What I learned about collecting in 2008...............
RonBurgundy
Posts: 5,491 ✭✭✭
1) Forget about finding big cards raw in high grade. I bought three raw, high dollar cards in 2008. All three were either overgraded or trimmed (and in one case, both). There's only one place you can still find them...............
2) Good collections with high grade stuff are still out there. I found a few in 2008, mostly with higher grade minor stars and commons but still really nice.
3) There are a lot of exceptionally good and generous people in the hobby.
4) There are a lot of greedy, corrupt people in the hobby.
5) You can't control what the Ebay do. Stuff never goes for what you think it will.......sometimes it's more, more often it's less, but it never sells for what you predict.
6) Selling cards - which I did this year to finance some other stuff - is a lot of work.
7) PSA's customer service and turnaround times are light years better than 2006 and 2007.
8) If you have a lot of collecting projects going - and I do - sometimes you're better off letting the cards come to you (i.e., taking advantage of whatever you find) instead of obsessing about completing one year or one set.
9) It no longer makes economic sense to grade most vintage commons from the early 60's on up.
10) Rube is a good dude.
Ron
2) Good collections with high grade stuff are still out there. I found a few in 2008, mostly with higher grade minor stars and commons but still really nice.
3) There are a lot of exceptionally good and generous people in the hobby.
4) There are a lot of greedy, corrupt people in the hobby.
5) You can't control what the Ebay do. Stuff never goes for what you think it will.......sometimes it's more, more often it's less, but it never sells for what you predict.
6) Selling cards - which I did this year to finance some other stuff - is a lot of work.
7) PSA's customer service and turnaround times are light years better than 2006 and 2007.
8) If you have a lot of collecting projects going - and I do - sometimes you're better off letting the cards come to you (i.e., taking advantage of whatever you find) instead of obsessing about completing one year or one set.
9) It no longer makes economic sense to grade most vintage commons from the early 60's on up.
10) Rube is a good dude.
Ron
Ron Burgundy
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
0
Comments
never tell your wife what your collection is worth...
mathew
drugs of choice
NHL hall of fame rookies
Yes, 4SC and DSL may indeed have issues soon.
RB
Buying Vintage, all sports.
Buying Woody Hayes, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, and Jesse Owens autographed items
1. It S-U-C-K-S to have to sell almost your entire collection! LOL
2. Most of my fellow TRUE collectors are real nice people.
3. I guess I really do enjoy this hobby I have been in for the past 25 years. Although most of my higher valued collection is gone, I still do enjoy collecting the lower valued cards and talking about it with you guys!
Doug
Liquidating my collection for the 3rd and final time. Time for others to enjoy what I have enjoyed over the last several decades. Money could be put to better use.
<< <i>what i learned...
never tell your wife what your collection is worth...
mathew >>
I learned that if you stay single you don't have to deal with that problem. Just sayin'...
<< <i>8) If you have a lot of collecting projects going - and I do - sometimes you're better off letting the cards come to you (i.e., taking advantage of whatever you find) instead of obsessing about completing one year or one set. >>
Good point-sometimes it seems like the less I care about winning a card, the happier I am.
Check your PMs, please...
auto that was clearly overgraded. A lessons learned. I was lucky that I won the card for $100.00 so the net lost
was actually not bad. Also, check for return policy. The seller here stated NO Returns.
2. I collect for fun and went to the Chantilly show multiple times. One day I will visit the National Show and I
am hoping for an East Coast site in the next year or two.
3. I sold a few modern stuff and they were horrible in 2008.
4. This board is full of knowledge and also good people.
Tom
<< <i> 1. It S-U-C-K-S to have to sell almost your entire collection! LOL >>
Been there done that twice.
Sweet Morsels Toffee and Chocolates
<< <i>I collect for fun and went to the Chantilly show multiple times. One day I will visit the National Show and I am hoping for an East Coast show in the next year or two >>
The National will be in Baltimore MD next year, 2010.
I learned what an "authentic" grade was.
I learned my 1975 Topps "mint" set was really no where close.
...actually learned that almost all my cards collected in my childhood are in pretty rough condition...
Fun year learned a lot, spent a lot... happy overall.
<< <i>This year is the first time i've bought cards in 20 years.... there were no grading companies when I last collected.
I learned what an "authentic" grade was.
I learned my 1975 Topps "mint" set was really no where close.
...actually learned that almost all my cards collected in my childhood are in pretty rough condition...
Fun year learned a lot, spent a lot... happy overall.
Funny stuff... things we thought were mint when we were 12 years old are not even close to what mint really is (unless you are a slimy seller on eBay)
<< <i>I learned that newer cards do not hold it's value. ie Alex Gordon >>
At least you learned.Most people don't and continue to spend top dollar every year on the nect big thing.$3000 for a Pujols rookie?Great player no doubt but give me a 1933 Guodey Ruth anyday for that kind of scratch.
