[Brent G.]

Originally Posted by Mark17

It's interesting to read this discussion. Everyone is talking about this card as though it is a stock on the NYSE. Instead of P/E ratio and future earnings, the factors are relative performance and injury risk.

CC had a terrific collegiate career, so that everyone knew her popularity was sky high before her rookie season. As was stated, Panini issued several 1/1 cards.

Anyway, this card is not a stock certificate related to CC or her future earnings. It is a bit of recently printed cardboard which is selling for the price of a very nice 5-bedroom house in the suburbs of Minneapolis, or 150 one-ounce gold coins. The house or gold would be investments. The bit of cardboard is somebody relying on the "greater fool" theory, with an insanely high bar to hurdle.

I remember selling 100-card lots back in the 1980s. A customer bought a few hundred 1987 Wally Joyner cards and was so excited. "It's just like buying stock in a player," he said. Well, it didn't work that way. Joyner took home some decent paychecks and had an above average 16-year career, but his rookie cards plummeted from their initial price.

This CC card doesn't necessarily go up in value with a good season. It certainly goes down with a significant injury or a bad season. But ultimately, its value doesn't directly correlate to her performance, and it isn't liquid like stocks on the exchange. It's value hinges solely on whether there's a greater fool out there.

Sure seems there are many fools in the CC marketplace. This is a great example of why regular people are willing to go broke gambling on breaks — because right now there’s always some asshole with too much money willing to dump a life-changing amount on such items.