Question regarding mid-late '90's inserts

kerriberri

Hi everyone!

Back when I started to collect (I'm a realtive Newbie), I was an insert card chaser. I have amassed a pretty large collection of inserts. I would get excited about opening, say, a 1999 Topps Gold Label pack and get a red label, etc. and the prices and demand for those types of inserts were high.

Anyway, I sort of fell out of collecting and recently picked it back up. I've noticed that although the price guides still show that the inserts are pretty valuable, the demand for them is low.

Could anyone explain to me what happened over the past few years? Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers,

Kerri

NickM

Few people are trying to put together complete sets of the tough inserts, and those who are often have most of what they need.

Oversaturation and the proliferation of sets has killed the market for player collectors to put together all the inserts of their favorite players.

As time passes, more and more of the players in those sets drop out of the public eye.

The supply of funds in the hobby among modern card collectors is fairly static, but more and more new cards are being produced daily, thus diverting an ever-increasing share of funds and collector interest to other sets.

Nick

MrMoo

What is really the appeal of putting together an older insert set? Chances are the same players have similarly limited cars in other sets of the same year. And after new product comes out people stop chasing these sets. Same for autos GU’s etc...

Now if you look at the non sports hobby things are different. Take the Buffy Sets for example. Trachtenberg, and Willow only signed in 1 set. There are 2 or 3 Dushku autos, but she is popular. 3 autos is still much less then how many sets a player in a sports card product will be in. Demand is good and supply causes prices to stay high.

It’s fun to pull a limited insert in a product. But I always lost interest after I picked up a few more. Nowadays I stick with non sports. So I have limited sets that yield certain things I am looking for.

NickM

I also forgot that as cards drop out of the monthly Beckett (and soon, out of the quarterly Beckett as well), people care less about them.

Nick

Stone193

<< <i>I also forgot that as cards drop out of the monthly Beckett (and soon, out of the quarterly Beckett as well), people care less about them. >>


Kerri
Nick pretty much summed it up for you. When it comes to inserts, collectors have the attention span of a flea on a dog's ass. Back in 1992 people went crazy over the Fleer Rookie Sensation inserts that could only be found in the cello packs - the race was on - people would scour the countryside in search of these packs which sold in multiples over SRP - the Frank Thomas alone was trading over a hundred bucks - the set over 200 bucks. Today...9 bucks and who cares?
I like inserts for their collectibility but put zero stock in their current or future value. Can't wait to see what a Lebron 1/1 that sold for a bucket load of cash will be selling for in the year 2034.
But as I said, I do collect them....of course I may be one of the fleas!

your friend
Mike

maxXposure

<< <i>Back in 1992 people went crazy over the Fleer Rookie Sensation inserts that could only be found in the cello packs - the race was on - people would scour the countryside in search of these packs which sold in multiples over SRP - the Frank Thomas alone was trading over a hundred bucks - the set over 200 bucks. Today...9 bucks and who cares? >>



Mike, thats what was so great for me when I discovered eBay and started collecting again last year.. I still like alot of the sets that were popular in the early 90's (such as the 92 Rookie Sensations), and now I can pick up those types of cards dirt cheap!

Stone193

<< <i>now I can pick up those types of cards dirt cheap! >>


Max
That's the collector spirit! Right on target! Collect what looks good and appeals to you irregardless of current or future value. You can't take it with you anyway and the odds of funding your retirement home on collectibles is, at best, a crap shoot (not saying that part isn't entertaining tho) - I love this stuff and no matter what, I still have it in my hand to look at and tell my war stories! If only there were someone at home to listen to them...

your friend
Mike

kerriberri

Thanks everyone!

I appreciate your input....I have to admit that I always thought that my cards would fund my child's college education....go ahead and laugh. *giggle*

I think I need to start looking at my collection in a different light.

Cheers,

Kerri

TheRoach

Yup, there used to be that bull$hit theory that if you bought one or two factory sets from the time your kid was born, until the time he was 18 years old, you would be able to fund his college with them. Ridiculous.

My Father-In-law has a son who is about 14 now. He started buying Topps sets in 1989. He gave up in 1993 or so. Why waste the $$$. Sets are so overproduced, it's pathetic. Of course if you bought sealed boxes of Ultimate Collection or such, you may get some $$$ back down the road, but it's all relative. Those boxes are $300-$400 a pop opposed to a $45 factory set that instantly has a worth of about $25 when you bring it home.

