Wow - Modern Card

[BCauley]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Since I know absolutely nothing about modern cards, may I ask how did the seller find this apparently unique card? Did he open a pack and hit the jackpot? How are these distributed?

Barry,
I hang around another site that caters to the "prospector" and the guy selling this particular card posted his "hit" on that site. If I remember correctly, he purchased a case of the product and got this one in there. I do not know the insertion rate of these superfractor 1/1 cards but I would guess one per case.

I stopped picking up modern (Though I do want a Mauer RC) but still like to hang around the other site and see what people are getting. It's all interesting to me.

[barrysloate]

Thanks Bill. So it's kind of like finding a lottery ticket.

One thing that strikes me odd is that there is a history of these unique or nearly unique multi-thousand dollar cards going back to the 1990's. And if I am correct nearly all of them turn out to be worth a fraction of the purchase price, or in some cases become virtually worthless. Given that fact, why do people keep spending such insane amounts for them? Do any of these $10,000+ cards actually increase in value over the years? It's easy to say people can collect whatever they want and pay whatever they think something is worth, but nobody likes to see their $10,000 card one day be worth fifty bucks.

[BCauley]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Thanks Bill. So it's kind of like finding a lottery ticket.

One thing that strikes me odd is that there is a history of these unique or nearly unique multi-thousand dollar cards going back to the 1990's. And if I am correct nearly all of them turn out to be worth a fraction of the purchase price, or in some cases become virtually worthless. Given that fact, why do people keep spending such insane amounts for them? Do any of these $10,000+ cards actually increase in value over the years? It's easy to say people can collect whatever they want and pay whatever they think something is worth, but nobody likes to see their $10,000 card one day be worth fifty bucks.

Pretty much like the lottery.

The only thing I can think of as to why this is going so high is the potential buyer wants to get it before he makes it to the pros and hope that Strasburg has a big couple of initial games. After that, maybe he can flip it for more. That is just a guess to me though, I never got into the prospecting end of things.

I've never seen any modern cards sell like this initially and then keep going up. I guess the Pujols Bowman Chrome autographed rookie card goes against that grain but other than that, I can't think of anything and I don't even remember if that card sold highly at the outset. I do know that card was a redemption.

To go back and answer why people continue to drop money on cards knowing that past history shows them dropping? I can only think that they believe the card they are after THIS time will be different.

[barrysloate]

I guess everybody likes to think they are a little smarter than the next guy.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

I guess everybody likes to think they are a little smarter than the next guy.

Or, some guys just like to blow money because they can. Every day people pay a lot of money for brand new vehicles that they know will depreciate as soon as they leave the car lot. There are people who spend what I would call outrageous prices for a bottle of wine that they intend to drink....Maybe the buyer of this card doesn't care if it depreciates? I also doubt the buyer will look to flip right away...if he's smart he knows that taking himself out of the equation probably already makes it a sure loser.

[Matt]

I am just thankful that a guy with such disposable income is not in the pre-war market competing with me for cards I want. IMO, there is a 50/50 shot that this card isn't worth more then $100 in 10 years.

[slidekellyslide]

Originally Posted by Matt

I am just thankful that a guy with such disposable income is not in the pre-war market competing with me for cards I want. IMO, there is a 50/50 shot that this card isn't worth more then $100 in 10 years.

I've found plenty of guys with what seems like unlimited funds collecting pre-war cards.