What is "High End"?

Farmkidd · March 30, 2009 4:02AM

Some talk on this forum site about "high end" part of the hobby being strong relative to other investments. So my question is what constitutes "high-end" and can it be defined by population report rather than PSA Grade? Does that mean that middle and low-end card market is soft/weak?

Is a card with a population less than 10, 50, 100 in the high end of collecting?

Is any card with market value $100, $1000, $5000 considered high end?

Is any card PSA 8 (1959 and older), PSA 9 (1960-1979), PSA 10 (everything newer) considered high-end?

Sorry for the crazy barage of questions...

Here is the my thresh-hold opinion for the sets that I collect and therefore familiar with. Others pipe in with your area of collecting...

T206 - Anything PSA 6 and above because most populations and above are below 50 and all packs have been opened and discoveries are almost non-existent. Any rare back (Broad leaf, Carolina Brights, Drum, Lenox, Uzit) regardless of condition or player.

1956 Topps - Anything PSA 9 and up (some 8.5s) because that is what it takes to build a top 10 set on the PSA Registry. I also think Superstars PSA 8 are high end even though their populations reach up to the 200s because people don't let these cards go.

1986 Sportflics - Absolutely nothing high-end, not even PSA 10s because sportflics were not mainstream enough for collectors and PSA 10s are easy to find on ebay. There are a few 1 of 1 PSA 10s and 9s, but the hobby doesn't notice or care.

2001 Topps Archives Autographs - PSA 10 HOFs and all the Superstars with print-runs of 50, because they demand prices as low as $500 and $1000 for raw cards the likes of Ryan, Mays, Berra, Aaron, Musial and a few others.

2002 Donruss Diamond Cuts - Nothing really, maybe a PSA 9-10 Pujols Autograph (none graded that high yet), same for Babe Ruth Bat or Ted Williams Jersey. Everything else is just modern memorabilia cards that are very condition sensitive (chip easily)

mikeschmidt · March 30, 2009 4:45AM

Obviously it is subjective -- but why not use dollar value as a starting point -- any card valued at $2,500 or above as "high end".

That will include modern [in limited instances], vintage, high grade, population rarity, existence rarity, etc.

m