What's hurting the vintage card hobby?

[jb217676]

I think the vintage hobby will be just fine. I converted to vintage a couple of years ago. My buddy Rob Miller (Robextend) is another young gun with a passion for vintage, and I'm sure most of the newer members to this forum are younger as well. Watching ebay trends lately, PSA 2 common T206 cards seem to be going for PSA 3 $ lately, compared to what I was noticing a year ago. I'm guessing newer vintage collectors are getting their feet wet in the vintage hobby with the 'monster'.

[mintacular]

I really don't think the vintage years are hurting too much, it's the newer stuff that will never IMO match the vintage yrs. Today's youth will NEVER become infatuated with 2.5 x 3.5" basic picture of a BASEBALL player on front, stats on back (for obvious internet reasons), the way earlier generations did.

[teetwoohsix]

Good question Tim.And everyone made some great points.JP,I agree,and that's sad but true.

One thing I think may hurt the vintage card hobby is the lack of pre-war cards in a lot of local card shops.They carry 50's and 60's cards,and to them,that's vintage.And true,that is vintage,but if you have a couple of showcases in your shop with a nice variety of pre-war cards I think it would catch peoples attention,and ignite their curiosity.

A couple of people who run card shops here in Las Vegas said there's no market here for pre-war,so they do not bother.My first thought was-you have to create the market-make it available!!

If people come in looking to buy a Rose rookie ,,and see a wonderful display of Old Judges,T206's,T205's,Zeenuts,Caramels,etc.,I think it would catch their attention,and get them interested.

Just my two pennies.

Regards,Clayton

[mintacular]

It might catch their attention but passerby customers aren't going to pay big bucks for players they've never heard of, despite the the age/rarity/eye appeal of said cards...

[nolemmings]

I don't believe the hobby is growing too slowly, and I don't want it to grow any faster. The economy in general has forced some people to forego or cut back on hobby expenditures across the board, I would guess--still alot of folks out of work and fighting to save their houses. Still, when I look at my saved ebay "you won" emails from over the past many years, I see prices have climbed steadily on most all prewar stuff, so demand is surely there. Auctions have increased in terms of both the number of auction houses and in frequency, and while there is some turnover of high ticket items, there's no shortage of continued "new" material, so supply hasn't disapeared either.

In short, the hobby is fine, IMO.

[benjulmag]

When I was a kid in the 60's, the current cards as a practical matter had no value. We flipped them, handled them, put them in our bicycle wheels spokes. In other words, we enjoyed them for what they were, not for what they were worth. That to me is how someone develops a passion for collecting. In contrast, when my son collected cards, he and his friends seemed to put too much focus on what the cards were worth and whether they were in immaculate condition.

So with all the focus today about investment value and slabbing comes the cost of making it much harder for kids, tomorrow's serious collectors, to develop their passion for collecting.

[FUBAR]

i think the forgeries and scammers are what is hurting us the most... plus, its pretty hard to find a clothespin to put a card in your spokes anymore!

[teetwoohsix]

You have a good point Pat,but how else would a new collector of modern cards ever get exposed to pre-war,or become inclined to learn the history and who some of these players were unless it is made available to them?

They may not spend big bucks on them the first time they see them,but they may begin an interest in the cards that gets them to buy their first one,,and then,it's all over !!!

Clayton

[dstraate]

Originally Posted by mintacular

It might catch their attention but passerby customers aren't going to pay big bucks for players they've never heard of, despite the the age/rarity/eye appeal of said cards...

I really think that's the essence of the problem. Most names that pull up nostalgia for the good ol' days are guys like Ruth, Mantle, Mays, Aaron, DiMaggio, Etc.

Many people who have 5K of expendable income want to connect with those days, those names.

The much older cards require an appreciation of the history, how the hobby has evolved. (An esoteric niche not geared for mainstream appeal). Maybe it's for the best. If everybody wanted Old Judges, you can rest assured they'd be even harder to come by.

[JasonL]

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Upward spiraling asset values cover all the blemishes, get people excited, maintain interest, etc...

[Tony Gordon]

In my observation, based alone on the large number of venues where cards may be purchased today, the vintage card hobby is extremely healthy. When I first began collecting in 1975, my only options for obtaining cards were the corner drug store, trades with friends or the flea market. Today I regularly purchase cards from five or six private auction houses, eBay, and card shows -- with each possessing tremendous amounts of inventory.

In addition, I have been selling cards since 1979 when the old man loaded up my shoe boxes and set me up at the local flea market. Today, I sell cards on eBay and at local card shows every weekend. In this lousy economy, I'm selling more cards than ever before. Turn out at three of the four local card shows has been terrific. The fourth show, not so good, but I go because the few guys that show up and the other dealers are great people and I enjoy their company.

There are always kids buying vintage cards at each of these shows. Each kid I talk to has a surprising amount of baseball history knowledge. Today, baseball history is a mouse click away.

Sure there is fraud and a criminal element out there, but it has always been there and will be around wherever and whenever money is exchanged. Through websites like Net54, conversations with other collectors and dealers, it's easy to learn how to spot the frauds, fakes and criminals.

I think the hobby is in great shape. My only issue these days is convincing my wife that I should buy more cards instead of redoing the bathroom.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by JasonL

"It's the economy, stupid!"

Upward spiraling asset values cover all the blemishes, get people excited, maintain interest, etc...

+1 on that.

I'd also add that the much-maligned label "advanced collector" has a place in this discussion. It is necessary to differentiate between different collector styles and degrees of sophistication when analyzing the "vintage card hobby"; you can't just toss it all into one basket. When I first started out collecting, the natural place to start was with the leading lights in the modern (at the time) game--Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, Pete Rose--plus some well known old timers--Ruth, Johnson, Cobb, Matty, Gehrig--in mainstream vintage sets. As I developed an appreciation for the cards themselves, reads more about their history, learned about variations, etc., I naturally moved on towards older, more obscure and rarer issues. I'd say that advanced collectors lead the way into the more remote corners of the vintage universe and collect very differently from people who are relatively recent to the field. Modern card collectors may never cross over to vintage card collection and when they do they might not ever move away from T206, Goudey, Play Ball, etc., and into Zeenuts, E cards or whatever else there is out there. What's most important, IMO, is making room in the hobby for everyone's particular niche(s) so that no one interested in collecting is turned off from the hobby. That's the best way to grow the collector base.

Oh, and free food and drinks at the National.

[J.McMurry]

The much older cards require an appreciation of the history........

I think that is what drives most vintage collectors. (NOT investors)