Who will be the buyer of our vintage cards in 20 years?

[Anthony S.]

Originally Posted by iggyman

According to the U.S. census there are currently 310 million Americans. It it expected to reach 439 million by 2050.

Wow, parking is going to suck.

[bcornell]

Easy one. I'm taking the cards with me, and I'm going into an unmarked grave. Too many years reading this forum to take foolish chances...

[Rich Klein]

Namely; in 20 years will we as a society even be interested in "stuff":

I use book replacements such as "kindle" and "nook" or IPods which have replaced old records, etc. as examples

Regards
Rich

[toppcat]

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

Namely; in 20 years will we as a society even be interested in "stuff":

I use book replacements such as "kindle" and "nook" or IPods which have replaced old records, etc. as examples

Regards
Rich

Interestingly, while high end old records are getting hurt price wise due to the idle rich shrinking in number, collecting "normal" old records and releasing new music on vinyl is surging right now. A really popular thing is to sell the record with a download link for the digital version. I think a certain branch of collectors likes the tactile satisfaction in the having the object (or totem, if you will). I believe new vinyl releases are multiplying by the month right now it's such a popular format.

I still try to buy CD's and not just get downloads unless there is no CD release or if I'm trying to get one rare track without paying for a full album.

[barrysloate]

Here's an example about one area of collecting that has done poorly in recent years. As some of you know I collect rare baseball books, and when I wrote my article in 1995 in issue #3 of VCBC, baseball books were a hot collectible. Today, fifteen years later, many rare baseball books can be bought for 50-75% of their 1995 levels! Not only has there been no price appreciation in nearly a generation, but prices have actually come down.

Why? Because there are less serious book collectors today than there were then. When the big collectors sold their collections, there was nobody to take their place. I can recall buying a very nice copy of Peverelly's 1866 America's Pastime in the early 1990's from a private collector for $3100, selling it some years later, and then buying the exact same copy a couple of years ago from a major auction house for $1675! Today it might even be worth less than that.

Now the baseball card market is deeper than the book market, and it is likely that the same thing won't happen with cards. But it goes to show that if the pool of collectors got smaller, it would have a major impact.

[jbsports33]

I really do not think things are starting to change more now than say five years ago, my perspective is that you will have less and less kids coming into the hobby. What I do feel is many will start collecting later in life such as most of us do now. I started collecting vintage items because I did not know much about it, so later in life I kept getting more interested and learning more which as kept me going. The crazy thing is I still feel that way and will continue in the years to come. The best thing we can do is at least introduce our kids to hobbies and let them decide on their own what they would like to collect, and hopefully someday they can get the same pleasure we all enjoy today.

Jimmy

[donmuth]

My 3 year old daughter was watching me put a bunch of 50's and 60's cards in 9 pocket pages the other night. I mean watching intently. I can't say she understands baseball or my interest in cards yet, but she loves to sort stuff into containers of every kind (pots, bags, ziplocks, boxes, etc.). I think I saw a glimmer of interest in her eyes as she watched me sorting those cards. Maybe she'll be one of the people buying cards when she grows up.

Or not... who knows?

[mcap100176]

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America is ruled by it like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will come most definitely come."

[thekingofclout]

Originally Posted by mcap100176

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America is ruled by it like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will come most definitely come."

Best come back I've seen for a long time! Just fantastic. I'm applauding and my dog thinks I want to play