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Is it worth the speculation????

BostonAmericansBostonAmericans Posts: 434 ✭✭
in Trading Cards & Memorabilia Forum
This question came to me as a result of the current group rip. There is a case of 1989 Score FB up for grabs. Group rip rate is $270/box. Now from my sig, I am only collecting Topps baseball 1966-current and Topps/OPC hockey 1966-present. I should give a rat's you-know-what about any football. However, the 1989 Score set is recognized as one of the few junk wax era sets that is worth something both in terms of run (not a true 'junk' issue - I am looking at you 1989 Topps BB) and star quality (both Sanders - Barry and Deion, Aikman, Carter, to name a few). I have also seen from my brief re-introduction to the hobby, there are the 'collect the card and not the grade/holder' and the 'cards as investment vehicle' camps. Not that the two cannot intertwine, but from what I see here, that is pretty much the line of demarcation. For the baseball only people, a box of 1989 Score FB for $5.00 isn't worth squat. Yet those who look to flip see the $270 price and jump at the chance.

My question to the general group is - where do you draw the line? I have spent the better part of the last 36 hours figuring the mathematical permutations of buying one of those boxes and flipping in some form (with flip as an unopened box or as 36 lottery tickets, hoping for the GM10s). The answer of course is truly subjective, but I would be interested in seeing the opinions of others on the board and/or otherwise engaged in the rip.

Is the answer as simple as 'what are you collecting and why'?
Collecting Topps Baseball: 1966-present base sets
Topps/OPC Hockey 1966-Present base sets

Comments

  • cpamikecpamike Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭
    I'm in the baseball only camp, so a box of 1989 Score Football while I appreciate unopened I need to stick to my focus as I can only tie up a finite amount of funds at any one time. I always put a premium on an unopened box from a sealed case and coming from BBCE makes it even more so. I just collect what I like and don't think about the potential profit side of things. I sell to get more funds to purchase other items to fit my collecting focus.
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep."

    "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

    Collecting:
    Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
  • MisterBungleMisterBungle Posts: 2,308 ✭✭✭

    Collect what you like because you like it. Then if
    it goes up in value, all the better. If it doesn't go
    up in value, that's okay too.

    If you want to invest, I would suggest the stock
    market.

    ~


    "America suffers today from too much pluribus and not enough unum.".....Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

  • BostonAmericansBostonAmericans Posts: 434 ✭✭
    Thanks for the input. That is what I needed to remember. When I first got back in, I was in the 'what is my attic worth' and finding out 'not much'. Although I did make some money on a couple of cards that no longer wanted, the rest is definitely not Black Swamp find material. So I re-invigorated what got me collecting as a kid - the cards I want. That was that.

    But one of the cards I did sell was a 1989 Score Barry Sanders. It graded a 9 and I think I sold it for $40. So when I saw the box, and knowing what potentially was in there, I went back to profit mode and doing the math. I lost my focus.
    Collecting Topps Baseball: 1966-present base sets
    Topps/OPC Hockey 1966-Present base sets
  • mikliamiklia Posts: 1,295 ✭✭✭
    89 Score FB boxes have also already nearly doubled in the last 3 years or so. might be more room to go up, but $10/pack seems like it's stretching it a bit to me. that said, they're a very fun rip.
  • hyperchipper09hyperchipper09 Posts: 1,459 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Always liked that year for Score. Deion, DT, Woodson, Matthews, Tim Brown, Barry Sanders RC's etc.
  • miwlvrnmiwlvrn Posts: 4,266 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Brings back memories of how it was one of the best pulls possible from that set if you got a Thurman Thomas RC. Guess that didn't turn out so well over the years...
  • cpamikecpamike Posts: 5,566 ✭✭✭
    I've talked to many fellow collectors about focus. It is very easy to get sidetracked in this hobby. That is why I like coming to boards like this to check out stuff that I don't collect, but still appreciate if that makes sense.
    "The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
    But I have promises to keep,
    And miles to go before I sleep,
    And miles to go before I sleep."

    "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."

    Collecting:
    Any unopened Baseball cello and rack packs and boxes from the 1970's and early 1980s.
  • mygottamygotta Posts: 1,652
    I personally think its a good box to get, for investing. Unless you are getting about 2 cards of each high end rookie it might be worth busting. But I would rather pick up other stuff at that price like the 85 FB box at $200 instead. But that's me.
  • 3BoyzTrading3BoyzTrading Posts: 798 ✭✭
    This is a great question. Here is my opinion.....1989 Score was thought to have a more limited print run than other brands. The many rookie cards of Hall of Famers in the set compare only to 1984 Topps. I couldn't afford a box and barely a pack growing up. Fast forward 20 plus years and I can now. However, I understand that the packs are in mylar see through packs(at least the back) and am uneasy spending $200 on a box that could have been searched. Is there sequencing in 1989 score packs, I dont see why there wouldn't be. So, I am willing to pay a reasonable premium if a sealed case from BBCE is up for sale feeling comfortable that they are unsearched boxes.
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