Posted By:
boxingcardmanBarry: I think over the long haul true rarity is always going to trump condition. Look at what a beater T206 Wagner sells for. Look at what people pay for beater Zeenut DiMaggios. Take a major player from a rare set and it will do very well over time regardless of condition simply because there is so much demand among advanced collectors for those cards.
Chad: I agree that the Dorskinds are engaging in a bit of apple-polishing, but that seems to be de rigueur for them.
Al: absolutely spot on.
The CJ is a great example of perspective and perception. Great "investment" for the buyer; not so much for the seller. Bottom line is that someone got railed in that Mastro auction, someone got lucky on that ebay auction, because the right people were watching that day. Simple as that. I saw all those CJs in Mastro and thought about bidding but, frankly, I was in overload by then from all the auctions plus ebay plus the recent National. The result doesn't mean jack about "the market". Heck, even when the stock market is crashing, someone is there buying and selling and someone is making money. If you want to look at overall "market" health you need to look at a big sampling of items. How are the totals (selling prices and numbers of different bidders) for all the myriad auctions? There's your measure of market health.
One thing that is overlooked is how well you can do with popular cards in grades that average collectors want. T206 is the primary example. So many collectors that even a vast supply is absorbed and desirable HOFers continue to escalate in price. I know since I've been shopping for Cobb-Young-Matty-Speaker and have been watching the price trends.