$15,000 to spend on 1-5 cards...WWYD?

[anchorednw]

Originally Posted by jingram058

If you're rolling in money, while the rest of us real people try to get by, then go ahead, buy that Ruth or Cobb.

This comment clearly has undertones of much more going on. Real people? Rolling in money?

I make no apologies for having some $ that I would like to spend on baseball cards and that my kitchen satisfies my wife, as that certainly doesn't make me less of a real person, lol

[notfast]

T206 Cobb bat off/red
48 Leaf Jackie
51 Bowman Mays

pick two, highest grade/eye appeal you can find.

[anchorednw]

Thank you for the wonderful feedback on this thread. What's it's helped me to do is actually consider a wider range of cards that I may have not considered. In addition, given me jump off point to study and learn more about some of these items (as my knowledge and experience in prewar and early vintage is still limited).

A year ago, if someone asked me that question, I would have probably said "easy, go grab an early Mantle or Mays", which isn't a terrible answer, but short sighted and limited in scope.

After much banter and discussion, I've begun to put pen to paper and make a list (albeit long) of players and cards/sets that I love and want. These include the obvious suspects.

I lean towards Babe and Cobb in early cards such as exhibit, t206, caramel, sporting news, etc. While I understand the draw of Goudey and early Topps/Bowman, I believe I would enjoy owning something a bit older and a bit more scarce/harder to find.

Really appreciate all the great insight, advice and banter.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by anchorednw

This comment clearly has undertones of much more going on. Real people? Rolling in money?

I make no apologies for having some $ that I would like to spend on baseball cards and that my kitchen satisfies my wife, as that certainly doesn't make me less of a real person, lol

I don't know anyone who has $15k to spend on baseball cards, other than the folks who post on this forum. I would have to sell cards I have to raise that kind of $$$. Sorry, but that is how it is. The regular work a day people are not in that league. I love this forum and the amazing cards posted, but it isn't a hobby for regular blue collar people anymore, only for the well-heeled card investors.

[raulus]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I don't know anyone who has $15k to spend on baseball cards, other than the folks who post on this forum. I would have to sell cards I have to raise that kind of $$$. Sorry, but that is how it is. The regular work a day people are not in that league. I love this forum and the amazing cards posted, but it isn't a hobby for regular blue collar people anymore, only for the well-heeled card investors.

I will agree that to drop $15k on a card is a lot of money, at least in absolute terms. Certainly with many hard working Americans taking 3-6 months to earn that kind of cash, it’s a lot. To save that much, for many it would take even longer. And considering what else you could acquire with that kind of cash (like a semi-decent used car), it’s also a lot.

But I suspect that many of us spending that kind of cash on cards are still very much working for a living. At least I am!

At the same time, it’s fair to admit that I’ve been greatly blessed with tremendous resources to have the option to lavishly spend that kind of money on a luxury such as this. While I have worked hard to get here, paid my dues for many years, and gained some very valuable skills that I now use in my business to make a living, and with an income now at the top of the charts and a tax rate over 50% to go with it (part of the joys of living on the left coast) my situation is obviously different than the vast majority of Americans who do not have available cash to lavish on such luxuries at the same scale.

Is that a bad thing? Is it a good thing? Not sure that I have answers to those questions. I’m also not going to get into a political scrum about it, because that’s the best way to make any activity a lot less enjoyable.

[G1911]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I don't know anyone who has $15k to spend on baseball cards, other than the folks who post on this forum. I would have to sell cards I have to raise that kind of $$$. Sorry, but that is how it is. The regular work a day people are not in that league. I love this forum and the amazing cards posted, but it isn't a hobby for regular blue collar people anymore, only for the well-heeled card investors.

