of the cardboard wasn't part of the equation to decide on whether or not to make an addition to the collection. But then again, that's when it was a hobby and in most cases collectors weren't breaking the bank to get a piece of cardboard.

To answer the poll question - I'd take several different rookies because I'd rather look at several cards that include Aaron, Clemente, Mays, Musial, Koufax, Robinson (Jackie, Frank and Brooks) and many more. than only being able to see a Mantle.

Don't get me wrong - Mantle was great, but I'd like to have a variety of cardboard.

The thing is at these prices you really need to consider both. It's too much money to buy things overpriced now because you want to collect a player or set. There is just too many other options to do with some of these sums of money to not consider it. The cards I collect, like comics and coins, are because I think they will hold or increase their value cause otherwise I would just put that money into an index fund. There really isn't a moral high ground to this beyond being better than ripping people off blatantly. Everyone has their purpose to their collections and the right to treat it as such. Tbh I think most of the problems are with modern with breakers and razzers who mark up their items significantly more than they are worth and mislead people on to what the value is (thats no slight to either that are fair on valuations, just those tend to be harder to find). Cause a lot of those people are addicted to gambling and when it comes time they need to cash out they can only get a fraction of what it was sold for.