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kcbrez
Posts: 16
Joined: Jun 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 11:53 AM | |
Quality can mean different things to different people. The cards I really love to collect are from the junk wax era, and many would say you have to search hard for quality in that era. While I’m not just grabbing every Carlos Baerga card I see, if it’s in good condition and I don’t have it I am interested (speaking of which, if you have any Carlos Baerga cards I don’t have that are in good condition, I am interested).
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sandyrusty
Posts: 4,513
Joined: Dec 2014
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 12:01 PM | |
Others have already hit on some of the key points including your fixation on graded cards and dealing with more modern cards than vintage, all for your idea of investment. A couple of examples in my world of collecting that I share for you to consider (or reject).
A few years ago, my brother who does buy and sell for profit bought a very sharp vintage Gordie Howe card on ebay. The seller was clear that he had tried to have it graded but it had come back as "trimmed" and therefore not afforded a grade. My brother took the chance, bought it and sent it off to one then another of the more "reputable" grading companies. Both came back with the observation that it had been trimmed. So he sat on it for 6 months or so and then sent it off again to one of these two companies to have it graded. It came back with a very high grade, nothing about having been trimmed. He turned a very nice profit.
Recently I bought a large lot of some 15,000 modern cards from one of those who opens boxes of cards, sells off the big hits, and then dumps the base cards for a low price. I collect sets and this is a way I have completed many of the modern sets. Invariably, in these large lots, I find "hits" that the original owner missed. In this particular lot, added to several parallels and inserts, I discovered this card https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/275887/cid/18026280/2022-Topps-401-Ozzie-Albies. If the value on this site is to be believed, it is over 4 times what I paid for the whole lot. Do I think it is of better quality than other cards in my collection? No. More valuable? Must be as some fool paid almost $600 for it on ebay and others must think it is worth close to that as someone else drove up the bidding. Personally, I would gladly trade it for a decent quality Pete Rose or Nolan Ryan RC. Considering what one person paid, I might even be able to get both RC I want in trade for it but probably not from a true collector on this site.
What to take from this? Graded cards are not a sure thing on authenticity or non-altered cards. If you ever followed the blog that revealed all the cards that had been altered then graded by PSA to a higher grade than previously awarded so that the buyer / seller could gain profit, you might reconsider your idea buying graded cards for investment. As for modern cards, the idea that there is so much value in these that a person who invests in them can build up a decent retirement fund is a joke.
I am a collector, sets and players of my choosing. I have a large collection because I have the room to display it as well as the funds in retirement (earned from an honest career) that I can buy what I want. I value all cards almost equally with the few exceptions being my vintage Ryans and my 1948 Bowman Stan Musial RC that I bought before the real craze took over. It is not graded but I know it is authentic as it came from a collection amassed by an old collector (he may have been the original owner in 1948) before the fraud really became prevalent. I have no wish to have it graded even though it would probably command $50,000 if graded (I saw one that sold for $69k and IMO mine is nicer than that one was). The only thing I have done is told my son that when I pass away, if he does not wish to hold on to my collection, he should get it graded before selling it. Of course, by then maybe reality will set in and collectors will stop having cards graded.
Collect in the way you wish. I think we all do and none of us are more right than anyone else. But you might wish to rethink the whole idea of investment.
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Bruno -------- Check my Profile page to see my 2023 Goals and my Lists of sets near completion (5 cards or less) or sets getting close (less than 100 cards missing and 75% complete). https://www.tcdb.com/Forum.cfm/Page/B/ID/0/?MODE=VIEW&ThreadID=25745&C=0
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Whoosh610
Posts: 10
Joined: Oct 2014
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 12:31 PM | |
I do both.....if I can get a good deal, I'll buy quantity, mainly so I'll have trade stuff (I used to buy some of the bulk boxes off of ebay). But lately, more looking for quality (and some quantity) for my PC's that will go to my boys in the future. I'm hoping to one day find that person who wants most of my bulk cards for some reason and will trade me stuff I want/need/like.....
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avsbruins65
Posts: 2,063
Joined: Sep 2008
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 12:59 PM | |
First and for most it is my collection and I can collect anyway I desire. It may not be what other would want but it is mine. Some of my PC players are not well know and over their careers they have just over150-250 cards. These players I connected with and want in my collection. On the Ultimate hockey card catalog I am trying to collect one card for every set that has been released. It doesn't matter the condition or card as long as I get one sample. That is my opinion is collecting as long as I want or collect it is all good.
Are there cards that I want that are more valuable in the markets opinion yes but I can think of better things to spend my money on.
Collect what you want and how you want. There are no rules in collecting. If you only want graded HOF cards then so be it. It is your money.
Have fun and enjoy.
Mark
PS: If anyone has any minor, oddball, euro, parralel cards, inserts or base that I do not have to help with the Ultimate collection LMK. I will smile receiving and adding to the quantity.
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Trying to acquire one card for every for every set, insert, parralle, minor, euro, team issue, oddball etc sets produced for Hockey. Been an interesting project.
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 3:01 PM | |
jasongerman9
Thanks for the post. Your suggestion did not come across as rude at all. I'm still researching and trying to understand the collectors market, and my preferences change everyday.
Like at first I wanted to collect every Tony Gwynn card, but I realized that is not feasible, because of the existence of 1/1 cards, so I'm trying to narrow it down to valuable quality cards.
And you are right that everyone should collect however they want. I post threads like this to get an understanding for what people collect, how and why they collect in this way, to compare and contrast my methods with others. Just to get a feel for what collectors are doing.
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 3:24 PM | |
myrke,
I diversify in everything.
There is also a hybrid middle: The middle route is between those who collect for the sake of collecting, and those who invest for the sake of investing. The middle are those who love the genre but also want to have value in that genre. Thus, striking a balance between quantity and quality.
I might be falling in the middle.
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 3:48 PM | |
jsteved,
I also consider some raw cards to be quality cards, and in an earlier post, I mentioned that maybe I would set that price number at $10. It's an arbitrary price number, and I might shift the number tomorrow. For graded cards, my arbitrary price number at this time is $100. So, they are arbitrary, they don't mean anything significant. It's just for me to separate in my mind what I consider non-quality vs. quality cards.
I don't advocate for all cards to be graded. I think all pre-war vintage cards would need to be graded. I think as much as possible of the post-war vintage cards should be graded. I think only a few of the modern cards should be graded, like the 1:1, auto, errors, and others like that which are quality and valuable. Junk cards should not be graded.
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 4:17 PM | |
budler,
I think I might be in the middle between collecting and investing. Like, I don't think I am 100% geared extremely in either direction. I like cards, but I also like them to be valuable.
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 4:23 PM | |
MattnMiller.
Haha, yes, I would love to collect as many as those cards too!
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rnocards
Posts: 106
Joined: Aug 2023
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| Wednesday, August 30, 2023 5:00 PM | |
sandyrusty,
I generally think that vintage cards are more valuable than modern cards. I also generally think that graded cards are more valuable than raw cards. It's a generalization, and there are exceptions.
Thanks for bringing up your personal stories. If I know that a card was once authentic, but has since then been trimmed, then I probably would not consider it at all, but I'm not certain. Definitely the non-authentic fake counterfeit cards I would not consider at all, and for that I am certain.
Reputable graded companies, like PSA, can occasionally make mistakes, but generally the market trust them over non-reputable DIY type graders.
As for investing, I don't think I'm exclusively an investor, or exclusively a collector. I think I'm in the middle.
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