What has been the biggest hobby "Suprise" this year?

boggs301012

Wigwag scandal?

Card prices on a certain year?

That card find a month or 2 ago ? (BTW any more info on that?)

GAI and pack grading?



Just a few examples to get the ball rolling.


For me it has to be the slow down on Boggs Psa Graded cards I cant find them except for the same ones over and over. There is a few I need this week all upgrades from 9's to 10's. The market is down and sales very soft it isnt worth it for dealers to submitt rookies are even slumping badly . I never thought prices would drop this much ...is there an end to it?

danumass

SportsModerator

OUCH!

Basilone

As a 1965 Topps collector...the fact that 4 out of the top 7 sets have been broken up and sold off since April 20th.

John

DrNguyenVanFalk

I am surprised by two things in the hobby this year.

The Continued Strength of the High-End Market. True, we have not seen those wacky 1999-2000 prices lately, but I think Mastro's April auction ($8.5mm+) shows that there is still some traction in the high-end market. I would have thought that, given the continued weakness in the economy, we would see a little less interest in expensive cards and memorabilia. Of course, the top collectors are generally wealthy people who are relatively immune to minor economic downturns. In any event, I am surprised by the strong auction results.

Variability in the Graded Card Market. I'm quite surprised that we have not seem much of a "maturing" of the market for graded commons from the mid-1960s - mid-1970s era. I guess this is because there are only a handful of people actively trying to finish graded sets at any given time. 1972 baseball PSA 8 commons (true commons, not low-pop commons) are all over the map, from $15-$20 when the set was hot, to $3-$8 today. 1970 Topps PSA 9 commons used to sell for $25-$50 all day; now I'm lucky to get $14 for them. I guess it just shows that not all markets are efficient (particularly small ones), and that hype and popularity play a significant role in eBay prices realized.

toppsgun

That SGC is still in business?

Didn't someone on this board absolutely guarantee that SGC would be history within 6 months (circa Dec.02/Jan.03)?

helionaut

Probably GAI's vending box grading.
GAI 8 1980 Vending Box
Send them a sealed case, and they grade and slab the boxes, I presume without scanning the contents themselves. I suppose it's a good idea if you trust them.

That, and Celebriducks. I mean, they are rubber ducks that look vaguely like the people they are supposed to be, only with duck bills stuck on the noses. When they first came out, I figured they'd disappear immediately because they were soooo stupid. But they've got good marketing, and they have a broad range of subjects (I actually thought for a few seconds about picking up the Mona Lisa and 3 Stooges). Plus, they seem to appeal to women, so women buy them and men buy them for them. I don't think there's going to be any Beanie-Baby-style fanatacism about them, and I am not aware of any super-rare, in-demand, expensive ones, but you never can tell with these things.

But will GAI grade them, too?