Visiting from the Coin Forums - need help

OnlyBuffalos

The US coin market has become too costly for my wallet and until there is a market correction I plan to give baseball cards a whirl.

From a financial perspective have better/scarcer baseball cards generally held their market value?

Is eBay the best source for commons? What are some good sources for better material? Are there any shows in the Dallas/Fort Worth area? Any recommended dealers in the area?

Thanks for any guidance.

Knuckles

High grade vintage (1960 and earlier) not only retain their value but have been going up in price.. People nowadays are forking over a lot for nice vintage stuff a lot of the time paying well over SMR.


Shows:

Jun 11 - Dallas Sterling Hotel, 1055 Regal Row, 9-1, 60T, a:$1.00 - Raymond Jones 972-240-2928 rcjones24@juno.com

Jun 12 - Houston Park Plaza - Reliant Center, 10-4, 30T, a:$2.00 - JMV Entertainment 254-774-7185 info@jmventertainment.com

Jun 15-19 - Austin North Cross Mall, W-F 10-9 Sa 11-9 Su 12-6, - Larry Brown 214-641-3384

Jun 18 - Arlington Six Flags Mall, Hwy 360, 10-5, 30T - Kyle Baldwin 817-472-5239 kylevon@comcast.net

Jun 18 - Greenville 2701 St. John, 9-5, 20T - Curt Hazlett 903-455-5293 curtnkate@yahoo.com

Jun 18 - Houston Holiday Inn N., 16510 I-45 N., 9-4, 25T, A: - Howard Lau 281-589-9600 hsclau@flash.net


For more shows go here. and pick up some card collecting mags.


eBay is good especially to find the odd great deal but to find incredible pieces that are graded high but are also sold at high prices take a look at the big dealers.. You'll see their adds in the magazines and if you look around on this forum for a bit you'll see some of them being mentioned.

DirtyHarry

IMHO....the collectibles markets trend fairly equally. The percent of folks who put them in their investment portfolios is pretty low (bullion value on coins a bit higher). The values ride and fall on additional disposable income....pretty much tied to economic conditions.

calleocho

If you dont love the cards themselves, I would recomend stocks.

denwd1

i'd recommend late 1980's commons and beanie baby's

Lothar52

sportscards are a great hobby...notice the word HOBBY. Today you dont just find a guy with vintage and pay him....if its not a ludicrous deal most people turn down the dealer go to ebay. Ebay has taken the power from the great EVIL EMPIRE and given the power to the people....IF you do decide to join the REBEL ALLIANCE...ebay wll be your best bet for all things. Its such a pull that most dealers need to sell on ebay to put food on the table...and they are not getting the prices they would have with a rope around our necks.

It has also become a way for collectors to get the most out of their collection....SELLING TO OTHER COLLECTORS. Case in point. I have a 64 topps mantle psa 8 up. Upon listing it I asked a seller i know a few questions about how to sell since i mostly buy. He inquired to what I was selling and I told and showed him the scan. He asked how much and i said 800. He came back and said that sounded high and he thought 650 was a great price....650 shipped. I knew that I could get more for the card...lets flash back to 1990...no internet...and what would i do? Id SELL IT TO HIM FOR 650. Instead I put it up for auction and its up to 795. Now dont get me wrong I like this dealer....I really do.....He is a good guy to talk to but he is running a business and he will try and make profit off everything at the expense of the collector...me. Ebay allows us to bypass that and get our own money back. He is not sentimental at my plight of needing to pay off that grand i spent in the last month while on vacation so I must do what I must do. Its a sorry state for the dealer who decided to make a living off this hobby...I would NOT want to be in there shoes. One day id love to open up a shop as a hobby..after I retire or shortly before when i wont have to work as many office hours....but it will never be more then a hobby for me...as dealers wont be pushing the profits on anything less then mickey mantle 52 topps cards that you cant find on ebay.

On an interesting note....I hear 707 has a suitcase full of 52 mantles in all grades....and it would take a hit on fort knox to get him to part with the higher graded ones......all i got to say about that is...hope God lets him take them with him in the afterlife....


loth

Stone193

OnlyB
You have asked a good question and will get quite a few different responses.

How about a few more questions?

First and foremost: Are you looking for a hobby or a place to invest your money?

