In general, I believe the long term trend will always be that good vintage sports collectibles will appreciate in value. There will undoubtedly be short term swings up and down, but I believe the long term trend will always be up.
At a minimum, I would expect most quality vintage cards to keep pace with inflation. More likely, I would expect the "good stuff" such as rare pre-war cards and high quality vinatge HOF cards that were produced before the mass production era, will outpace inflation considerably.
As for the 1952 Topps Mantle and Mantle cards in general, I believe they will always be in demand and perform just fine as an investment over time. Did any of us see most of the pre-war HOF players that we place such a high value on play the game? No. I did not see a baseball game until 1976, but I still love to collect cards of famous players going back to 1800's.
Regardless of how this plays out, I would rather have my money in old cardboard than the dollar bills that are being printed by the US Gov't at an astonishing pace. The only thing better would be if baseball cards were printed on precious metals like gold, silver and platinum.
Last edited by cmcclelland; 10-15-2012 at 09:08 PM.
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