If you had $1000 to spend on cards what would you buy???

xbaggypants

Hi,
I'm very interested in investing $1000 into cards. I'm not really big on new stuff and really only collect pre-1970 Baseball & Football. I have been thinking about buying old wax or some PSA graded stars. If you have $1000 to invest in old stars what would you invest it in & why?

Thanks,
Ryan

Stingray

I would buy a 67 PSA 8 Mantle, Aaron, Clemente and Mays, if I could get them all for under $1,000. Need them for my 67 set. Now if you are just looking for singles in no paticular year, I have always wanted a 54 Kaline, could a PSA 9 be had for $1,000?

Stingray

Lothar52

doubt it highly

1420sports

I would put the money in an old Cobb ... T206 Bat On/OFF generally can be had for 800-1K for a PSA 3. T206 HOFers in PSA 3-4 will hold value as well. Other issues of the era are tough to guage .... a 1913 Tom Barker Grover Alexander PSA 4 with an SMR of less than $50 recently sold for $634, so using $1000 for SMR prices may be real hard for certain cards.

lostdart58

The KEY words in your question are: "....interested in investing $1000........"

As Stingray intimated (whether he knew it or not ), high grade vintage HOF'ers from the 50's and 60's will hold their value and in the long haul yield profit. Do some homework by checking prices and look for a deal. (even if you get outbid on twenty straight ebay auctions!!)

If you are going to buy old wax make sure it is graded. If you choose to hold on to it and not open, the "old Wax" will also hold it value and appreciate.

Opening old wax for profit is a crap shoot, and more then 50% of the time you will be lucky to break even.

goudeygold

I personally would buy every PSA 7 38 goudey I needed to total a grand (commons book for around 200, so in theory that would be 5 I need). If I had to pick one card, I would like to get the "cartoon" version Jimmy Foxx or Hank Greenberg from that set in a 7. How likely that really is for a grand I'm not so sure, because they never come up for sale.

GG

kingraider75

maybe try for someone on the HOF fringe. If they get in, there will be a slight increase in the their card value, not a lot, but some. But you better sell them at that time, because their price will probably drop after the media coverage goes away.

TMc

1963 Mantle psa 8.
1) Very popular player - so many interested future buyers.
2) Popular issue, one of the more highly sought in psa 8 condition.
3) Zero investment risk.
4) Market stability.
5) Easy to color xerox and sell raw counterfits.

ctsoxfan

I'm not so sure any cards worth "investing" in, can be had for just a thousand dollars. Maybe, if you bought as a few mentioned, 50's and 60's HOF type players - your investment would be safe (but might not make you any money). Some people think vintage football has a lot more growth potential than vintage baseball - I agree to a certain extent.

If you are looking for a quick return though, you have to think modern. For example, I bought a lot of Dwayne Wade cards from 2003-04 before he became well known. His cards have performed better for me than even LeBron's cards. I have lost a lot of these gambles (Darko anyone?), but that is the only way to get a quick, big return on investment.

joestalin

If you are interested in the making money then you have to think modern baseball. Every year there are products that come out
that people are paying twice or three times that amount a few months later. Hang out on the beckett baseball boards and
sit and listen, those guys make big time money every year by just knowing some basic info you can find on websites. They just
got back from making a killing selling cards at the same time the baseball draft was. Baseball is the only sport where you get the
players cards BEFORE they get famous. Teams draft players and then are looking for his cards. If you are sitting on USA cards
of these guys then you will make money.....if you are sitting on the wax these guys came from then you make even more!

Good Luck
Kevin

kuhlmann

Go ahead and grab a David Wright 2002 bowman chrome auto refractor or xfractor. these are steadily going up.

not only reason why i like this card is bc im a mets fan, but wright doesnt have many true rookie auto's out there ( i believe this and ud premiere prospects are his only ones) all his other cards are from 2004 and on.

this card could easily be over 500+ in 2 years maybe even over 1k. ohh yeah you can get a refractor auto for about 150$ now if patient maybe 125$. last year these were going for 40-60$

Stingray

Or David Wright could blow out his knee tomorrow and his card is now worth $5. Investing in newer players that are not establised yet is a crap shoot, IMO. No matter how great Pedro Martinez is now or going to be, how much is his 91 UD update card going to be worth 20 years from now. This is not a comparison to a autographed refractor though.

