[MCoxon]

Why aren't there any good inflation / price data, like a CPI (card price index)? This seems ripe for someone to analyze the huge PSA and VCP databases and bring facts to this discussion.

I agree with Peter Spaeth that the cards I look for get harder and harder and more and more expensive to procure. Granted these tend to be rarer, PSA 7-8 Mantles, Clementes, etc. and so it makes me think there are sub-segments of the post war market.

I'd argue there are at least 3-4 different "sub-segments" (just like there are CPI and PPI inflation data for all goods, and for sub-segments):

* HOF RCs, PSA 8+: This is a separate animal altogether, and where a lot of the "buyer's club" comments come from

* Elite HOF base cards: Mantle, Clemente, Koufax, Mays, etc. Even here, I'd say that prices for these cards in PSA 8+ have behaved differently than these cards in PSA 4-7

* HOF rare/alternate cards. I believe that Mantle's Stahl-Meyer, Dan-Dee, Yoo-Hoo, and other rare cards have gone way up, since 2015. I could be wrong

* Non-HOF cards: even here, I'd differentiate between, say, 1952 Topps and 1972 Topps high numbers


In all, I believe there are micro-markets; my opinion is that

* High-grade HOF RC's have gone down

* Rare, high-grade elite HOF cards have gone WAY up

* Clementes and Mantles have gone up, across the board. For instance I've been looking for 1956 Mantle PSA 5, or a 1964 Standup PSA 6+ for 24 months, and they keep going up; ditto Clemente 1956 PSA 6-7; try bidding for a 1969 Topps Super Clemente; I have for 2 years and I'm chasing a rising price

* Average HOF or common player cards in mid-grade have gone MODERATELY down