For those around, what happened to the vintage card market in 2008?

Davis

I'm curious for you guys that have been around longer than I have. I got back in the game in late 2013. What happened to the vintage card market in 2008 when the US markets tanked? More specifically, how did prices of key vintage cards (50's Mantles, Aaron RC's, Nolan Ryan RC's, Gretzky RC's, etc.) react during that time?

MULLINS5

I can only speak for the Gretzky. It seemed to me prices between 2004 and 2008 didn't really change.

I took 2009-2013 off from collecting so don't know a lot about that time period. When I got back I noticed a slight increase in Gretzky prices, but I'm really blown away that some 9s are selling for $10k+ today.

itzagoner

people were not necessarily dumping investment cards during the slump, but there were good deals to be had. the vintage market in general was a very healthy place to be a buyer for the period of 2008 thru 2010 while the economy was recovering. with a reduction in disposable income being thrown around on eBay, the competition for quality cards, especially raw stuff, made for some incredibly good acquisitions.

Carew29

For me it was a buyers market. I stopped selling at one point as cards were barely getting 60% of SMR. I know it's only a "guide"...but unless it was a star card ....

Griffins

anything that was fairly easy to find got a lot cheaper. It brought out a lot of the rarer stuff, especially pre War, and prices were always strong on that- money always has money.
One of the things that contributed to the drop (not that the biggest depression since '29 needed more fuel) was Mastro/Legendary being under grand jury investigation, and the realization that a lot of the prices that values were based on weren't real. I think we're still trying to sort that out to a certain degree.

gemint

What others have said. There were some great deals to be had but quality was never being given away. There were certain issues that had heavy demand which grew through the recession. 1971 Topps baseball in high grade was on fire at that time. Then after the recession was over, several high ranked sets were sold off which increased supply and depressed demand. So the '71s actually cooled off AFTER the recession was already over. They've since recovered somewhat.

MrNearMint

Really good question. I got back into the hobby in 09-10 (I think), and didn't really think about the recession.

braves72078

a Buyers market for sure but super high end dtill held value pretty well

smallstocks

I know that my favorite set, 1955 Topps, only saw a small decline in prices. Unopened material in the non sports area saw a major drop in price however and I was happy to take advantage of that!

mccardguy1

<< <i>a Buyers market for sure but super high end dtill held value pretty well >>



I agree.....the top end not only held the value but may have even increased. The prices for the average graded vintage leveled off and even came back to earth so that actual collectors could get back in the market.

rtimmer

I found it a great time to build several cornerstones to my collection. Several one of a kind items could be picked up that never come for sale and those top end cards could be had which usually don't show up or you find yourself in a bidding war for. In two years for example I picked up more Bird/magic unopened packs than I will be able to get in the next decade. I do feel very fortunate that the recession came along as much as I feel for those impacted.