Memorabilia vs Cards and trends...

[Goudey77]

Out of curiosity how have rare and unique sports memorabilia fared over the last 10 years vs the high demand vintage baseball cards?

Did they track about the same in terms of auction performance? Increase over time?

I'm trying to determine if the memorabilia market is "optimized" and riding on historical highs or if they are still undervalued.

Your opinions are appreciated.

[perezfan]

I think it is very undervalued, with respect to Cards. We have not seen the huge and continuous spikes that Cards have realized... nothing like the crazy exponential price increases the Aaron Rookie, Clemente Rookie or '52 Mantle have experienced over past years.

The irony is that so much of the memorabilia is rarer than the vast majority of these "rare" cards. Many are one of a kind pieces, or items that exist in numbers less than the fingers on one hand. I could list infinite examples of this, but will spare you the "novel".

That said, it still floors me that a mass-produced Hank Aaron rookie card can sell for 10 times the amount of one of his Game-used Bats. I cannot rationalize how a relatively common piece of cardboard (seen multiple times in every major Catalog Auction) is worth so much more than an actual piece of lumber he used to accomplish what he did.

I keep thinking it's just a matter of time before collectors catch on to this... but it still hasn't happened.

[Goudey77]

Mark, I think this type of increase in card prices is a relatively new trend that has really shown itself in the last 6 years.

I agree with your thoughts on memorabilia. But the question is has memorabilia ever been hotly desired and seen price spikes like today’s cards?
Is it looked at in the same way? Like your example of Aaron, the card is looked at like an “investment” piece that is obviously driving demand.

I can justify having rare memorabilia all day but there is an old saying that bothers me. Scarcity doesn’t necessarily mean higher prices.
I struggled with this every time I owned a 1 of kind piece.
My collector emotion doesn’t give unto this theory....

Quote:
Understanding the Scarcity Principle
In economics, market equilibrium is achieved when supply equals demand. However, the markets are not always in equilibrium due to mismatched levels of supply and demand in the economy. When supply of a good is greater than demand for that good, a surplus ensues, which drives down the price of the good. Disequilibrium also occurs when demand for a commodity is higher than the supply of that commodity, leading to scarcity and, thus, higher prices for that product

[bgar3]

Agree with ark, very undervalued, both actually and relatively.

[ooo-ribay]

I wonder if the card guys have wives who will only tolerate binders while we memorabilia guys wear the pants in our families?

[conor912]

It’s less the cards are going up than their slabs and commoditization. In my experience, the more easily someone knows they can sell something, the more they are willing to pay for it.