No, prices aren’t dropping (at least not for vintage baseball)
BigTex22
Posts: 38 ✭✭✭
I admittedly jumped back into the card collecting craze at its COVID peak, after a 30-year hiatus. And since then, I keep seeing folks on forums and Facebook talk about prices dropping. But I’m not seeing it for what I collect, which is typically mid-70s to early-80s baseball cards. If you’re looking for a PSA 9 or 10 for HOFs, expect to pay top dollar. What are others seeing?
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If you're referring to basketball, it's been through the roof for awhile. It was time for it to cool down and correct itself, in my opinion. Baseball didnt spike like basketball did. The baseball stuff seems mostly rather healthy to me. Are you referring to rookies? I did see a spike in some rookies, but from what I see, they were likely overdue for one.
If it’s rare it’s gonna appreciate.. forget the 401k and invest in rare vintage man, you will be up and enjoy the investment at the same time.
Basketball off 50 percent from March highs. It’s devastating some collectors / dealers.
Kiss me twice.....let's party.
all the modern stuff / players fluctuate in between season end and season starting. the base card revolution rise and fall certainly isnt solely inherent to just basketball. a ton of the baseball prospects fell sharply and near the 50% value mark as well. same went for a ton of the modern football guys too, brady aside probably.
the thing that vintage has going for it is that all the new money entering and the 80s collectors that have re-entered the hobby are finally realizing that the stuff from the 80s is still overproduced for the most part and that the base card thing was never really sustainable. that doesnt mean base 10s of future hofs wont retain value, its more that the investor side finally learned to take the inherent risk outta the game and started sinking their money into guys that are already in the hall and are locks.
vintage baseball cards, while not the most popular sport these days, have certainly been the most popular and been around the longest (for the most part). certainly longer than football, hockey, basketball, f1, soccer, etc.
its also important to realize that a lot of things that appear to have fallen off 50%, really havent. there are so many different discord groups and manipulations going out there that cards from the 86 jordan, to the sotos to the now ohtani markets have all been pushed to a peak-level that most likely was never sustainable to begin with had there not been a concentrated effort to do so. depending on how readily available a card is, 1 or even 10 sales in a short amount dont necessarily make that the legitimate price point for a particular card. just because vcp, pwccmarketplace, ebay sold sales, slabwatch, 130point all show a documented sale doesnt mean it really was legit. taking the average sale over the course of a certain time frame is the better way. of course unless its a truly rare card that isnt traded as often…which usually is…vintage stuff! 😉
The other day, I dropped $480 on a 1976 Topps Johnny Bench PSA 9. That felt really high, especially comparing to pre-Covid. Love the card though!
You might could've gotten that for 400.00, but I dont see this stuff getting any cheaper, especially for top tier HOF players. As long as you love it, that's all that matters. I'll admit: it's a sharp card with very nice eye appeal.
!981 Topps Harold Baines PSA 10 just sold for $2,700. The prevous one sold for $1,700. It was crazy to see the bids go that high.
I agree. Pre COVID I was upgrading my 1961 Topps master registry set with a new PSA 9 every month. Since COVID I've been only able to afford 2 or 3 cards. The prices are through the roof. On the bright side, my credit card bills have dropped and I used the money I would have spent on cards to finally pay off my mortgage.
Prices are high on vintage and there does not seem to be a ton of supply of premium stuff. Really strong stuff is through the roof. Simply, a wild time right now.
Maybe baseball but other stuff dropping
Had a 1979 O-PEe-Chee unopened pack. Psa graded a 9 mint. Bought it years ago for some stupid reason for 300 bucks.
Heritage put it for auction in June it went for 5100. Good but one sold a couple months ago for 5600.
Lots of people like me that aren’t collectors are flooding the market with stuff
Although that seems a bit pricey, that's a good return. Bigger auction houses often bring good returns. I definitely wouldn't complain. As I stated in my post earlier, I dont see it getting any cheaper. It will dip at some point, but I dont see pre-Covid prices again. This is vintage stuff, and history has proven, that vintage stuff just doesnt stay affordable forever.
Prewar (amongst other vintage era baseball) is the Blue Chip of collecting w/o the bubble and burst.
HOF T206 centered mid-grade is rare. Buy it and lock it away.
Solid prices from PWCC last night:
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But honestly....was a 15th year Lebron Prizm base card graded PSA 10 ever really a $500 card? And I only use this as an example. There are many others in this same discussion. The prices being asked and paid on MANY cards were insane.
. I’ve been buying my favorite cards from my childhood with low pop in psa 10s ..like 86 canseco donruss, 83t strawberry, 91 Griffey stadium club, etc. You can’t go wrong with low pop, famous type cards
Take this for what you will but a ‘79 OPC hockey GAI 8 pack sold for $6,600 last night. It makes reference to Steve Hart authenticating the pack but still.
https://bid.robertedwardauctions.com/bids/bidplace?itemid=88170
The price one pays to have a card graded is also based on that market manipulation.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
Funny how the description says the pack is graded by PSA when it is graded by GAI. I’m surprised that was never corrected during the time the auction was active.
Some days I do wonder if any auction house or dealer selling trading cards possesses even a modicum of honesty, integrity or ethics. Sadly those days are now normal and has jaded me to the point no entity selling will ever receive the benefit of doubt in my mind.
It's the singer not the song - Peter Townshend (1972)
This and other posts imply that 1970s and 1980s cards are Vintage. Actually, Vintage -- as defined by PSA -- is 1969 and older. Cards from 1970 and later are categorized as Modern.
I believe BVG grades pre-1981. Not sure there is a hobby consensus on what is vintage. Not sure it makes sense for the cut-off to not change over time. Everything is modern when it is issued (or I guess ultra-modern now because modern no longer means modern).
This 50 year old considers 70s cards vintage, just like me!
I cannot find many of the 60s and 70s Baseball and football that I am looking for in the grade I want. When I do they are typically priced exorbitantly. I can find all the 2010-2021 I want in any grade all the time on multiple platforms. I can find a ton of mid to low grade 60s-70s stuff. I just do not want it.