Getting back into vintage collecting after hiatus and have questions...

[brunswickreeves]

1. Vintage cards took off like a rocket starting February 2021, right after the 1952 Topps Mick PSA 9 purchase for $5M+ and Hank Aaron's death, both in January 2021. There was a lot of buzz in and about the card collecting industry at that time. Covid had been around for 1 year by then, and people realized it wasn't going to be the end of times, so didn't need to hoard their cash. Ongoing lockdown put more cash in people's pockets from government stimulus and savings from commuting, leaving more for discretionary spending. The lockdown also put more time on people's hands, so had more opportunity to reconnect with the hobby. Pre-February you could eBay best offer sellers on any vintage HOFer for a 15-25% discount. Now, you really need to be the highest bidder in an auction or take a chance on an upgraded card. Some cards pre-Feb 2021 included: 52 Topps Mick in PSA 1 for $15K. 48 Leaf Ruth in SGC A for $500. 53 Topps Mick in PSA 1 for $750. 53 Topps Mays in PSA 2 for $450. 52 Topps Mays in PSA 1 for $450 and $1600 in PSA 2. 09 T206 Cobb Red in PSA A for $1500. 51 Bowman Mays in PSA 1 for $1500. Most of these cards and others have doubled, tripled or better since 2020. It's great to see these player's amazing cards get their due!

2. PSA is good for resale (it has the most submissions and was first to market so has solid name ID). SGC is good for personal collections and pre-war cards due to the black background for smaller cards in a plastic holder. Some collectors will disagree with this, that's ok because we're all drawn to cards and grading/not grading for valid reasons.