Owning many copies of the same card - Is it rational?

thehallmark · May 4, 2021 9:23PM

Ever feel the compulsion to buy as many copies of one card as you possibly can?

I'm not referring to cornering the market as an investment strategy.
I'm not talking about acquiring all the different variations of some ultra modern cards.
I'm not even talking about getting the same card in different grades (although that idea suddenly appeals to me as well).

I'm talking about literally buying a card of significant value compared to your budget, and then upon arrival thinking "I like this feeling. One of these is not enough."

I've had this happen three or four times in my life now and I've only just identified it as some sort of mental illness. Just thought I'd share.

jeffcbay · May 4, 2021 9:39PM

I own an embarrassing amount of these raw... hundreds. I buy them every time I see them. Along with a signed 8x10 of this photo, and a 9-card sheet signed by all nine players (including Nolan Ryan). I might have a problem.

daltex · May 4, 2021 10:36PM

I remember seeing a 10,000 card lot of 1977 Tommy John for sale on eBay more than a decade ago now. Still, a 1977 John isn't likely to be of significant value compared to anyone's budget.

With those two constraints, yes, I'd call it a problem.

Estil · May 4, 2021 11:05PM

Oh boy remember in the hobby's peak years (late 80s/early 90s) when this was done? Is it now time to cash in on all those Tom Glavine RC's? I mean he did make the HOF on the first ballot with just under 92% of the vote after all...

pab1969 · May 5, 2021 2:50AM

I still have 72 raw 1980 Mike Schmidt Topps cards. Why? I have no idea. I like Mike Schmidt but I don't even have that many cards of my favorite players. And why that card? No clue. I just chalk it up to my OCD personality.

PaulMaul · May 5, 2021 4:00AM

Not something that afflicts me. I like to have exactly one: the best one.

billwaltonsbeard · May 5, 2021 4:34AM

I have several hundred 1987 Topps Bo Jacksons........my favorite card of all time.

blurryface · May 5, 2021 5:04AM

no, its not rational. thats why i love it!

craig44 · May 5, 2021 5:36AM

It used to be very popular back in the late 80's to have 50-100 count lots of cards.

I have some multiples of key rookies like Brett, Yount etc.

the worst I ever did was to get a double of the 1990 NNOF Frank Thomas. I kept the double for years. a couple of years ago I decided to sell the lesser condition of the 2. I tripled my money, in effect also paying for the one I kept that is a BGS 9.

I felt weird for a while afterward. I decided to put the money into Tom Brady. I used the funds to acquire a 2000 BC Refractor.

while I sometimes do miss the other NNOF, all I have to do is look at recent sales of the Refractor Brady rookie and I feel much, much better.

dontippet · May 5, 2021 6:12AM

Who was it on here around 10-15 years ago that had hundreds of some 80's rookie card, Mike Greenwell, or something like that?

GreenSneakers · May 5, 2021 6:51AM

It’s how I collected as a kid. Pick one (rookie) card and load up. I wasn’t a professional scout, however, as I did Dave Hostetler in 83, Orel Hershiser in 85, Lenny Dykstra in 86. I did ok with Mattingly in 84, but even then it was Topps rather than Donruss.

blurryface · May 5, 2021 6:54AM

@GreenSneakers said:
It’s how I collected as a kid. Pick one (rookie) card and load up. I wasn’t a professional scout, however, as I did Dave Hostetler in 83, Orel Hershiser in 85, Lenny Dykstra in 86. I did ok with Mattingly in 84, but even then it was Topps rather than Donruss.

speaking of which and with what he accomplish coupled w post career success in the both, the ‘85 orel tiffany is criminally undervalued when compared to other tiffany 84-86 rc counterparts.

eta: his ‘88 topps tiffany card was always one of my favorite cards too

rtimmer · May 5, 2021 7:13AM

Can’t be a baller if you don’t have a stack

dan89 · May 5, 2021 7:15AM

Nothing is rational with what we do.

blurryface · May 5, 2021 7:18AM

@dan89 said:
Nothing is rational with what we do.

agreed. in fact i would even take it one step further. if you are rational then youre the one w/ the problem. not us!

Barfvader · May 5, 2021 7:30AM

Problem? What problem? Doesn't everyone do this?

azvike · May 5, 2021 7:32AM

not the same card, but I have over 100 different Joe Thomas rookies all graded

Kid4hof03 · May 5, 2021 8:06AM

I do whatever I can with 1979 Topps Roger Staubach. It's my favorite card and my first great memory in card collecting. I've got them graded, raw, autographed, showing on unopened packs, Topps Vault proofs, anything I can find. Here's a little of what I've got

OAKESY25 · May 5, 2021 8:18AM

I have hundreds and hundreds of mike greenwell rc's of each donruss, topps and tiffany,
I have about 1000 score Lindros rc's but my main guy is Ron Kittle, 83 Fleer especially, I try to buy any big lots I find.
I have about 4000 of the 84 topps ( bought a huge 3500 count lot on ebay once ) These are not budget busters by any means, quite the opposite but yes I am actually obsessed with owning multiple copies of the same card. I love the 87 donruss / leaf maddux and bo jackson as well.

weaselpuppy · May 5, 2021 9:19AM

I bought a lot of 100 Teddy Higuera rookies back in the late 80s.

