Prewar v. Postwar & Big Names...?

[jchcollins]

Originally Posted by DeanH3

Hi John,

Yes I have been exactly where you are now. I was lucky enough to pick up a bunch of my expensive cards years ago when they weren't as expensive. I have also sold many cards (post war) to fund pre-war purchases. My thought was the post war cards I'm selling would be easier to replace in the future. 50's HOF'ers don't seem to have the explosive price growth as pre-war. Therefore those cards shouldn't be a lot more expensive when I try and track them down in the future.

There have been a couple cards I've sold that I wish I hadn't (a really nice '48 leaf Jackie SGC 3 right before the huge price explosion) but overall there aren't many regrets. I think you would not regret selling some post-war and turning those into an iconic pre-war card of Ruth, Gehrig or Cobb etc. It will be tough deciding what to sell, but go through your cards and decide which ones you are willing to move and which ones you want to keep. Most post-war cards should be doable to replace. And don't worry to much about the grade of any iconic pre-war card. Many low grade examples have really nice eye appeal. I say go for it!!

And one final thought. I've been coming around full circle a bit. I've been buying more mid-grade Aaron, Koufax, Jackie and Clemente recently and have been enjoying hunting for really nice eye appeal examples. So once you get and iconic pre-war card, or two, you will be able to go back find those post-war gems when you decide the time is right.

Good luck John!

Solid advice on how to do it, but I'm still not sold. Here would be an example for me right now...

Say I give up:

'68 Ryan RC SGC 5.5
'63 Rose RC PSA 5
'48 Leaf Ted Williams PSA 2.5
and maybe 2 midgrade Mantle base cards from the late 60's...

I get for that $$:

...a PSA 1 '33 Goudey Ruth. And like a beater 1, probably not a 1 with strong eye appeal.

That's not a trade I would come close to making today, I can tell you that for sure. I don't know. Maybe years or decades from now, if I want to get rid of a lot more smaller-priced postwar cards, or get just tired of them or something. But I haven't gotten tired of them in more than 30 years...

To me multiple nice, mid-grade postwar cards > 1 beater prewar legend. At least right now, anyway. I suppose I might could be convinced otherwise for a really eye-appealing low grade or altered card.