Second: How much do you want to budget - the area of the sports market that has done the best is High
End - and thus, quite costly. Truth: this market like others, to a degree, is tied to the economy - having said that - real high end stuff sells even in a "bear market" IMO.

Other questions may be predicated on the first two questions. Personally, I believe that the "dividend" for collecting is the "fun" of finishing a set or finding a certain card, e.g.

But, if you choose to jump in - I wish you luck and hope we can be of assistance.

mike

OnlyBuffalos

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.

To answer some of the questions asked:

Probably like most collectors, I am primarily intested in a collecting challenge (hobby) but when it comes time, for whatever reason to sell, I would like to recover some/most/all of the cost (don't want to take too much of a bath).

The coin market has been especially lucrative the past 5 years and have around $25K for this new hobby.

So far, Bowman Baseball, 1950 and 1953 look interesting in PSA-8 or PSA-9. I still need to learn more about grading standards and to be able to distinguish between high end and low end for the grade, etc. before I purchase anything.

There appears to be a great deal in common between collecting coins and baseball cards.

Any additional help/suggestions is most welcomed. Thanks.

kingraider75

Well I think most of us collect because of our joy of sports. As for monetary purposes, I agree that the vintage high end graded hold or go up in the value. You could spend it all on modern, and if you get a bunch of rare cards, then you could triple your money. But that depends on a lot on the "hotness" of the card/player. Vintage is a safer investment. Maybe you can spend it all on the upcoming Fleer products. LOL LOL Oh yeah they are bankrupt! Do they still make the tubs of bubble gum???

rmoss

I got out of coins in the mid 80's due to rising costs of coins and got into baseball cards. I still had my cards from 1961 and 1963, don't know what happened to 1962. I collected cards until 1990 and put together a 1990 set of Upper Deck from buying boxes and loose packs. I had well over $150 in that set and could have bought the factory set for $29. I had always been told if you bought 4 wax boxes you would basically have a complete set and would only need to buy a couple of cards. I purchased 4 boxes of 1990 Bowman and didn't have half the set when I was through. Some of the packs had 4 or 5 of the same card in them. That did me in, I went back to coins.

Moss

iamthegreatcornholio

<< <i> So far, Bowman Baseball, 1950 and 1953 look interesting in PSA-8 or PSA-9. I still need to learn more about grading standards and to be able to distinguish between high end and low end for the grade, etc. before I purchase anything. >>



Sounds like you have good taste - 53 Bowman Color is one of the nicest sets ever made - the Reese and the Bauer/Berra/Mantle have always been favorites of mine.

One word of caution though, you may want to familiarize yourself with the so-called "low pop" cards. These are cards that there are few graded examples of (usually commons) yet the SMR still reflects their value as the same as other - easier to find commons. Whitey Lockman comes to mind here - the "book" value on a PSA 8 is $575, yet he's sold for as much as $7,100!

Brian

Stone193

<< <i>

<< <i> So far, Bowman Baseball, 1950 and 1953 look interesting in PSA-8 or PSA-9. I still need to learn more about grading standards and to be able to distinguish between high end and low end for the grade, etc. before I purchase anything. >>



Sounds like you have good taste - 53 Bowman Color is one of the nicest sets ever made - the Reese and the Bauer/Berra/Mantle have always been favorites of mine.

One word of caution though, you may want to familiarize yourself with the so-called "low pop" cards. These are cards that there are few graded examples of (usually commons) yet the SMR still reflects their value as the same as other - easier to find commons. Whitey Lockman comes to mind here - the "book" value on a PSA 8 is $575, yet he's sold for as much as $7,100!

Brian >>


That's true Brian
And that may be one of the "pitfalls" of the highend graded set - the pops can change and one could buy a card for 7 grand and be worth a few hundred down the road?

mike

zef204

That is so crazy, yet so true Stone. I didn't know that about Whitey and I just got back a '59 as an 8. Either way, with a passion this is the best HOBBY in the world. As an investment, you probably could find better places to lay your $$. If its the chase that excites you, this may suffice. You probably won't hit paydirt but if you do your homework and actively and intelligently persue your chosen set(s) you probably won't take a bath. And hey, you may even enjoy yourself. Good luck and remeber to never trade Buffalo nickles for Buffalo chips.