Stingray

kuhlmann

stingray

I understand what you are saying. but look at pujols bowman chrome auto. its through the roof. david wright card is even better bc of how limited his auto rookie is. like ichiro and pujols have like 400 or so rookies i guess. when wright has just i think 4 runs bowman chrome bowman bowman heritage and pristine. only the crome has an auto.

yeah if he blows he knee out that s@cks. but IMO it is the best modern buy out there right now.

Stingray

I guess it is like stocks, the higher the risk, the higher the reward. For me, I will take the safe road and just take my smaller increases in value (hopefully?).


Stingray

julen23

I would take $1000 and purchase the following 2 cards:

psa 8 1969 Lou Brock #85
psa 8 1969 Carl Yastremzski #130

I would take the remaining monies and spend on wine and women.

Julen

Carew29

The 1971 OPC Rod Carew PSA 10.

Mac53

I can hook you up with a guy who might be willing to part with a 1954 Aaron, graded 7.5 by Pro. No finders fee.

boggs

A Barry Bonds auto.


James



Ok the nicest Ruth or Aaron I could find.

Stone193

91 and 92 Upper Deck Baseball

xbaggypants

<< <i>I can hook you up with a guy who might be willing to part with a 1954 Aaron, graded 7.5 by Pro. No finders fee. >>



Thanks for nothing!

KOBEcollector

Hey Kuhlman is this the one you meant

helionaut

Great, another investment thread. I'd take your $1000 and buy as nice a raw Goudey Ruth, T-206 Cobb, or A&G or Mayo Cut Plug Anson as I could, and get it slabbed. The reasons I would think are self-evident. You could always take a chance and get a post-war star, but I think they are kind of soft in pricing and growth at the moment. Or you could have some fun and get a couple cases of Bowman Chrome or some such rookie prospecting product and rip it all, hoping for the best. Instant gratification there.

kuhlmann

KObe wow that guy out of his bird? those go for 225-300$ if he gets 799$ i am really gonna kick myself for not buying these when the were under 100$..

goudeygold

David Wright? Or was it Gregg Jefferies... Ben McDonald... Zack Greinke?

HUUUUUUUUGE gamble on unproven prospects. for every Pujols and A-rod, there are probably 500 McDonalds. terrible odds... but somebody has to win right?

GG

bowdowntome

Wow, a $1000, all at one time? Without doing the math I could probably finish the following football sets:

1956 Topps
1959 Topps
1960 Topps
1961 Topps
1962 Topps
1963 Topps
1964 Philadelphia

Ungraded of course. But, since the likelihood of finding everything I need all at one time, ungraded, in the condition (and prices) I like is unlikely, I would put the money in the bank, and sponge off of it over time until my task was complete, maybe even wind up with some interest to spend on more cards.

Okay, but if it were just 1 card, then I would try and get a HOFer from the National Chicle set, in the best grade a grand could buy.

joestalin

I love these guys who are still living in the 80's....It makes me wonder if they have even bought a pack of cards after 89 fleer.

Most of the money to be made happens before the player even steps into a major league ballpark! Its called hype guys. Today
ball players cards come out years before he has to prove himself. When a guy is mowing down batter in AA or AAA people are
just as into his cards as if he was mowing down Arod and Jeter! Actually once a guy hits the bigs and establishes himself as
a beast his cards actually lose intrest! Prior and Wood are good examples.

I remember when you could pick up Wright AU RC's for 15 bucks....and they you could of sold them for 75 BEFORE he played a game
with the mets.....hmmm......65 Wrights at 15 bucks is 975...sold later for 75 a pop is 4875.00

There are at least 15 rookie today at that 75 dollar level and many of the 15.00 ready to get picked. It takes brains to figure out
which ones will be the ones. If you do research you can avoid the Jeffries and Ron Kettle. As for injuries, anyone at anytime can
get injured.