Personally, I think there is very much of a hobby for the blue collar still. The blue collar can't buy the very best items, but I bought cards for entertainment even when I made $60,000 a year in the Bay Area, California (which is almost nothing with the cost of living here) when I was starting out. You can't buy the 1% cards, but you can build a fun and awesome collection of low grade less popular cards with the same or better aesthetic appeal as the investment pieces. If it isn't viewed as competition, but building a collection for personal enjoyment, I think the blue collar have a much better time than the white collar actually. The blue collar 'I just enjoy these cards I gather' seem to have a lot more fun and less stress than the $$$ collectors who are primarily interested in their profit from the hobby. As I buy for personal enjoyment and entertainment and budget my card buys accordingly as my 'beer money', I would consider myself in the blue collar class here as well. I'm not dropping what it takes to buy the cards that have 1,000 threads about them.

Discussion centers around money and the rich, that is absolutely true. The poorer collectors don't tend to be active in the forums and like nearly as much, for reasons we could speculate on but I don't think could prove. Probably would be an interesting topic to examine if everyone behaved for another thread.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by jingram058

I don't know anyone who has $15k to spend on baseball cards, other than the folks who post on this forum. I would have to sell cards I have to raise that kind of $$$. Sorry, but that is how it is. The regular work a day people are not in that league. I love this forum and the amazing cards posted, but it isn't a hobby for regular blue collar people anymore, only for the well-heeled card investors.

I'm going to disagree a bit here James, I'm a working class guy in a blue collar business in a HCOL area. I'll be the the first guy to admit I've been fortunate enough to collect cardboard pictures of little baseball men.

When I got back in I built a list of 300 cards I wanted to reflect my collection, never mind the price that's what I wanted my collection to look like. Within that frame is always economics, I'll never be the guy who can spend his way through, but I did sacrifice for my collection, sometimes when I shouldn't have but that's the nature of this fantastic hobby.

I'd love a Wolverine Cobb but that's above my pay grade right now, maybe someday, but I don't fret over it because I have other collecting goals and am happy with my current collection.

It's really never about the money, it's about the passion for collecting, there's guys here who can buy whatever they want, there's also guys here who sacrifice to spend $250 on a card. I'm happy for for both of them when they reach a collecting goal and post about it here.

For me it's always about the relationships formed with fellow members here, which if graded by any TPG would be a Gem Mint 10 or whatever they call it...

[cgjackson222]

An attempt to put some context to some of the prices changes in some of the cards mentioned on here that could be purchased with ~$15K

My apologies for any mistakes and this is not meant to say one card is better than the other. And it is not an apples to apples comparison as I am just working off data that is on PSA's website. I'd need a more recent sale of a PSA 5 T206 Red Cobb for instance. And I'd need an earlier sale of the Mays rookie to be an apples to apples comparison Mantle's rookie.

For the record, I think people should buy what interests them, and they should only do so with discretionary income.

Note that the annual return is between each sale. Only the total is calculated from the final sale to the first sale.

[jingram058]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

I'm going to disagree a bit here James, I'm a working class guy in a blue collar business in a HCOL area. I'll be the the first guy to admit I've been fortunate enough to collect cardboard pictures of little baseball men.

When I got back in I built a list of 300 cards I wanted to reflect my collection, never mind the price that's what I wanted my collection to look like. Within that frame is always economics, I'll never be the guy who can spend his way through, but I did sacrifice for my collection, sometimes when I shouldn't have but that's the nature of this fantastic hobby.

I'd love a Wolverine Cobb but that's above my pay grade right now, maybe someday, but I don't fret over it because I have other collecting goals and am happy with my current collection.

It's really never about the money, it's about the passion for collecting, there's guys here who can buy whatever they want, there's also guys here who sacrifice to spend $250 on a card. I'm happy for for both of them when they reach a collecting goal and post about it here.

For me it's always about the relationships formed with fellow members here, which if graded by any TPG would be a Gem Mint 10 or whatever they call it...

I agree with what you say, Phil. It would nonsense to try to argue. And I would say I have seen a great many of your cards posted here. You have stated that you have sacrificed at times, selling in order to get a certain pick up. Thanks for making me see the light.