High grade cards are undervalued

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Posted By: Anonymous

Hi guys,

This is a very interesting thread and I thought I would step out of lurker-status, as dangerous as that may be, and ask a question.

I'm pretty new to collecting pre-war sports cards and memorabilia (Boston Red Sox to be exact), but have a lot of experience collecting brewery advertising of the same vintage that is the topic of this forum (1880s to 1940s or so). I've been collecting this stuff with my dad for the past thirty or so years (which is, by the way, the most valuable asset to our collection, not the monetary value of the pieces themselves...When people ask me what our collection is worth I honestly have to tell them I really have no idea).

Like sports memorabilia, the "breweriana" field as it's known shares many similarities with the card field when it comes to the placement of "value" on any particular item. I can tell you from any collecting field, that any hobby will go through cycles in terms of value. At one time it's hot, the next it cools off. Beer cans were super hot two years ago, they've since cooled off a bit. The rarer items will maintain or increase their value over time, the less rare may not, even if a piece is in great condition if there are many others available out there in a lesser grade. Of course, "value" is placed by the pocketbook of the person looking to acquire it. In the future, if those wealthy enough to purchase an item are not interested in it to begin with, or they already have one, or there is less competition with others for the same item, it will sit for sale with a price tag that's soon to become a collector's item by itelf.

Anyway, in trying to acquire a working knowledge of the sports hobby and the "value" placed on specific cards in order to build my collection, I'm amazed at the prices that some cards realize based on their actual availabilty, particularly on the internet. Why is this? In other words, it seems to me, new at this as I am, that many cards seem Overvalued, not undervalued, based on how many there are out there for sale. I recognize the importance of back varieties and condition and the way they effect value, but I often wonder why some cards achieve the prices they realize when I see them over and over again for sale.

My question, to anyone who is kind enough to answer, is how rare are some of these cards that command high prices? Are there so many collectors out there that seemingly (fairly)common cards are designated as "rare" or highly valuable just because of the ratio? The reason I'm asking is because "rare" to us in the beer world means essentially the only known example known to exist or maybe one out of two or three. About 90% of our collection is composed of pieces which are the only known examples found to exist.

As an example to my question, any day of the week, you can find a T206 Tris Speaker for sale. If you wanted one in top condition, you might have to wait a month or so until one becomes available, but I would think you could get one from what I've seen. I saw one recently sold at auction for $2800 if my memory serves me correctly. I saw another sold a couple of months back for $800 or so in slightly lesser condition. Right now, another is for sale. Why does this card demand such a high price? Is it the back, or is a sharp corner so important that it increases the card's value by a couple thousand dollars?

I'm not trying to degrade the hobby with my question. I'm just pretty ignorant on the subject and thought I would throw out my question to you folks who seem pretty educated in the subject.

Thanks for your help in advance.
Greg