Felt pretty good about that until 1991

Pitchers....

Mcvillagehtx · May 5, 2021 10:08AM

I was thinking of this yesterday. People are calling this the junk slab era, but even if there are 15,000 Juan soto psa 10 rookies for example, perhaps there are just people that want to own 500 of them. Why not when you think about it? It's sort of a bit like a currency just like anything else one might own. It gives people something they can be known for i guess. A goal to shoot for. I can see people gravitating in this direction and not really caring that there are yens of thousands of any particular card in a psa 10. They would be just as hungry to get copy 250 as they were to snag the first one. Not even for investment purposes either. Just to have them.

82FootballWaxMemorys · May 5, 2021 1:31PM

@Mcvillagehtx said:
I was thinking of this yesterday. People are calling this the junk slab era, but even if there are 15,000 Juan soto psa 10 rookies for example, perhaps there are just people that want to own 500 of them. Why not when you think about it? It's sort of a bit like a currency just like anything else one might own. It gives people something they can be known for i guess. A goal to shoot for. I can see people gravitating in this direction and not really caring that there are yens of thousands of any particular card in a psa 10. They would be just as hungry to get copy 250 as they were to snag the first one. Not even for investment purposes either. Just to have them.

Thinking of a Forest Gump quote here...

I almost ended up with 100 Mackey Sasser Fleer Rookies from a SCD ad in the early 90's. Get this they were sold out by the time I called - THANKFULLY! No recollection why I wanted that card either.

I do have 7 copies of the same Comic Book in CGC 9.8 . Sent in some raw, purchased the others. However this was to get different autographs as well as newsstand and direct sale versions. The only 2 that are an exact match do have different page quality ratings.

Willymac · May 5, 2021 1:41PM

@rtimmer said:
Can’t be a baller if you don’t have a stack

Absolutely stellar!!!!!

dontippet · May 5, 2021 1:51PM

Well, I probably need to add myself to this list. I just sold a lot of (268) Goose Gossage cards.

Barfvader · May 5, 2021 3:13PM

Sneaking in..........

Does this count

Sneaking out..........

FINESTKIND · May 5, 2021 3:23PM

There's a guy in California that has about 4,000 1964 Curt Flood cards.

Brian48 · May 5, 2021 3:24PM

Gansetttime · May 5, 2021 3:56PM

Rational, no. Easy to do? Yes. It was common back in the day. A lot of product was produced and broken to appease the incredible demand of speculators.
I wonder where all this stuff ended up?

daltex · May 5, 2021 9:37PM

The last 25 points prove my point. None of them mention doing what the OP suggests. Either the cards are relatively inexpensive (mostly extremely inexpensive) or are for "investment" (better to say speculation) purposes. Mostly both.

I don't see anyone here with a hobby budget of, say, $3000 per year having ten $1000 cards that he doesn't think can go up, though I don't know what that card is in this market.

blurryface · May 5, 2021 9:44PM

@daltex said:
The last 25 points prove my point. None of them mention doing what the OP suggests. Either the cards are relatively inexpensive (mostly extremely inexpensive) or are for "investment" (better to say speculation) purposes. Mostly both.

I don't see anyone here with a hobby budget of, say, $3000 per year having ten $1000 cards that he doesn't think can go up, though I don't know what that card is in this market.

does this qualify? ok, obviously i grade. i have 9 of the 50 gold refractors that have now turned into $20k cards. dont think i paid more than $500 for one. still ungraded besides the bgs one that was bought graded. not bought for investment purposes and yes, i love the feeling.

i think the rational line of thought would be “get those suckers graded and cash in”. but, nope.

daltex · May 5, 2021 10:24PM

@blurryface said:

@daltex said:
The last 25 points prove my point. None of them mention doing what the OP suggests. Either the cards are relatively inexpensive (mostly extremely inexpensive) or are for "investment" (better to say speculation) purposes. Mostly both.

I don't see anyone here with a hobby budget of, say, $3000 per year having ten $1000 cards that he doesn't think can go up, though I don't know what that card is in this market.

does this qualify? ok, obviously i grade. i have 9 of the 50 gold refractors that have now turned into $20k cards. dont think i paid more than $500 for one. still ungraded besides the bgs one that was bought graded. not bought for investment purposes and yes, i love the feeling.

i think the rational line of thought would be “get those suckers graded and cash in”. but, nope.

I don't know. I don't know what your budget is, but anyone who has a decent Mantle rookie likely has a substantial one, compared to just $20,000.

blurryface · May 5, 2021 10:35PM

i dont wanna venture too far down this budget rabbit hole, but even warren buffet would say $20k is $20k.

and im no warren buffet. jimmy buffet maybe. but definitely not warren.

BJY83 · May 5, 2021 10:58PM

In4apenny · May 5, 2021 11:54PM

@Barfvader said:
Problem? What problem? Doesn't everyone do this?

