Article on collecting from 1979

Bigstep

Collecting article

As true today as it was almost 30 years ago. Here are some of the prices for sets in 1979 from an ad in "The Trader Speaks"

1979 ad


Rich

grote15

I'll take a thousand of those 1971 sets at $110 each please!

Cool article!

perkdog

Geez, at those prices I could see myself spending about a grand on those early fifties football sets!

Leiascards

I'll take 100 of those 1965 Topps Football sets for 70.00 and 100 of those 1958 Football sets for 40. That 63 Baseball is nice at 200.00 to0

Griffins

according to the inflation calculator, $10. in 1979 is equal to 29.86 in Dec '06, or roughly triple.

stitzen

Great find...and its amazing how similar his sentiments are to those today, where investors have replaced a great percentage of collectors, and that the kids have been forgotten and left out.

jrinck

Keep in mind that if you were to buy any of those sets, expect the "excellent" part to apply to over 90% of the cards (including ALL of the stars), and that the gradings standards to be about as good as they are for raw cards on Ebay, meaning that "excellent" is really more like PSA 3/4/5-ish.

Think about it, if you really, really tried, I'm sure you could pick up a 1971 Topps set in "3-ish" condition even today at probably less than $110.

theczar

Keep in mind that if you were to buy any of those sets, expect the "excellent" part to apply to over 90% of the cards (including ALL of the stars), and that the gradings standards to be about as good as they are for raw cards on Ebay, meaning that "excellent" is really more like PSA 3/4/5-ish

i couldn't agree more. when you get into those era's which are still quasi-modern there is still a ton of material out there, but relatively very little in high grade. even a PSA 7 would be better than most raw sets with the centering issues they had. the corners would be nicer in those sets, but you still would be doing a lot of upgrading.

PSASAP

Sentimental treacle. Those "lost innocence" laments are written by doting old fools.

2dueces

Interesting. BTW, for those who don't recognize the author. Mr. Hietman wrote the book "The Monster".
No, not about Frankenstein, about T206's.

Buccaneer

I was going to say the same thing that jrinck and czar said - what you would have gotten for $110 or $200 was a bunch of mid-grade cards at best. I was working for card stores and doing shows a few years after that article and the sets that dealers and collectors had in their binders or large-count boxes weren't that good but today's discriminating standards. Given inflation (3x), you would still come out ahead but not by much, I don't think. Even back then, the good dealers cherry-picked the great cards out of the sets and sold those separately, usually at way more than book.

Buccaneer

One more thing. Where you would have come out way ahead were not 60s and 70s sets but 50s and pre-war where mid-grade cards could be had very cheap (relatively speaking) and are worth something today. I told this story a hundred times already but I remember passing up mid-grade Allen&Ginters for under $100 and good-sized lots of T206 for next to nothing (maybe $2-5 a piece).

grote15

Of course, if you factor in inflation, $110 for an EX-MT 1971 Topps Baseball set isn't quite as appealing, but if you were dealing in true dollars, I doubt you could find a complete 1971 set in even VG condition for $110.

Buccaneer

<< <i>Of course, if you factor in inflation, $110 for an EX-MT 1971 Topps Baseball set isn't quite as appealing, but if you were dealing in true dollars, I doubt you could find a complete 1971 set in even VG condition for $110. >>



There's no other way to look at it. Either you have to think of it as $110 back then (which was a good chunk of change) or $300+ today. And it wouldn't be an EX-MT set either. There would be a lot of cards in that grade but the average would be lower.

RedHeart54

<< <i>As true today as it was almost 30 years ago. >>



1979 seems like the dark ages and it's hard to believe that collecting was really no different back then. Our pursuits, incomes, and abilities to collect what we want change but the fundamentals of collecting never do. Thanks for posting the article.

grote15

< Of course, if you factor in inflation, $110 for an EX-MT 1971 Topps Baseball set isn't quite as appealing, but if you were dealing in true dollars, I doubt you could find a complete 1971 set in even VG condition for $110. >>



There's no other way to look at it. Either you have to think of it as $110 back then (which was a good chunk of change) or $300+ today. And it wouldn't be an EX-MT set either. There would be a lot of cards in that grade but the average would be lower.

That may be true, but where's the fun in that?

P.S. If you find an EX-MT 1971 Topps complete set for $350, let me know, I'd be interested in buying it!

Boopotts

<< <i>

<< <i>Of course, if you factor in inflation, $110 for an EX-MT 1971 Topps Baseball set isn't quite as appealing, but if you were dealing in true dollars, I doubt you could find a complete 1971 set in even VG condition for $110. >>



There's no other way to look at it. Either you have to think of it as $110 back then (which was a good chunk of change) or $300+ today. And it wouldn't be an EX-MT set either. There would be a lot of cards in that grade but the average would be lower. >>



Even if that was a good deal you would have been better served by dumping that $$ in an index fund of some type.

I had a similar experience looking through old issues of Baseball Card magazine. Sure, there were some deals-- 1984 football springs to mind-- but I was struck by the fact that post-1960 sets had barely beaten inflation in the past 20 years. Interesting to see that this applies to the past 30 years as well. If nothing else this should give pause to anyone who says '60's sets are a good investment.

CDsNuts

What about Ben McDonald rookies- did they beat inflation because I had about $500 in them as a high-schooler.

grote15

Forget about EX-MT 1971 cards, how about unopened packs from 1971? A 10-cent pack in even NM condition commands almost $300 today, or a 29 cent-rack pack commands about $1,200, so even with inflation factored in, that 30 cents today would realize quite a profit! No wonder any photo of Mr. Mint has him holding up a fistful of cash!

Boopotts

<< <i>What about Ben McDonald rookies- did they beat inflation because I had about $500 in them as a high-schooler. >>



I hear he's very big in Belgium.

Buccaneer

60s and early 70s unopened packs would truly be an exception. It is amazing what people pay for them now. I would have to think that somewhere along the line, buyers would turn their imagination off and face reality. So far, word has not gotten out that 9 times out of 10, what's inside the pack comes nowhere close to what is paid. But as long as the pack remains unopened, then that's where imagination (and delusion) comes in.

Boopotts

<< <i>60s and early 70s unopened packs would truly be an exception. It is amazing what people pay for them now. I would have to think that somewhere along the line, buyers would turn their imagination off and face reality. So far, word has not gotten out that 9 times out of 10, what's inside the pack comes nowhere close to what is paid. But as long as the pack remains unopened, then that's where imagination (and delusion) comes in. >>



It will never happen. Look at the modern card market-- people literally line up to buy boxes which yield an assortment of cards that are worth 20% of the price of the box.

There are two immutable truths about card collectors.

1) They are all gamblers.
2) They don't tend to be very bright.

This combination assures that the market for unopened packs will remain uncommonly strong.