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@1982FBWaxMemories said:
I was once in art related hobby where the prices on vintage items increased so much that most exited. It has become a hobby that now everything is protection priced and most of the action is a few individuals trading amongst themselves.

As West22 said there no tax benefits of unopened/ In the long term if you are beating the S&P 500 by 20% (accounting for inflation and all auction house cuts are factored in) then I'd agree with calling it a solid investment but only if that is the case.

Agree there. When I was younger I had more money in cards than in stocks. It sounds crazy but I was saving everything I could and had a lot tied up in real estate and starting a business, so I dabbled in cards for fun with the little I had and didn't start investing in the stock market until I had paid down my mortgages and business debt. Now the vast majority of spare funds I have go into retirement accounts and experiences with my kids, and then lastly cards as a hobby. I have daughters who would rather play with American Girl dolls so the cards really do take a backseat these days.
Cards can't come close to comparing to real estate or stocks when it comes to tax advantages, unless you do it as a business and that's a whole other ballgame that I'd rather not delve into. So as FBWaxMemories said, there's at least a 20% hurdle for cards to outperform. If I sell a $200 box on eBay there is so much slippage it's insane, especially since USPS raised rates again this year. I know some high volume sellers get preferential fees on eBay but as a lower volume Top Rated Seller I pay 12% on the hammer price plus 12% of the sales tax for whatever state the buyer is from. So that 12% is often 14% (or more if you're not a Top Rated Seller). So conservatively knock $28 off the hammer price and another $12-$15 for shipping, and that's around 21% off your net. And that's all before you get a 1099 at the end of the year from eBay.
My uneducated opinion is that 80% of the price appreciation in vintage cards and boxes is due to the growth in wealth level of the boomers, who are the largest demographic among card collectors. The other 20% was due to a variety of factors, among them: a pandemic hobby boom, smaller collecting demographics such as Gen-X and millennials getting to higher income levels, and finally, the investing public broadly seeking out alternative investments such as fine art, collectibles and crypto. I observe high correlations between these markets as they all compete for excess capital that is separate from retirement and brokerage stock accounts.
As long as these broader wealth effects trends continue then I believe cards will continue to appreciate despite some collectors leaving or dying off. If you want to play demographic trends rather than investing in the tried and true blue chips such as Mantles, vintage graded, vintage unopened, MJ, Gretzky, then clearly Pokemon and modern seem to be fast growing options among youths, as well as MTG. I've observed strong price appreciation and growing levels of participation in these areas but you would need a wide breadth of knowledge regarding these markets as (my opinion) they are the most volatile. As a millennial and non-participant I may not be the greatest expert on this one so someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

I was once in art related hobby where the prices on vintage items increased so much that most exited. It has become a hobby that now everything is protection priced and most of the action is a few individuals trading amongst themselves.

As West22 said there no tax benefits of unopened/ In the long term if you are beating the S&P 500 by 20% (accounting for inflation and all auction house cuts are factored in) then I'd agree with calling it a solid investment but only if that is the case.