Mike
I was looking at how many HOF rc's are in each year of issued cards and it's amazingly consistent at around 2- 4 per year. I thought 1992 and 1997 Bowman might have alot more due to them having a big RC advantage but alot of players fall by the wayside after 10 years. I mean is Mike Piazza even a HOFer anymore? It's funny to think of 1992 bowman and Mariano Riveria might be one of the big cards.
2) Selling and purchasing cards that have been graded by PSA is much safer than dealing with cards that have not.
3) My Ex-wife is a TW**
4) I'm really going to miss my dad when he passes, whenever that may be.
psacard.com/psasetregistry/publishedset.aspx?s=223023&ac=1
1. In a bad economy, people are looking to sell cards more than ever before
2. Most people did buy 1 million cards from 1988-1991, I should know, half of them have come in to sell their cards to me at half book
3. Ebay continues to suck more every year
4. I should have bought gold coins instead of cards last year
I continue to struggle with keeping interest in the hobby for more than 3 months at a time.
I've grown to be a buy and sell kind of collector and get burnt out or bored = compulsive purchases.
I opted for a new boat instead of a 1952 mantle.
To sum up 2008 I learned this hobby isn't for me anymore, but i'd like to get my boy involved when he gets older.
CU Ancient Members badge member.
Collection: https://flickr.com/photos/185200668@N06/albums
What I have learned is
1. To stop buying things I don't really want when there isn't anything to buy on eBay for my Johnny Bench collection.
2. I will never be at 100% on the Johnny Bench master registry. I can't justify buying all the panel cards with other players on them. Like the hostess and the stamps with the single, double, and quad panels and the all star game program inserts (same type of panels as the stamps).
3. My wife will never understand why I collect cards.
4 My wife will never understand why people could spend so much money on one card.
Sorry almost forgot the most important thing.
5. That people on these boards really care about other board members and their families.
One more thing I have never talked to Rube but have read alot of his post and yes Rube is a cool cat
what i learned:
1- timing is everything, finding that key card for a major or reasonable discount depends on the day of the week it's being auctioned on e-bay.
2- patience is a virtue, but seldom used by me
3- there are some major major benevolent people on the set registry: speak w/ them, they usually have extras, duplicates or upgraded cards that they are willing to part w/ for prices that would make 4sc shriek!!!
4- there are benevolent sellers on e-bay: the economy sucks & sellers realize this; e-mail sellers & propose a lower price for cards they are selling, you may find that they are more than often willing to part w/ these cards that have been sitting on their storefronts for discounts..
5- research buying cards on e-bay: sometimes it's as simple as clicking a seller's recent feedback as as buyer to see if they are buying cards & immediately trying to premium price them.
6- new grading paradigm is much more stringent than before, which IMHO has been a good thing for me, i have found 8.5 slabs for very cheap prices, whereas the psa 9 could possibly sell for up to $75 more!!! in some instances hard to tell difference b/t 8.5 and 9
7- rube is a kind dude that i would love to break bread w/ sometime and kick back HARD!!!
gl
j
RIP GURU
1) There is no equity in buying large lots-- either at shows or online-- from full time dealers. When I'm searching Ebay for buys I just skip over anything being offered by a dealer. I may miss the occasional steal, but my headache quotient has greatly decreased since I adopted this strategy.
2) The PSA set registry-- or at least the part of it which concerns me, which is player sets for guys who made their debut post-1960-- is growing out, and not up. The new blood that is entering the registry, or at least entering the world of graded player sets, is largely into second tier HOFers and guys who were all stars in their day but have since fallen off the map. If I could have a random pop 1 PSA 10 of any 'modern' player it would probably be Rose, then Brett, then Schmidt; but after that the players who sell the best are rarely the one's you'd suspect. Some high profile HOFers, like Ozzie Smith, Puckett, Molitor, Yaz, and so on are essentially dead; when I run across low pop gradable cards of these guys I usually just sock them away and don't both submitting them. But guys like Will Clark, Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Bert Blyleven, Kent Hrbek, Robin Yount, Alan Trammell, Tim Raines, and to a lesser extent Juan Gonzalez, Frank Thomas and Orel Hershiser and Kirk Gibson, can sell very well (again, for low pops). Other players, like Sandberg, Fisk, Rice,Ripken, Gwynn, Griffey, Maddux and Clemens, tend to do OK but not as well as you might initially suspect.
3) You cannot expect to so much as break even unless you pay close attention to what players are 'hot'. A fairly obscure, late 80's Will Clark card in PSA 10 is probably a three-digit sale right now, but there's no guarantee that will be true in two month's time. Lee actually hit on this point in an earlier thread, remarking on how much the modern market shifts from week to week, and he's 100% dead on there. When a guy jumps in who's very serious about making an inroad in his set you need to get that player's cards out quickly, and you need to shoot for top dollar. Often the gap between what the underbidder will pay and the max the high bidder will pay is $60 or more, so you cannot start the bidding at $9.99 and expect everything to take care of itself.
