What's hurting the vintage card hobby?

[cfc1909]

I don't think the problem is sellers like rawoysterman who has listings that you can clearly see they have low priced fakes-apposed to a t206 Museum that has alot of good information but is buying $75 dollar cards and faking them and promoting them as rare as the Ty Cobb brand and scamming new and veteran collectors or any one they can.

I have made alot a good hobby friends over the years but it is hard for new collectors to figure out who the good guys are. the more open honest talk we have here the better it will be for all of us....

[Jewish-collector]

We are going through a generational shift in our hobby. The baby boomers, one of the most influential groups in American history, really got this entire hobby going in the 1980's. I think today's generation collects a little differently than the baby boomers did. There is a major difference between today's collector and the old-time collector.

Many years ago, most transactions in the hobby were done by trading and exchanging want lists through the mail. Even at the few early card shows in the country, there were some cash transactions, but more trades. With the internet, almost everything is less personal and done through eBay, auction houses, and/or web sites. However, todays collectors create and enjoy in different ways to make their own collecting a very rewarding experience.

Alan

[BCauley]

I personally got wrapped up in vintage about 10 years ago. I was and only picked up modern stuff at the time once in awhile glancing at "old stuff" at shows but nothing more.

For some reason or another, I got started on the '55 Topps set as someone on the ebay boards at the time was working on a '55 PSA 8 set and he had a bunch of mid grade stuff he wanted to get rid of. I looked into it and thought the set just looked great and was affordable to put together for me at the time as I was at the end of college. THEN, some seller on ebay accidentally shipped an order to me meant for someone else that had a '41 Play Ball in it and I fell in love with that set. (Yes, I found out who it belonged to and shipped it to them ASAP.)

As time went on and modern stuff got more and more ridiculous, I was looking at post war vintage a lot more, mostly 50s and 60s. THEN, at a time I don't remember, I stumbled upon this site. Just looking at all of the cards and learning a boat load from you guys, I fell in love with pre-war. I've always had a great passion for the old timers. The players, not you guys!

Anyway, I was still buying modern up until about a few months ago mixed in with the vintage I was after and finally said to heck with it. I bagged the modern stuff and am strictly vintage. Well, 99%. There will still be some modern I'll want every now and then. I am on another board that is mostly modern and some guys do have an appreciation for the vintage but I think they like the "chase" a lot more in opening boxes/cases. The gamble is more fun for them rather than picking up a card here and there knowing what they are getting.

Enough of my rant. I really don't know what's hurting. From what I've seen on other boards, people really like the chase of a big "hit" in modern stuff. That and there really isn't that much exposure to pre-war unless you actually go looking for it or stumble upon it and have a sudden love for it.

[ethicsprof]

Avarice.

it seduces, captures, and often kills.


best,
barry