I bought a pack of 50 1990 Score BO cards, still unopened. Also bought 50 1988 Texaco Bo Jackson Football cards. Why?
I don't really remember who and where I bought them from. I was also offered 100 rookie 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr , but i passed on him, oops.

CdnOsfan · May 6, 2021 12:10AM

Pleased that I own a crap load of John Means cards today!

daltex · May 6, 2021 2:32AM

FWIW, in 1987 I stumbled across a two-year-old copy of SCD. It had a whole list of 1985 Topps cards that could be ordered in lots of 500 for 2c each. 401 was on the list.

1951WheatiesPremium · May 6, 2021 3:20AM

If I had a bigger table, you’d see even more doubles.

1951WheatiesPremium · May 6, 2021 4:20AM

Here’s a rare one...or two.

1951WheatiesPremium · May 6, 2021 4:53AM

@blurryface said:
i dont wanna venture too far down this budget rabbit hole, but even warren buffet would say $20k is $20k.

and im no warren buffet. jimmy buffet maybe. but definitely not warren.

Why don’t we get drunk and rip
I just bought some Heritage and it could be a pip
Some say that it’s not worth it, honey, I just think that’s lip
So why don’t we get drunk and rip

play it, Coral Rippers

😂😂😂

StatsGuy · May 6, 2021 6:34AM

@jeffcbay said:
I own an embarrassing amount of these raw... hundreds. I buy them every time I see them. Along with a signed 8x10 of this photo, and a 9-card sheet signed by all nine players (including Nolan Ryan). I might have a problem.

Is this the special"Golden" version? I have each and it's hard to tell unless side by side.

StatsGuy · May 6, 2021 6:40AM

I certainly didn't know when to hold em and when to sell 'em. I still have about 40 1988 Score Topps Traded of Mark Grace. They were at $20 at one point. Now unless I take a chance on a PSA 10 it's not worth it. Just sold the sealed 1988 score update (Glossy) Set this year. I know only 3,000 were made--not the "glitter" it once had. Now Biggio is the key (not Grace, Alomar..)

bobbybradyjr · May 6, 2021 7:03AM

1959 · May 6, 2021 10:44AM

A guy buys a warehouse full of 1973 calendars for 1000.00. Friend ask, "Why "? Guy say, " IF 1973 ever comes back, I'll make a fortune." You never know. P.S . Mine is 1959 Eddie Yost

Stone193 · May 6, 2021 7:44PM

Back in the early 90s and I think back now how nuts I was to buy this stuff?

Dealers like Scoreboard, Brent's Cards, Howard's,Smokeys, e.g., sold bulk lots of cards.

A lot of cards for a penny or 2 was all I paid for some.

Now I can't believe I bothered.

But I do have an 800 count box of 2nd yr Glavine cards!

And.

All these 1990 Sheffield glossy cards! This is just the tip of the iceberg unfortunately.

Willymac · May 7, 2021 3:13AM

@BJY83 said:

Ooooooffffff

Legit!!!

craig44 · May 7, 2021 6:58AM

@Stone193 said:
Back in the early 90s and I think back now how nuts I was to buy this stuff?

Dealers like Scoreboard, Brent's Cards, Howard's,Smokeys, e.g., sold bulk lots of cards.

A lot of cards for a penny or 2 was all I paid for some.

Now I can't believe I bothered.

But I do have an 800 count box of 2nd yr Glavine cards!

And.

All these 1990 Sheffield glossy cards! This is just the tip of the iceberg unfortunately.

Hi there Mike!

I remember the big Smokeys adds in the hobby monthlys back in the early 90's. didn't the owner get in trouble over some fake autographs 20 or more years ago?

Stone193 · May 7, 2021 8:13AM

@craig44 said:

@Stone193 said:
Back in the early 90s and I think back now how nuts I was to buy this stuff?

Dealers like Scoreboard, Brent's Cards, Howard's,Smokeys, e.g., sold bulk lots of cards.

A lot of cards for a penny or 2 was all I paid for some.

Now I can't believe I bothered.

But I do have an 800 count box of 2nd yr Glavine cards!

And.

All these 1990 Sheffield glossy cards! This is just the tip of the iceberg unfortunately.

Hi there Mike!

I remember the big Smokeys adds in the hobby monthlys back in the early 90's. didn't the owner get in trouble over some fake autographs 20 or more years ago?

Hiya David

I don't remember exactly what went wrong but they shut down operations and stiffed me for 100 bucks worth of cards.

Brian48 · May 7, 2021 9:40AM

Some other multiples.

blurryface · May 7, 2021 9:47AM

NGS428 · May 7, 2021 1:17PM

1 of each grade, so they are technically different.

@thehallmark go the different grade route as you mentioned. It is a fun run for sure!

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1042519/in-process-1989-upper-deck-ken-griffey-jr-psa-grade-run#latest

jordangretzkyfan · May 7, 2021 2:41PM

Like many others, I share your mental illness. Childhood heroes...

Owning many copies of the same card - Is it rational?

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