How many collections lay dormant?

[ctownboy]

I think the word "dormant" is causing some confusion.

When I think of dormant, I do NOT think of collections without graded cards. I see that as a preference of the collector. I think many collectors are active but have few, if any, graded cards. In short, I don't think a collection with ungraded cards should be considered dormant.

No, when I think of a dormant collection I think of two different things;

1) a collection that a young person put together and who then quit collecting.

For example, last Summer, I saw an ad for a yard sale that listed baseball cards for sale. I went (was five minutes late because I took a wrong turn) but the cards had already sold. The man who owned the cards was in his fifties and he said the cards were probably from around 1965. He said he collected them as a boy, stopped collecting and then just put the shoebox away in the closet.

He was selling the cards (they sold for $25 dollars and he said there was at least one Mantle and one Maris in the box) because he and his Wife were moving and he didn't want to move them again.

2) a collection that a person put together as an adult (they might have started as a child and just kept on going over the years) but stopped because of one reason or another (got married, had children, bought a house, became unemployed, saving money for children's college, saving for retirement, etc).

I think the type of collection we on this board want to find is the kind a child put together many years ago and that was either passed down through the family or left in an old house and forgotten about.

David

[vintagecpa]

I think the T206 Honus Wagner card is a pretty good representation on how many of these cards lay dormant in private collections. About 30 years ago, only about 10-15 of these cards were thought to exist. As the price continued to rise, these cards simply became too valuable for private collectors to keep them hidden away. If you compare the percentage of Wagners that surface over a certain amount of time, you can get a pretty rough estimate as to how understated the population reports could be with other sets. If the price of the Wagner would have stayed at under $10k, I would speculate we would only see about half of the Wagners graded today. Basically, as much as we hate to admit it, many pre-WWII cards simply aren't as scarce as we like to think.

[David W]

I know a pre war collector school teacher, who has collected for years. Nothing is graded, he plans someday getting them graded and consigning them as his heirs have no interest in cards. He is pretty mum about what he has, but he used to moonlight with an auctioneer who auctioned many card collections off. I know he has many Ty Cobb pre war cards. I'd say in 10-20 years they might hit the market.

I know another man who I worked for 20 years ago who was a college prof and owned a computer business on the side. He was a big collector, at one time had at least one complete 33 Goudey set (or so he said) and had sold another one 20 years prior to that for a down payment on a new house. He put ads in local papers in the 70's and 80's and went all over the midwest buying up collections. His stuff may not hit the market as his son is also a big collector, none of it is graded either.

I'm not a big collector by my 100 or so T 206's are not graded either and may never be unless I decide to sell them in 20-30 years.

[peterb69]

What I find funny is when somebody posts on ebay a PSA6 card saying it is highest graded thus they expect top dollar. I honestly believe there are a few somewhere out there that would beat the grade, they are just being held onto collectors not interested in grading or these "dormant" collectors.

If one surfaces, now that extra premium paid looks for naught.

[Touch'EmAll]

Hearing of a new find of vintage cards is cool.

Kinda why we like Antiques Roadshow, or Pawn Stars TV shows - somebody brings something in, turns out to be a surprise find! Captures our imagination.

Remember while back the Skydash find - at first not many believed the fellow. Then the story unfolded and became a huge deal. He had a Jim Thorpe, some Tin Tops, etc. Brought out the kid in all of us.

And the one-of one thing is rather neat - to own the only or highest known copy is very satisfying. Jeez, I own a good handful of vintage HOF'ers that are all more rare than the Honus Wagner T206. My family and friends always ask why is the T206 Wagner a bjillion dollars and your 1 of 3 Honus Wagner Tin Top only about $5.k ? I love my 1931 W502 Hornsby as it is only one of a few of the set ever graded, and the only Hornsby - doesn't get much more rare than that.

I was both thrilled and bummed when the Skydash collection was found - it took my one-of-one to a one-of two. Oh well, got some great pub for the copy I do own. The Colgans sport some of the best actual photos of players - almost eerie how they look just oozing vintage. Some day they may garner more respect. Just because they don't have corners doesn't mean they should be rendered secondary cards - trust me, they show the wear just like cards with corners.