quote:

Originally posted by AWR:
As records continue to be broken, when will Non Sports Cards join in on the fun

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/t...cards-130140720.html

AWR,
Could you please tell us the gist of the article. Yahoo, wants me to give up too many rights of privacy when I click on the link you posted.
Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by webjon:
I'm starting to see a lot of people refer to sports cards as 'investments' again -- the last time I saw that was before the crash in the 90s.

Is this different than the 90s?

Not really, collectible markets that stay around are always circular in nature. Or they are pendulums or have peaks and valleys, depending on which visual you prefer. The point is, they cycle back and forth and have peak periods and steep declines when they get too high. And history is always doomed to repeat itself because the memory fades after a certain number of years. Many card buyers and sellers now were not doing it back in the 90s.

For the average person, trading cards, comics, stamps, coins, autographs, beanie babies, funkos or whatever else you can think of that has a hobby market is not a good investment over the long term. You can make some profit, maybe, if you bought things that maintained demand and you sell in peak periods. You are more likely to lose money by buying the wrong things or finding no demand, no serious buyers, when you try to sell.

If you are are big collector, large collections dilute the more valuable pieces and you can't possible break even when you decide to liquidate. Unless you are wealthy to start with and can afford to buy the most expensive items, market increases won't make you rich when your $20 card gets to be $40. The old saying, you have to have money to make money.

The average person should never buy any collectible as an investment, but as an enjoyment for their disposable income. If they manage to make money back at some point, all the better, but don't count on it. Better to collect Mutual Funds instead.

quote:

Originally posted by promoking:

quote:

Originally posted by AWR:
As records continue to be broken, when will Non Sports Cards join in on the fun

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/t...cards-130140720.html

AWR,
Could you please tell us the gist of the article. Yahoo, wants me to give up too many rights of privacy when I click on the link you posted.
Thanks

Here is the headline, it captures the article:

This 1952 Mickey Mantle baseball card just sold for $5.2 million, an all-time record for trading cards

I have no idea where the current trends will go compared to the 90s.

I see some significant differences between now and the 90s, but I don't know if or how they will impact the trends.

I'm ignoring anything covid related, although as Jess has pointed out the current 'investment' trend is definitely impacted by covid.

Production runs are much smaller -- I think 80-95% smaller than they were in the 90s.

Distribution is significantly different now (at least from where I sit) the last I looked in comic shops they really don't sell cards anymore. The number of card dealers at conventions is also down like 75-100%.

Since there really aren't cards being sold at comic shops I'm not sure where the 'new' collectors are coming from -- I assume sports cards, which is at least partially true, but a number of the posters I see talking about entertainment cards on other forums are brand new members to the forums.

Whatever happens without a massive ramp up in production I think the hobby will remain on as stable ground as it has been on (which was improving before the Covid spike). . . This isn't like the 90s when pallets of unsold product were available for sale for like $5 a box for years and years after all the speculators dumped their cards and went away.

Also the internet is ubiquitous now.

As I said on another board -- I'd be more than happy if speculators drove up the value of my collection. I'd be happy to sell it all off and buy it back in 5 years for 1/3 what I sold it for. . . we'll see what happens.

Hey Raven,

We're talking about Mantle in another thread today but I'm going back to this one because I thought of another reason why his card(s) are so valuable though you brought it up here. He used to do a lot of signings so there are a ton of collectors who have his personally-obtained autograph. He signed copies of his 1985 book "The Mick" too. As I noted earlier in this thread, he seemed like the last of the old-time legends but fans had a lot of chances to actually meet him and shake his hand at those signings. You couldn't meet Ruth or Gehrig in the 80's or 90's. I think all those personal experiences have boosted and continue to boost demand. If you met Mantle, you might have a special extra reason to get his cards especially the most popular one. Some collectors might have thought he signed too much. Maybe his autograph isn't a still-skyrocketing collectible, I don't know, but doing all those signings only added to his legend.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:
I like it HH.

Mantle was also a good old country boy with natural athletic ability and a love of beer and late nights. His family had a history of bad health and early death, so he burned bright in his prime. A quote that is often attributed to Mantle is "If I knew I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself".

Fans liked him, so many things were overlooked, then and now. He is one of the "boys of summer" from a bygone age. In that regard Mantle has obtained a reputation that goes beyond even what he actually did as a player. Whether its deserved or not, he has legend status, and that's what matters to sports card collectors.

My old boss told us that back in the 1990s, he was playing golf, and he ran into Joe DiMaggio in the locker room. He was speechless.