4) Most modern bulk sellers of PSA cards haven't figured out the following:
a) There's virtually no point in grading NFL or NBA stars. It's all MLB and Michael Jordan. You can't give away Marino or Steve Young stuff, for instance, and other players like Montana, Barry Sanders, Elway and so forth are virtually never worth grading. And there are NO 2nd tier stars that are worth slabbing.
b) You can no longer expect to do well selling base card PSA 10's of modern HOFers.
so, for a kick i decided to assemble a set, something simple like 1978 Topps Basketball, just a raw set, but every card needed to be beautiful, so i did it, i built the set and the King, DJ, Maxwell rookies, etc. are all perfectly centered, blemish-free cards and the whole set stands out nicely!
so this year, i have already renewed my PSA membership and anticipate sending in some cards for grading, perhaps some for sale and some to keep.....i will take on a bigger, better challenge, like a 70's baseball set with every card needing to be meticulously eyed for condition to be allowed into the hallowed walls of my "Personal Collection".
i've never enjoyed the hobby more than i am right now and expect '09 to be a very fun year.
<< <i>
<< <i>I learned that newer cards do not hold it's value. ie Alex Gordon >>
At least you learned.Most people don't and continue to spend top dollar every year on the nect big thing.$3000 for a Pujols rookie?Great player no doubt but give me a 1933 Guodey Ruth anyday for that kind of scratch.
Mike >>
mike, bad example....
the Pujols rookie is still $3000 because there are only about 400 of these, unlike the 52 Mantle there are estimated over 200,000 still around! 1933 Goudey Ruths? way more than 400.......
so you see, although thePujols rookie is "modern", it doesnt suffer from the same problem as most modern cards -OVERPRODUCTION...
and a HOF player with limited number of rookie cards (bowman chrome) , is a WINNER....
PS...good post RON......
another thing to add...never trust anyone on a message board, you dont know who they REALLY are....[place example here]
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>I learned that newer cards do not hold it's value. ie Alex Gordon >>
At least you learned.Most people don't and continue to spend top dollar every year on the nect big thing.$3000 for a Pujols rookie?Great player no doubt but give me a 1933 Guodey Ruth anyday for that kind of scratch.
Mike >>
mike, bad example....
the Pujols rookie is still $3000 because there are only about 400 of these, unlike the 52 Mantle there are estimated over 200,000 still around! 1933 Goudey Ruths? way more than 400.......
so you see, although thePujols rookie is "modern", it doesnt suffer from the same problem as most modern cards -OVERPRODUCTION...
and a HOF player with limited number of rookie cards (bowman chrome) , is a WINNER....
PS...good post RON......
another thing to add...never trust anyone on a message board, you dont know who they REALLY are....[place example here] >>
I know how many there are and it isn't the point.It is a bad investment.He also has 50 other autographed rookies from 2001 with different quanties of each.Like I said give me a 33 Ruth any day.I know there is no point in arguing my point with a Pujols collector so I will move on and hope you do the same.
Mike
<< <i>WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT COLLECTING IN 2008:
1. It S-U-C-K-S to have to sell almost your entire collection! LOL
2. Most of my fellow TRUE collectors are real nice people.
3. I guess I really do enjoy this hobby I have been in for the past 25 years. Although most of my higher valued collection is gone, I still do enjoy collecting the lower valued cards and talking about it with you guys! >>
As somebody else has already said...been there, done that...3 times.
My father and I built up a massive collection with complete raw baseball and football sets from 1957 to 1985. We sold the collection and made some great money because the majority of these sets were assembled from purchased collections before the big boom of baseball cards in 1980.
I put together many sets after that and sold them off due to a financial need.
I then opened a card shop in the late 80's and quickly sold off everything to keep the store afloat after 9-11. Now I am going through the million cards I have put away after the shop closed and enjoying putting some tougher sets like Heritage master sets from 2001 and 2002as well as trying to complete raw sets from the 70's.
The hobby is fun when kept in perspective. My wife had a rare form of breast cancer that only 5% of women survive and we gave up almost everything to save her life and I would have sold anything to help make her recovery better. I am sure you know that feeling!! (6 years cancer free now...thank the Lord above for that!!)
<< <i>
<< <i>
The hobby is fun when kept in perspective. My wife had a rare form of breast cancer that only 5% of women survive and we gave up almost everything to save her life and I would have sold anything to help make her recovery better. I am sure you know that feeling!! (6 years cancer free now...thank the Lord above for that!!) >>
Amen