Why It Pays To Invest InHigh Grade Pre-War Cards

[Archive]

Posted By: Greg Theberge

A Collector purchases an item for his or her collection for the love of an item, the history to which it represents, and the hobby to which it belongs. It should not be purchased for the monetary value that is placed on it.

Obviously, it's wiser to purchase items that are well researched and that will at least hold their value in the event that a collection has to be liquidated, but, that being said, there's nothing wrong with purchasing items of lower value, or quality, if, indeed, this is of interest to the collector, or, all that he or she can afford.

In my humble opinion, to belittle collectors, or collectibles of lower monetary value, makes an individual shine more as a pompous ass than a collector. It never ceases to amaze me how certain individuals think nothing of their fellow collectors and what they collect, or how they would feel about their own personal interests, by the remarks that they make. A true collector can find interest in anything about a hobby, not just specifically items that they would like to acquire for their collection. A huge part of this hobby is the comaraderie one shares with their fellow collectors, not what the monetary worth of their "portfolio" is worth.

I've been a "collector" of multiple sorts for 35 years. Not until I started reading this baseball card forum have I ever come across such arrogant (as well as ignorant) statements at times. "Whilst" the monetary value of our (I don't mean me as a plural, I mean my father and I - this forum needs more psychologists at times) collections have become substantial over the years, it is never THE topic of conversation. Sure, some items may be very costly to add to our collections, but that's just a part of collecting. It's not the reason for having a collection. Most of the time, we feel embarassed at the amount of money we have spent on items, not boastful of it.

By the way, I personally think the original transaction given for this post is a ridiculous example for the arguement. In the collecting world, you do well at times, even at times, and downright blown away financially at times. If "high grade" was the critical factor in this transaction, how does the original consignor feel about selling it so low, in addition to the commission that was taken off the top of the sale? I know I wouldn't have thought my "investment" paid off.

Anyway, maybe it was the "yankeefan51" that set me off..it's been a bad baseball week. Sorry for the rant

edited for spelling