JS

NBAFan

I say invest in something besides sports cards. No matter what everyone think about vintage holding value, it will only hold value if there is a demand for it and I don't think that the new generation of collectors will keep the market of vintage going for the current collectors of vintage. Personally I can see the entire market falling off, especially if the economy takes any more major hits. Who is going to have the extra money to spend on "high dollar" vintage sports cards? Collectors will then end up being either stuck with them or losing major money. If you are buying for yourself and just for the satisfaction of owning it, fine, but investment reasons is not a good choice.

fensfan

If I only have $1K to "invest," there's got to be some past pro (major league, NBA, etc.) production to bank on. Knowing who the best new prospects are can certainly help narrow the field, though the price you are buying at (like stocks) already factors in what the experts think. appreciation in those cases come from print productions and future performance, which no one at the time of purchase can truly predict or count on, no matter how good a number cruncher or judge of talent the card buyer may be. Now, if you are talking about taking $$ others spend on scratch tix, etc., then I definitely see the merit in taking your shot on modern favorites of draft choices and other unproven types.
one card buy-and-hold choices:
_ (modern) jordan psa 9 rookie. for current players, pujols would be my choice, then hope he doesn't follow nomar's path.
_ (vintage) best aaron rc I could get.

Stingray

All right Stone193 what is your facination with 91 and 92 upper deck. Saw you say that in another post.

Stingray

Lothar52

i would buy 100000 tootsie rolls

loth

Lothar52

a couple 50's mantle cards in psa 5.....u can always offload them in 20 years oh yeah!

N162Collector

<< <i>Most of the money to be made happens before the player even steps into a major league ballpark! Its called hype guys. Today
ball players cards come out years before he has to prove himself. When a guy is mowing down batter in AA or AAA people are
just as into his cards as if he was mowing down Arod and Jeter! Actually once a guy hits the bigs and establishes himself as
a beast his cards actually lose intrest! Prior and Wood are good examples.

I remember when you could pick up Wright AU RC's for 15 bucks....and they you could of sold them for 75 BEFORE he played a game
with the mets.....hmmm......65 Wrights at 15 bucks is 975...sold later for 75 a pop is 4875.00 >>



For every David Wright and Albert Pujols, there are a hundred duds. Anyone remember Josh Hamilton, Ruben Rivera, Russell Branyan, Ruben Mateo, et al?

Sure, there is money to be made in modern. But 99.9% of modern will tank in the next five years. Vintage holds its value (save for volitale low pops).


Answer the following scenario:

A. You have a 5% chance of a 100% positive return on an investment five years down the line.
B. You have a 100% chance of a 5% positive return on an investment five years down the line.

Which would you choose? If you chose A, I would recommend avoiding stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, and heading to the nearest craps table.

N162Collector

And to answer the question, I would buy as many low grade caramel and tobacco cards as I could. Not as an investment, but because that is what I primarily collect.

goudeygold

stalin is dead on. Its almost ALWAYS hype. I remember the lebron james SI card BGS 9 going for 2,000 at a show when it first came out. I have no idea what it goes for now, but i'm sure it is waaaaaaay less. he even lived up to the hype, but hype is an insatiable machine. Look at Prior. You have one good year and your the next nolan ryan. Look at him now. washed up and injured for life... just like wood. pre-war for on the side investment fun, modern and hype for pleasure.

GG

NewJerseyMeatHook

1984 Jack Fimple.

OSClabs

How about investing $1,000 in Fleer stock?


Btw, anyone from Fleer reading this.... how about sending me that Elway auto card #ed/15... I sent my redemption card in 7 months ago!

roastedcat

I buy deceased Hall of Famers, try buying a high graded Hall of famer Pre-50's you can always turn around and make your money back. When you buy a deceased HOF'er they can't do anything more to mess up their name. Stick with vintage High graded cards, you'll make your money back and then some.

Jery

NickM

joestalin's advice is good if you intend to buy and resell fairly soon for a profit. You just have to predict who will get the price increases due to minor league performance or speculation. [By the way, buying and selling Jefferies or Ron Kittle at the right times made some people a lot of money too.]

If I were buying to hold for a few years and then sell, I would probably go with '33 and '34 Goudey and '34-'36 Diamond Stars Hall of Famers in PSA 3 and PSA 4 condition. For many of them, these are the only major cards that are readily available, meaning that these are the cards people will look to to fill spots in HOF Player collections. Since many are in the $40 to $80 range (I'm talking Lyons, Rixey, Vaughan, Bottomley, etc., rather than Foxx, Gehrig, and Ruth), you could put together 15 different players from these without too much difficulty.

Nick

lostdart58

Here is a novel thought........For a $1,000 you could probably by at least 100 reprints of high -end vintage cards.......Then you could put them up on EBAY with the standard disclaimer..................Later we can discuss your auctions in another thread here..