Where is the market?...is a "crash" coming

[toledo_mudhen]

How does that Fester Card only grade a 6??????

WTF

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by toledo_mudhen

How does that Fester Card only grade a 6??????

WTF

It's obvious, ... no light bulb.

[Fred]

Supply and demand, right? Economic conditions play a role, but the bottom line is the demand. As long as there are people (collectors or investors) that are willing to pay high prices for cards, then there will be strength in pricing (demand).

What hurts the pricing is when people get greedy and try to manipulate the market and create the illusion of a "hot" market with hype or other means.

At some point in time the investor side will get burned because they're buying with the idea the card "market" will continue to rise and they'll find out the hard way that the pricing will not continue to grow infinitely when they don't have a chair to sit in when the music stops.

As long has you have two people willing to bid up prices, there will appear to be strong demand.

To the investors out there: Keep the hype machine going but make sure you have your chair when the music suddenly stops because if you don't have a chair, then welcome to the collecting community (unless of course you want to take a financial loss and dump your cardboard because you really never cared for it in the first place).

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Fred

Supply and demand, right? Economic conditions play a role, but the bottom line is the demand. As long as there are people (collectors or investors) that are willing to pay high prices for cards, then there will be strength in pricing (demand).

What hurts the pricing is when people get greedy and try to manipulate the market and create the illusion of a "hot" market with hype or other means.

At some point in time the investor side will get burned because they're buying with the idea the card "market" will continue to rise and they'll find out the hard way that the pricing will not continue to grow infinitely when they don't have a chair to sit in when the music stops.

As long has you have two people willing to bid up prices, there will appear to be strong demand.

To the investors out there: Keep the hype machine going but make sure you have your chair when the music suddenly stops because if you don't have a chair, then welcome to the collecting community (unless of course you want to take a financial loss and dump your cardboard because you really never cared for it in the first place).

Well said. I have to admit that I'm skeptical of all claims that "the good stuff (whatever that means) will never go down in value". Every collector has to know that these little pieces of cardboard have essentially zero intrinsic value, right?

[hcv123]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Well said. I have to admit that I'm skeptical of all claims that "the good stuff (whatever that means) will never go down in value". Every collector has to know that these little pieces of cardboard have essentially zero intrinsic value, right?

Right. Just like coins, comic books, paintings, sculptures, and a multitude of other antiques and collectibles!

[bnorth]

Just like the doomsday preppers say "the crash is coming". Get prepared now by selling all your cards and buying gold and silver the currency of the future. I have been predicting this crash for decades and someday I will be correct.

[Republicaninmass]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Just like the doomsday preppers say "the crash is coming". Get prepared now by selling all your cards and buying gold and silver the currency of the future. I have been predicting this crash for decades and someday I will be correct.

But WHAT will they accept as tolls on the roads? I don't That was ever discussed

[G1911]

Originally Posted by Republicaninmass

But WHAT will they accept as tolls on the roads? I don't That was ever discussed

Well I learned the roads will be manned by Indians who accept silver for passage in the water cooler section. Educational thread that was!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Just like the doomsday preppers say "the crash is coming". Get prepared now by selling all your cards and buying gold and silver the currency of the future. I have been predicting this crash for decades and someday I will be correct.

Right, as was posted here in recent memory, silver we be useful to pay gangs of farmers who take over the roads.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by hcv123

Right. Just like coins, comic books, paintings, sculptures, and a multitude of other antiques and collectibles!

Howard, thanks for the reply. Point taken, although some coins and stamps could still have some utility value if they lost their value as collectibles.

Looks like you've been in the hobby for some time–what do you think about the belief some have that a certain "class" of cards will never go down in value? With a van Gogh or a Rodin, such seems more plausible than with a mass-produced item like a baseball card.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Every collector has to know that these little pieces of cardboard have essentially zero intrinsic value, right?

This is precisely why I collect GU. You can spend $100k on an old baseball card, but when the world collapses, what have you got? However, in a pinch, you can burn vintage GU bats as firewood, and sew together GU flannels to make blankets, and thus keep yourself warm in winter.

GU = intrinsic value. Cards, not so much.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by Mark17

This is precisely why I collect GU. You can spend $100k on an old baseball card, but when the world collapses, what have you got? However, in a pinch, you can burn vintage GU bats as firewood, and sew together GU flannels to make blankets, and thus keep yourself warm in winter.

GU = intrinsic value. Cards, not so much.

Au Contraire, Mon Frere, you most certainly can burn cards as well as bats. And the more vintager, the better. The shiny stuff, not so much.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Au Contraire, Mon Frere, you most certainly burn cards as well as bats. And the more vintager, the better. The shiny stuff, not so much.

The shiny stuff is toxic, vintage, less so. Imagine inhaling a chrome green prizm stained glass atomic refractor.

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The shiny stuff is toxic, vintage, less so. Imagine inhaling a chrome green prizm stained glass atomic refractor.

Yeah but, how do you keep it lit????

[Shoeless Moe]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

The shiny stuff is toxic, vintage, less so. Imagine inhaling a chrome green prizm stained glass atomic refractor.

T206 cards are cards made with lead paint so I think its a push.

[Mark17]

Originally Posted by Bigdaddy

Au Contraire, Mon Frere, you most certainly burn cards as well as bats. And the more vintager, the better. The shiny stuff, not so much.

To get the most btu for the buck, 1987-1989 Topps vending cases would be the best investment.

[Vintageclout]

Pricing for scarce pre-war immortals such as Ruth, Cobb, Wagner, Gehrig, Jackson, etc. are absolutely solid. As one example, Joe Jackson boldly proved that in REA last night with two record-setting rookie card sales, and the $117K price tag for his ever-elusive M101-6 issue. Don't see any retreat on those numbers in the near future. Regarding post-WWII cards, special attention is being placed on eye appeal for the grade (especially centering), with standout aesthetics as well as overall scarcity still driving strong premiums. Of course, this applies to the white whale players such as Mantle, Jackie, Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Koufax, Williams, etc. "So-so" visual appeal cards are experiencing value declines (especially for second-tier Hall of Famers), and as predicted by many, modern cards are taking a beating. Stick with baseball's "best of the best" all-timers, and you cannot go wrong.