Sports memorabilia market

[bravos4evr]

I have a feeling that the prices are completely nuts and won't last. Not long term anyway. I am dubious of younger fans collecting the pre-80's and pre-war guys as hard as we do and thus I think in 15-20 years we will look back and laugh at how a jersey that went for $500k in 2016 is now selling for $25k.


but I could be wrong, I thought the Red Sox would go to the world series

[Wolverine]

Originally Posted by bravos4evr

I have a feeling that the prices are completely nuts and won't last. Not long term anyway. I am dubious of younger fans collecting the pre-80's and pre-war guys as hard as we do and thus I think in 15-20 years we will look back and laugh at how a jersey that went for $500k in 2016 is now selling for $25k.


but I could be wrong, I thought the Red Sox would go to the world series

I hate to say it, but I was actually thinking the same thing. I just don't see how this market can sustain its current prices, let alone increase.

Are there any guys you believe may be able to transcend this and remain sought after far into the future? In my personal opinion, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe Dimaggio and Jackie Robinson are the first 4 that come to mind as far as guys who will most likely always be collected.

Ruth simply because he's Babe Ruth and was the face of the roaring 20's, Gehrig because he was the second most beloved Yankee of all time after Ruth and his immortal Luckiest Man speech that will live on forever, Dimaggio because of his connection to Marilyn Monroe and pop culture in general, and Robinson because he broke the color barrier.

Other than them, I find it rather hard to think of other names that will truly be collected forever.

[vintagesportscollector]

Baseball has become a local market sport, and in many ways so has collecting, and that will continue. Red Sox fans will always collect Ted Williams, Braves - Hank Aaron, Cubs - Ernie Banks, Reds - Rose, Frank Robinson, Astros - Nolan Ryan, Orioles - Cal Ripken, Dodgers - Koufax, Pirates - Wagner, Cardinals - Hornsby, Musial, Giants - Mays, etc...

Others that I think will transcend: Joe Jackson, Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Mathewson.

[irv]

I have been trying my best to get my son interested/involved in the hobby but being 15, he has other things on his mind it seems?

That aside, I have told him/shown him my Mantle, Mays and Robison cards as well as a few of my other high 52 Topps numbered cards just so he is familiar with/knows them so hopefully that carries over some day where he either adds to my collection or at least cherishes them and does the same with his children someday.

Times change but I believe it is up to us adults/parents to do the best we can do to help keep these players, and the hobby, as active/known the best we can.

[ooo-ribay]

I'm dubious, like Nick. Then again, I've never been a player in the high end market. I get excited over oddball stuff that, hopefully, doesn't interest other bidders.

[Snapolit1]

I've lived through a lot of bubbles now. There always a lot of good reasons why the prices are ridiculous and how a crash is imminent. I was living in a 500 foot square apartment with my future wife in 1992 in the West Village in NYC and someone slipped a piece of paper under the door one morning saying we could buy the unit for $225,000 Boy did we laugh about that. What kind of maniac would pay that kind of money for a 500 square foot apartment with the shower in the kitchen. Yep. Probably worth 2 million today. Remember too when Google was trading for $75 and people were telling me to stay the hell away. It was doomed. Bottom line is you can come up with 1000 reasons why the sky is about to fall. Go to the Christies website and look at the auctions of old stuff people are still willing to spend a fortune for. Eggs. Paintings. Vases. Jewlelry boxes. None of them kids today care on whit about. Not saying every piece of memorabilia will hold its price but many will continue to rise.

[Shoeless Moe]

Eggs

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I've lived through a lot of bubbles now. There always a lot of good reasons why the prices are ridiculous and how a crash is imminent. I was living in a 500 foot square apartment with my future wife in 1992 in the West Village in NYC and someone slipped a piece of paper under the door one morning saying we could buy the unit for $225,000 Boy did we laugh about that. What kind of maniac would pay that kind of money for a 500 square foot apartment with the shower in the kitchen. Yep. Probably worth 2 million today. Remember too when Google was trading for $75 and people were telling me to stay the hell away. It was doomed. Bottom line is you can come up with 1000 reasons why the sky is about to fall. Go to the Christies website and look at the auctions of old stuff people are still willing to spend a fortune for. Eggs. Paintings. Vases. Jewlelry boxes. None of them kids today care on whit about. Not saying every piece of memorabilia will hold its price but many will continue to rise.

Completely agree. We've already seen the turnover in generations that everybody wondered about in the 1980s and 1990s. Why would the kids at that time be interested in the same things as my generation (I'm 70) when they are in their 30s and 40s and starting to have disposal income to spend on collectibles? The prevailing theory was that they wouldn't care at all about players of the 1950s and 60s that the boomers had grown up idolizing, and maybe not even the old timers from the 1920s and 30s. Well, here we are, and all that stuff seems to be holding up pretty well, to say the least.