Thread: My first investment write-up for l4p on sportscards

this thread brings back some great memories

Originally Posted by Boston Litigator

this thread brings back some great memories

+1. I have a decent collection. Cool write-up OP. I might need to get with you on a couple cards in the future.

Very good writeup. I have a collection of probably 35-40k cards. Just going to sit on it for awhile, its all sorted and stored very carefully. It is a shame that it seems like sports cards are a dying hobby with kids these days, but I guess the beginning of the end was the mass production in the early to mid 90s and then of course eBay to saturate the market at low low prices.

I use some of the cards I have to do some TTM autograph work, anyone ever done any TTM? Who is the best you have got?

Nice writeup!!

I basically supported myself thru college by buying/selling sportscards. There was a time when the sportscard market was like the stock market. Lots of (mostly) guys were trying to buy low and sell high, while avoiding the opposite. Nowadays, it's a lot tougher to make money unless you're concentrating on vintage.

Couple of things I would add:

1) Mickey Mantle's rookie card (RC) was actually in the 1951 Bowman set. His 1952 Topps card is worth more b/c it was from the "high numbers" part of the set, which is much scarcer.
High numbers was a term used for when the baseball card manufacturers back in the 70s and prior would issue each year's sets of cards in a series rather than all at once. When you went to the store and bought baseball card packs, you'd only be able to get about 100 or so potentially different cards within a box depending on the series. The later series would become more valuable b/c there would be less time for retailers to have those boxes in the stores before the next year's series of card packs came out. Thus the high series cards were typically the scarcest amongst any set.

2) Unless you're really a sadomasochist who thinks the greatest thing in life is to invest in penny stocks, I'd stay away from 99.9% of the sportscards issued after the mid-80s in baseball, and the late 80s in football/basketball/hockey/etc. The manufacturers just started producing way too much volume with huge print runs, multiple sets of cards from each manufactuer as well as just too many manufacturers to begin with.
There's always the anomalies like the scarcest versions of various players rookie cards. But for long-term investment value, the older the better. Back when the 1989 Upper Deck rookie card of Ken Griffey Jr. first dropped, millions of collectors and dealers thought it was going to become the equivalent of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle as KG24kept racking up the home runs. Problem was that there were easily over 1 million UD RCs in existence, and the far majority of those were in much nicer condition than the much smaller group of '52 Topps Mantle cards that are still in existence. No matter what the demand, there was far too much supply.
Though vintage cards aren't as sexy b/c the players have been long retired, the quantities available are much smaller and the higher condition cards will always have demand amongst dealers and collectors. It's analagous to vintage sportscars versus modern day ones. A Lamborghini Miura in top condition will always have an active group of collectors with the money to be chasing after it, while a new Lambo LP640 will see a ton of value lost as soon as it drives off the dealer lot. For every Ferrari Enzo, there are dozens of other "limited-edition" modern supercars that are available for way less than their original MSRP + markup.......

3) If you're going to try and invest in sportscards, don't dare buy anything ungraded until you're an expert at determining the true condition of a card (wear, centering, etc.). Ungraded cards that aren't part of a bulk purchase should only be bought with the intent of submitting it to Beckett or PSA for grading. With modern cards, you're hoping of getting a Gem Mint grade to increase the value of the card by several X. With vintage cards, you're hoping to get something in the 8 range or higher to increase the value.

I found my card collection again after our recent move, it was fun looking around on the web to see how much certain ones *might* be worth.

On a side note, I also rediscovered the small coin collection my dad gave me years ago and wanted to have some of the coins looked at, anyone have a place they've used and would recommend around the Bay?

Originally Posted by fusionstorm

Nice writeup!!

I basically supported myself thru college by buying/selling sportscards. There was a time when the sportscard market was like the stock market. Lots of (mostly) guys were trying to buy low and sell high, while avoiding the opposite. Nowadays, it's a lot tougher to make money unless you're concentrating on vintage.

Couple of things I would add:

1) Mickey Mantle's rookie card (RC) was actually in the 1951 Bowman set. His 1952 Topps card is worth more b/c it was from the "high numbers" part of the set, which is much scarcer.
High numbers was a term used for when the baseball card manufacturers back in the 70s and prior would issue each year's sets of cards in a series rather than all at once. When you went to the store and bought baseball card packs, you'd only be able to get about 100 or so potentially different cards within a box depending on the series. The later series would become more valuable b/c there would be less time for retailers to have those boxes in the stores before the next year's series of card packs came out. Thus the high series cards were typically the scarcest amongst any set.

2) Unless you're really a sadomasochist who thinks the greatest thing in life is to invest in penny stocks, I'd stay away from 99.9% of the sportscards issued after the mid-80s in baseball, and the late 80s in football/basketball/hockey/etc. The manufacturers just started producing way too much volume with huge print runs, multiple sets of cards from each manufactuer as well as just too many manufacturers to begin with.
There's always the anomalies like the scarcest versions of various players rookie cards. But for long-term investment value, the older the better. Back when the 1989 Upper Deck rookie card of Ken Griffey Jr. first dropped, millions of collectors and dealers thought it was going to become the equivalent of the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle as KG24kept racking up the home runs. Problem was that there were easily over 1 million UD RCs in existence, and the far majority of those were in much nicer condition than the much smaller group of '52 Topps Mantle cards that are still in existence. No matter what the demand, there was far too much supply.
Though vintage cards aren't as sexy b/c the players have been long retired, the quantities available are much smaller and the higher condition cards will always have demand amongst dealers and collectors. It's analagous to vintage sportscars versus modern day ones. A Lamborghini Miura in top condition will always have an active group of collectors with the money to be chasing after it, while a new Lambo LP640 will see a ton of value lost as soon as it drives off the dealer lot. For every Ferrari Enzo, there are dozens of other "limited-edition" modern supercars that are available for way less than their original MSRP + markup.......

3) If you're going to try and invest in sportscards, don't dare buy anything ungraded until you're an expert at determining the true condition of a card (wear, centering, etc.). Ungraded cards that aren't part of a bulk purchase should only be bought with the intent of submitting it to Beckett or PSA for grading. With modern cards, you're hoping of getting a Gem Mint grade to increase the value of the card by several X. With vintage cards, you're hoping to get something in the 8 range or higher to increase the value.

thats a good story! I look at them more or less like stocks and it's fun because you don't need any licenses and you can do it at home.

I probably have a collection of 15-20k cards. One of them is the sealed box set that should house a Jordan Rookie card. I have a few autographs as well though, personalized Mickey Mantle picture, Joe Dimaggio, Johnny Bench, Nolan Ryan, etc. I still need to get the MM picture certified however.

i HAVE some serious card...... i gotta check them out.

I have a lot of cardsfrom the 40's-80's. many of them from my own collection purchased when i was young, others from a lot i bought at an auction about five years ago. paid 50 bucks for 1000 cards. Turned out they were all at least 30 years old.

After reading this thread I figured it was time to grab the old card/comic collection before the folks finally throw it out .

Looks like I have a few gems, but of course the good cards seem to be the only ones no longer mint...

Brett Hull rookie with bad corners:


Bob Clarke rookie, with creases:


Must have won them flipping...