If you had....

[barrysloate]

Scott- I was trying to find a balance between solely investing and the process of building a collection. For most collectors buying a Plank and/or Lajoie is either out of reach, or if affordable may be the only thing they can buy. If you want to buy just one card, put it in the safe deposit box, and move on I suppose that will work. But to buy a Plank and/or Lajoie as part of an active collection, one would need to have at least 100K or more to invest. How many on this board can afford to do this? Not too many. But anyone with even a modest budget can start building a collection.

It's a matter of philosphy. Do you want to put just the one card away, or do you want to actively build the portfolio over time? Either one will work.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Scott- I was trying to find a balance between solely investing and the process of building a collection. For most collectors buying a Plank and/or Lajoie is either out of reach, or if affordable may be the only thing they can buy. If you want to buy just one card, put it in the safe deposit box, and move on I suppose that will work. But to buy a Plank and/or Lajoie as part of an active collection, one would need to have at least 100K or more to invest. How many on this board can afford to do this? Not too many. But anyone with even a modest budget can start building a collection.

It's a matter of philosphy. Do you want to put just the one card away, or do you want to actively build the portfolio over time? Either one will work.

I completely agree with you. What you suggest is exactly what all of us are doing. You can't really be a 'collector' if you only have one or two cards.

I thought you were responding to the original post and suggesting something altogether different for him to do with the amount of money he mentioned. If you drop his original constraints of card options, and also assume he has far less money, then that puts things back at square one, and I agree that no collector (by definition) will be putting all he has into one or two cards. Investing is something altogether different.

[Doug]

I'd probably go with the few high grade HOFers. If you get popular cards they should stay in demand and if you get high end cards for the grade you might get a premium when you go to sell them.

[terjung]

It's really tough to say because we aren't talking apples to apples. Compounding interest apart from taxes is a powerful thing. Will cards be able to equal that? Not sure they can.

For that price range, it is tough to argue against the T206 Plank. Though I wouldn't put money in that personally (mostly due to my indifference for the set), I can certainly see how the Wagner's meteoric rise helps to pull the Plank up.

[Vegas-guy]

The 1 bad thing I see with say 2 or 3 high end HOF's (example) is that yes they have gone up in value over the last 10 years maybe 30 - 40% if that! Now that seems like a lot but spread out over 10 years it's really not that much.

Now with regards to the T206 Plank, it's increased in value in the same 10 years to almost 300% I know this because in 2001 I was offered a Plank PSA 3 for 17k and now it would sell for around 60k or more! Now having said that, yes this is a much harder item to sell (or be liquid) not to many people have that kind of money, but I'm talking about an investment of at least 10yrs or more not something I'm going to sell soon. This also leaves my "normal" amount of funds to build a collection on nice lower end cards.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by Vegas-guy

The 1 bad thing I see with say 2 or 3 high end HOF's (example) is that yes they have gone up in value over the last 10 years maybe 30 - 40% if that! Now that seems like a lot but spread out over 10 years it's really not that much.

Now with regards to the T206 Plank, it's increased in value in the same 10 years to almost 300% I know this because in 2001 I was offered a Plank PSA 3 for 17k and now it would sell for around 60k or more! Now having said that, yes this is a much harder item to sell (or be liquid) not to many people have that kind of money, but I'm talking about an investment of at least 10yrs or more not something I'm going to sell soon. This also leaves my "normal" amount of funds to build a collection on nice lower end cards.

So, I'm going with your thoughts as well as Barry's: I'll cash out my 401K and buy a handful of t206 Planks, while using discretionary income of about $30 per month to begin a normal collection. All of you will always have a better collection than me, but what will I call my pile of Planks?

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Runscott

but what will I call my pile of Planks?

A pile of Planks.

[terjung]

Originally Posted by Runscott

but what will I call my pile of Planks?

Your 206K fund?

[joeadcock]

Originally Posted by Runscott

but what will I call my pile of Planks?

A nice pile