How would you spend (invest) it?
lsutigers1973
Posts: 11,093 ✭
This may take some thought and a little bit of research but thoughts and comments are much appreciated.
First, I know "investing" in sports cards is at the very least risky. With that said, if you had $6000 to "invest" in unopened baseball or football material with the sole purpose of busting them and submitting the best looking cards to resale and then selling off the raw extras, what would you buy? I am throwing this hypothetical situation out there based on the inventory and prices of BBCE. The $6000 would include price of purchase plus submission fees. We will leave eBay or Paypal fees out of the equation for now.
I am actually considering doing this so any advice, other than do not do it, would be appreciated.
First, I know "investing" in sports cards is at the very least risky. With that said, if you had $6000 to "invest" in unopened baseball or football material with the sole purpose of busting them and submitting the best looking cards to resale and then selling off the raw extras, what would you buy? I am throwing this hypothetical situation out there based on the inventory and prices of BBCE. The $6000 would include price of purchase plus submission fees. We will leave eBay or Paypal fees out of the equation for now.
I am actually considering doing this so any advice, other than do not do it, would be appreciated.
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Comments
I think you would have a better chance at making some coin buying nice PSA 7's and 8's, looking for the .5 bump.
<< <i>I honestly dont think I would "invest" in any unopened material. As soon as you bust it open the value plummets and basically your rolling the dice on having quality material to submit. I bought those 79' packs for fun; i dont think ill be doing anything but losing money on them. >>
If you could find something old and leave unopened, that may not be too bad...but like the other suggested, that is TOTAL RISK, definetely not investment material.
A good investment for $6000 would be a PACK FRESH 50/50 Centered PSA 8 Hank Aaron Rookie. I seriously believe no one will ever break his record and now that news has it that Bonds HR breaking ball has made it to cooperstown with an asterisk.....
Edit: Forgot to mention that I am not looking for long term investment. More concerned with immediate return.
j
RIP GURU
I also bought the 79's and stuff for fun. Have no intention of making any kind of profit. The 79s were the first packs I remember busting as a kid and they are actually pretty affordable.
Part of the idea was putting some sort of intrisic value on the fun that is associated with busting the wax and the thrill of the hunt. If you want the whole story....There is a former collector in our area that I have mentioned before that used to run the best small time card shop I have ever seen. When he closed down, he put everything he owned in climate controlled storage. Included in this collection are quite a few sealed cases of baseball and football wax from the mid to late 70's and early 80's. Spoke to him recently, his office is right next to mine, and asked him if he still had the unopened material. His response was, "How much money you have?". Haven't been able to sleep since he said that.
WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
<< <i>I truly expected a different answer from BobS considering the unopened material he has for sale >>
True, I'm in the wax selling game. But If I learned one good thing from new jack city - you can't get high off your own supply.
I'm only holding packs short term for future pack busters.
<< <i>I'm only holding packs short term for future pack busters. >>
I have been saving roughly half of all the unopned wax I buy for my son. Hopefully one day he will get the same thrill I get from opening older wax. If not, I will get to open a lot of good stuff in about 10 years or so.
To me, that would be 1961-62 Fleer Basketball. It's a 66-card set with 37 HOFers, two cards each of Wilt, Russell, Cousy, West, Oscar Robertson, and Baylor, 10 HOF RC's (Wilt, West, Robertson, Baylor, Bellamy, Greer, Howell, KC Jones, Sam Jones, & Lenny Wilkens), and 17 cards which go for $200+ in PSA 8.
Graded 5-card packs go for anywhere between $400-600, so if you look at it from the standpoint that you are paying roughly $100/card, you stand a pretty good chance of breaking even.
Steve doesn't have any in stock right now, but I'm sure he could get some for you.
BBCE already knows what they have and the going price. Therefore you would have to get very lucky in colation or card conditions to even break even.
If I were looking to spend some money to make some money, I'd hit a few major shows and scope out undergraded graded cards looking for ones that have significant upside with probably bumps. A little more time consuming, perhaps, but much less down side, especially if the cards are bought at the right numbers.
<< <i>Included in this collection are quite a few sealed cases of baseball and football wax from the mid to late 70's and early 80's. Spoke to him recently, his office is right next to mine, and asked him if he still had the unopened material. His response was, "How much money you have?". Haven't been able to sleep since he said that. >>
Based on that, if he has unopened '71 topps, that might be your best bet. Condition sensitive issues should bring more cash and if centering is not horrible in a particular issue (like '75's or 78's) then your risk is at least a bit lower if you open the material.
ebay i.d. clydecoolidge - Lots of vintage stars and HOFers, raw, condition fully disclosed.
<< <i>Take the $6,000 and fill up your gas tank..... >>
I am glad I went ahead and bought that civic. 40.00 fills the tank and I can go all week on it.
<< <i>Was this Blue Darter? Or the one that used to have a shop there on Kings Hwy? Both had pretty impressive collections. >>
Ed somethingorother was the guy that owned Blue Darter. He was and probably still is a crook. I hope he reads these threads. I would love to run into him in public one day. Doubleplay was the one on E Kings Hwy and it was the most awesomest place in all the lands when it was open. Yes, that is the right place.
