Questions About "Modern" Cards

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

I'm on the hunt for various junk wax commons all the time, but for autograph purposes. I don't deal in unsigned anything, but do have a lot of unsigned cards from this era (80's). I trade them to many people I've met online who still hand collate Junk Era sets. I will swap them their needs for my own.

It's really refreshing to see people eagerly collecting this material simply for the fun and memories. You know, growing up in the 80's and collecting modern in that era may not have made most of these then-kids rich, but it means that anybody of that age on any kind of budget can jump back into their youth for next to nothing! It's not completely a bad thing!

As a huge plus, the folks I've met who are into this sort of thing have been by and large very positive, kind and fair traders. Who doesn't need more of that in their lives? It also brings a bit of a chuckle to deal with people who will take the time to describe the slightest of dings in a one cent common and offer to send a photo to ensure I'm OK with the card! Bottom line, junk wax has really become an unexpected positive on this end. Who'da thunk it?
I get to help people complete sets that most of the world has consigned to the dustbins of their lives and I end up with some cards which will later get autographed.

(Hank--probably not what you were after at all, but thought I'd chip in with this, seeing as it does partially incorporate the "modern era" to which you were asking.)

[bbcard1]

I buy a pack now and then (probably less than $50 worth per year) and a factory and update set every year.

[oldjudge]

Hi Hank! I’m a big WNBA fan and I have a registry set of the rookie cards of the top 25 WNBA players ever, as voted in 2021. I also collect rookie and signature cards of other players I like. Up until a few years ago all the cards were either produced by Fleer or Rittenhouse. There are some genuine rarities amongst these. Rittenhouse, for example, released the cards as boxed sets. The largest printing for any year was 500 sets. That means that the total population of Breanna Stewart rookies is 500. Maya Moore’s rookie season of 2011 had a release of only about 200 sets. Those are incredibly low numbers. Panini has now taken over and we have huge print numbers with all the colored refractors. I don’t like the change but I’m sure it represents increased revenue for the league which it could surely use.