I have been having struggles with myself over the last 2-3 years on whether or not I should sell it all off and bank the $$$ ( whatever it is ), for my kids. I adopted the "investing" angle with cards, more than the fun, collecting angle. I am always looking on ways to make $$$, and I often do.

I won (10) 2000 Paramount Update sets on Ebay 2 weeks ago for $12 a piece. That was book, or close to it at the time. Anyway, these sets jumped up to $40 a pop in the latest Beckett because of the Johan Santana RC in it. They were only distributed through J.C. Penney at the time, and most people feel that there aren't many in circulation. I'll make some decent $$ on these, but nothing that will retire me.

The amount of time I spend on Ebay and screwing around with these cards is ridiculous, but it's like a really bad addiction. I can se myself one day listing everything at one time just to get rid of it. Who knows?

By the way, I have a ton of mid 90's, non game used, on auto'd, serial numbered to 10,000 ( limited ), inserts laying around my house.




TheRoach

AkbarClone

Roach--in those huge piles of mid 90's inserts laying around your house--do you have any 1993 Upper Deck "Then and Now" holograms?
I still need a few to finish that set.

Send me a PM if you do. Thanks,
James

Fabfrank

Like anything else, one mans junk is another mans treasure. Granted the majority of these inserts from the 90's are way lower in value, but some are difficult to find. Many inserts that list for $1-$2 I'm more than happy to pay $5-$20 if I could find the card.
Again, collect what makes you happy and you will never lose.

NickM

I collect them too. I have a text file listing nothing but my insert/SP/#ed to 5000 or under base (including GU, auto, etc.) cards. It's approaching 300 pages, single spaced.
Try finding 1st Day Issue, Artist's Proof, Cramer's Choice, Gold Signature, or some other tough insert pulls in any quantities at shows.

Nick

kerriberri

Nick,

I do have some 1st day issues now that I think about it. I also have the short printed Topps Stars as well....I think they are numbered to 299 or something.

helionaut

Some of those cards that got lost in the avalanche of inserts in the 90s are desirable today. Not that they get up to their former Beckett values, but for certain Frank Thomas cards I would be willing to pay 90s prices. Like NickM says, the early parallels limited to a couple thousand are very tough today, and can bring in some decent prices.

Some are notoriously harder than pack odds, too. For instance, 98-99 UD Collector's Choice had an insert called Starquest with 1, 2, 3, and 4-star parallels with different color foil and increasing rarity. In the hockey, the 4-star gold parallels are just impossible. Supposedly there were 100 made, IIRC, which wasn't extremely rare at the time. One dealer was offering something like $100 for a Roy, a pretty good price for a non-auto, non-GU insert with such a high print run, and no one ever came through. I check ebay once in a while and I think I've only ever seen one or two sold of any player.

NickM

Helionaut - it's not just about the pack odds. Products like Collector's Choice and MVP were distributed in large part to the retail market, so that many of the tough parallels ended up in the hands of little kids and other casual collectors. A high percentage of those cards never reentered the market, and it wouldn't surprise me if many of them end up being lost or destroyed without ever changing hands.

Nick

Futureman

Since the mid-to-late-90's (90's in general) are when I was growing up, I still like a lot of the cards from that time. It's probably like the vintage collectors that collect the cards that were out when they were growing up. It's nice to be able to pick up cards that I can remember wanting at the time, but not being able to afford. Now I have more money, and the cards are cheaper, so I don't have to worry about the cards keeping the value. I collect the cards because I like them and it's a hobby. I can now pick up key rookies for $10 or less that once sold for more than $50. The insert craze is dead, but there are still inserts that I like (SP holoviews), and I can get them for low prices. I try to collect cards of former Nebraska players and as others have said, the cards that are more scarce can sell for decent prices when a group of collectors are all after something that doesn't show up much. However, I can get the cards now that I wanted when I was a kid, like autographs of Huskers from the early 90's.

These cards don't sell for high prices, but I like them and I'm collecting them as a hobby rather than for investment.

kerriberri

I have some of those Starquest cards...lol I should look for them.

I pretty much have the enitre SpX holograms from 1998 (I think). They have a silver boarder with a hologram of the player. The parallel set was gold and I have almost the entire gold set as well.

WinPitcher

6 MVP awards, the single season HR record, career walks record, single season walks record, 500HR/500SB, and two batting titles near 40 years old. How can one argue that those aren't stats of the greatest to ever play the game??? All this and there is still more to come!!!!



yeah a possible indictment lol j/k roach go easy on me.