<< <i>Logically, you would want to buy something which offers you the highest possibility of getting high value cards.
To me, that would be 1961-62 Fleer Basketball. It's a 66-card set with 37 HOFers, two cards each of Wilt, Russell, Cousy, West, Oscar Robertson, and Baylor, 10 HOF RC's (Wilt, West, Robertson, Baylor, Bellamy, Greer, Howell, KC Jones, Sam Jones, & Lenny Wilkens), and 17 cards which go for $200+ in PSA 8.
Graded 5-card packs go for anywhere between $400-600, so if you look at it from the standpoint that you are paying roughly $100/card, you stand a pretty good chance of breaking even.
Steve doesn't have any in stock right now, but I'm sure he could get some for you. >>
The last two packs on eBay went in the $1000 range (granted both had stars on the back)....I believe a pack went on another auction site for around $1600. Don't think you will find these for $500 anymore unless a find comes up.
<< <i>
<< <i>Was this Blue Darter? Or the one that used to have a shop there on Kings Hwy? Both had pretty impressive collections. >>
Ed somethingorother was the guy that owned Blue Darter. He was and probably still is a crook. I hope he reads these threads. I would love to run into him in public one day. Doubleplay was the one on E Kings Hwy and it was the most awesomest place in all the lands when it was open. Yes, that is the right place. >>
Ed Berry? I know he used to be a show promoter in these parts, he is the one who I used to see at his shows with a list that showed every card that was going to be in an unopened rack. He did have a nice collection though.
Doubleplay was the one I was thinking about. I still occasionaly drive by there and see the building and want to cry..
I still got a 10 dollar gift certificate from Double Play somewhere around here.
Leiascards, if Ed has passed on, I apologize for talking bad about him but...... he banned me from a card show when I was 18 and tried to have me arrested for simply trying to sell him a 1955 Bowman Willie Mays card that he said was stolen from him. He dropped the charges when he found the card that was supposedly stolen. Then he banned me from all the shows he promoted because I went out of my way to spread the word about his resealing packs habit. Did you ever notice he had a large display of "unopened" material including some old cellos that had stars on top with wax stains. How did wax stains get on the top card of a cello pack?
Rant over. Thanks for listening or reading or whatever.
Last time I saw him though he did not appear to be in the best health.
<< <i>On a different note, the guy that owned Doubleplay, owns a local construction company and still claims to have at least one NRMT/MT rookie card of every player from 1948-1994 not to mention a large quantity of unopened stuff. Do not know why he just doesn't sell it all and retire, or just donate it to me. >>
I know the guy who originally owned the Excalibur stores (Shreveport and Texarkana) has one of the best comic collections you have ever seen. About 10 years ago me and friend were paid 100.00 a day to sort this collection. I was doing the Incredible Hulk and pulled out of the boxes 26 copies of #181 in pristine condition. It took us 7 days to arrange at least 250,000 books in Alphabetical order then by issue number. I am guessing there was 2 or 3 million dollars in comics there.
<< <i>I am actually considering doing this so any advice, other than do not do it, would be appreciated. >>
I wish I had a good suggestion for you but buying any kind of unopened material for the purpose of submitting for grading is such a crapshoot.
Remember the case of 1975 Topps mini's?
If someone did it for investment - i.e. rip, submit and flip? Might be unprofitable?
A board member bought a beat up 57T cello and pulled some sweet cards to include a nice Ted Williams!
Just imagine if some sweet cards were inside this cello from BBCEx? Series 5. But, for 2500 - I find hard to see how one can make money on the pack?
Good luck tho.
mike
<< <i>now you know how I feel lsu except I posted something constructive instead of insulting >>
I don't feel like that was insulting...and i apologize if it was...
<< <i>invest in something you're NOT passionate about. >>
Couldn't find anyone to sell me short, insignicant responses. Apperantly the market for those has risen lately.
<< <i>
<< <i>invest in something you're NOT passionate about. >>
Couldn't find anyone to sell me short, insignicant responses. Apperantly the market for those has risen lately. >>
Ok well I'll delve a little deeper in to the amazingly fun world of personal investing...since apparently THAT is what this thread is about rather than whether or not you should invest in cards (your hobby) as I originally thought (and replied to).
In regards to investments it really depends on what you're looking to do with your disposable income in regards to your ability to liquidate it in a timely fashion. As a general rule of thumb the longer it takes your investment to reach fruition the more it is worth (duh everyone knows this right?). What most people don't realize is that, in this economy, many small banks are closing as a result of the amazingly irresponsible lending habits of the past decade or so...as a result many individuals are also STARTING small banks and it is here where you can start getting creative with smaller (between $2,000 - $10,000) investments and still keep them fairly liquid (meaning you can get your money out within 3-6 months. For example I found a local bank offering 4.5% on my 6 month CD...meaning that I'm getting 9% annually.
So my MORE IN-DEPTH recommendation is find a smaller bank looking to pick up clientèle and find out what their investment rates are, rather than investing in an activity you plan on making bringing home for family Friday each week.
Does that answer your question more to your satisfaction LSU?