FB cards as an investment?

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

This forum is the first one I always check but usually there isn't anything new posted. Maybe we should take a cue from the BB forums and have a set of common threads that we do on a periodic basis to generate interest and get more people engaged. Some that come to mind from reading the BB forums include:

* Show your pickups of the month (we've done this a few times so far but could do it every month)

* Show me your XXXXX. Pick a famous player and have people show their various cards for that player. With less FB cards than BB, these threads probably won't go as long or be as varied as BB is but we can try it out

* What's your Monster Vintage Football Number? Design a numbering scheme for a bunch of vintage football sets together and keep score as to how many of the total cards people have

* Discussions of major auctions going on and what's available from a football perspective

* Discussions on the most difficult sets / cards to obtain

jeff

MONSTER NUMBER (Patent pending) is a proprietary entity developed and managed by yours truly. "The Monster" is a specific reference to the T206 baseball card set. Any tangential reference or dissemination of this term without the express written consent of the owner (frankbmd) is strictly prohibited.

Monsters of the Midway (da Bears) not withstanding, application of this term to a pigskin collection would require appropriate licensing and fees to be determined by the Monster Board of Directors.

My lawyer is ..........

[jefferyepayne]

Hey Frank,

So I don't know you or your sense of humor. Whether this plus the PM you sent me was a joke or a serious message, it's pretty funny and made my day...

jeff

Originally Posted by frankbmd

MONSTER NUMBER (Patent pending) is a proprietary entity developed and managed by yours truly. "The Monster" is a specific reference to the T206 baseball card set. Any tangential reference or dissemination of this term without the express written consent of the owner (frankbmd) is strictly prohited.

Monsters of the Midway (da Bears) not withstanding, application of this term to a pigskin collection would require appropriate licensing and fees to be determined by the Monster Board of Directors.

My lawyer is ..........

[frankbmd]

Accusations of levity and or sarcasm are frequently well founded, but may at times be used as a tool to a make a significant contribution. i would prefer to double space my posts, so that it would be easier to read between the lines. Hopefully I can offer support for the football end of this enterprise, rather than be type cast solely as a Monster Junkie. After all I am an owner of the Green Bay Packers.

[jefferyepayne]

As someone with a lowly Monster Number of 184, I bow down to your baseball cardliness but refuse to bend when it comes to Vintage Football. Go ahead and create a Monster Football Number and let's see who comes out on top.

jeff

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Accusations of levity and or sarcasm are frequently well founded, but may at times be used as a tool to a make a significant contribution. i would prefer to double space my posts, so that it would be easier to read between the lines. Hopefully I can offer support for the football end of this enterprise, rather than be type cast solely as a Monster Junkie. After all I am an owner of the Green Bay Packers.

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by jefferyepayne

As someone with a lowly Monster Number of 184, I bow down to your baseball cardliness but refuse to bend when it comes to Vintage Football. Go ahead and create a Monster Football Number and let's see who comes out on top.

jeff

Established in 1919, nothing represents Vintage Football better than the team from Green Bay. I therefore propose the following Monster Vintage Football Number:

1 points for each vintage Hall of Fame football player (maximum of 9)
10 points for each vintage Green Bay Packer HOFer (maximum of 9)
900 points for a share of Green Bay Packers stock.
1 point for a Curly Lambeau autograph.

-50 points if any of the Hall of Famers above played for Da Bears.

Okay, Jeff, let's see. 900 for the stock, 90 for 9 GB HOFers on the 61 team card, 9 for 9 other HOFers including Thorpe, Graham, Baugh, Unitas, Gifford, Robustelli, Layne, Van Brocklin & Tittle. Ooops, no Lambeau auto. Looks like I'm at 999. What's your MVFN, Jeff?

[jefferyepayne]

Originally Posted by frankbmd

Established in 1919, nothing represents Vintage Football better than the team from Green Bay. I therefore propose the following Monster Vintage Football Number:

1 points for each vintage Hall of Fame football player (maximum of 9)
10 points for each vintage Green Bay Packer HOFer (maximum of 9)
900 points for a share of Green Bay Packers stock.
1 point for a Curly Lambeau autograph.

-50 points if any of the Hall of Famers above played for Da Bears.

Okay, Jeff, let's see. 900 for the stock, 90 for 9 GB HOFers on the 61 team card, 9 for 9 other HOFers including Thorpe, Graham, Baugh, Unitas, Gifford, Robustelli, Layne, Van Brocklin & Tittle. Ooops, no Lambeau auto. Looks like I'm at 999. What's your MVFN, Jeff?

Ok, I think we are close to having something here. I would request only one *slight* modification. Since the baseball monster number for each card is given a value based upon its relative worth as compared to the other cards in the set (a very rough approach, I might add), I believe we should adjust your MVFN numbers to account for this. We can probably agree that HOF'ers are all worth 1 point and also Curly Lambeau's auto as you stated but let's talk about the Green Bay Packer stock you own. You see, I looked into purchasing a share of Green Bay Packer stock the last time they offered it to the public and found out something very interesting when I read the stock agreements. THESE SHARE ARE NOT WORTH ANYTHING. Not redeemable, not sellable, not resaleable, not worth a nickel and explicitly set up to never be of any value. So to be fair, after consultation with my crack accountant, he calculates that the MVFN number for a share of Green Bay Packer stock should be assigned the value zero, the same exact value that one would assign to a Ryan Leaf rookie card.

Ready to play?

jeff

[frankbmd]

Jeff,

You're just jealous. You are correct that the stock will never trade on the NYSE, Nasdaq or even on the Manitowoc Ferry, but one can argue that Green Bay is the most successful small market professional sports franchise in the history of the world. Furthermore with over one million owners, there continued presence in Green Bay should not be jeopardized by an Al Davis type owner, who took his team down and up the West Coast like a yoyo.

The stock certificates can be inherited, which is a problem for me with three sons and two daughters. I guess I'll just have to buy more shares the next time around.

With my tongue out of my cheek for a moment, I have no real plan to create a meaningful Monster Football Number. Admittedly I presumed that you did not own any stock and created the previous draft solely to insure that I would come out on top, albeit without Curly Lambeau

The "T206" Monster Number has many critics, but

The cards are not impossible to find.
Collectors like to finish sets.
Values assigned to the Big Four are meaningful, but quite arbitrary.
The key to its success has been the simplicity of calculation for the collector.
Keep it simple stupid was my guiding principle. No rare backs, no grades, no HOF premium, ... just the card.
I cite over 6500 "hits" with no sign of slowing down as ample evidence that I must have done something right and that there was demand or interest in the concept.

In football I cannot see the equivalent set or sets, with broad base appeal that are amply available, but yet nearly impossible to complete. The football sets of the 50s are relatively easy to complete. The Chicles with only 36 cards, 12 of which are quite difficult, would not have comparable breadth of interest. Other older issues would appeal to type collectors as in baseball, but probably would not fly for long as a component of a MFN.

I'm sure that you and others have terrific vintage football collections. I would be delighted as well if one day my 57 Topps Football set appreciated significantly as a result of the increased general popularity of football. I'm collecting 1950 Bowman Football (but not 1950 Bowman Baseball), perhaps for that reason.

If you really want to brainstorm this further, shoot me an Email and we can arrange to talk. By the way I had to check online to make sure there were 9 Hall of Famers on the 1961 Packers. I really had no idea, who was in and who wasn't.

Frank

PS - i rather like the Packer collage I created for this thread.