Sports memorabilia market

[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

[Republicaninmass]

Goose 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.

[Snapolit1]

The other trueism I've experienced in my life is that every amazingly lucrative transaction I have ever closed (whether real estate or collectibles) I walked out the door convinced that I was a complete idiot, that I overpaid dramatically, and that I would rue the day I bought it. A couple of real estate transaction I even asked the broker about trying to undo and thankfully he/she talked me out if it. And I have never gotten something at a bargain price where it appreciated dramatically in value. Not once.

[Stampsfan]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

And I have never gotten something at a bargain price where it appreciated dramatically in value. Not once.

How true. Sounds like how I buy a penny stock. Now (like my collectibles), nothing but blue chip.

As for the younger folks collecting people they don't know, I am north of 50, and barely remember Mantle. While my kids may believe otherwise, I never saw Dimaggio, Williams, Musial, Ruth, Gehrig, or Cobb play live, or even on the radio. Yet I still love a collectible or card with any of the aforementioned on it.

Further confession... I buy nothing new, but about a year ago I did jump in on a Walking Dead #1 CGC 9.8. Thoughts being that with a max of 700 printed, a cult following stronger than Star Trek, and a generation that one day will have cash and look back at this series fondly, I took a shot at it.

Everyone will want a piece of their past at some point, so this was my venture into that market.

[Frank A]

I really don't see the Memorabillia market dropping at all. Cards have alyays taken top billing in the collectors interest as memorabillia has been overlooked. Collectors are now seeing how much better it is to own a piece of the game. I believe it will continue to rise. Frank

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Frank A

I really don't see the Memorabillia market dropping at all. Cards have alyays taken top billing in the collectors interest as memorabillia has been overlooked. Collectors are now seeing how much better it is to own a piece of the game. I believe it will continue to rise. Frank

I generally agree, but the autograph market is so fraught with fraudsters I see that stalling.

[Wolverine]

Originally Posted by Frank A

I really don't see the Memorabillia market dropping at all. Cards have alyays taken top billing in the collectors interest as memorabillia has been overlooked. Collectors are now seeing how much better it is to own a piece of the game. I believe it will continue to rise. Frank

Frank, this is a good point and I agree to an extent that the market likely won't see a drop anytime soon. However, the real question is how long these prices will sustain. I just can't imagine today's generation being interested in any of this stuff the way we are. My personal opinion is that as long as the baby boomers are still collecting the market will hold up, but after that I just don't see kids growing up today dropping $400k for a Mickey Mantle jersey in the future. I think these items will always be in the six figure range, but more in the very low six figures rather than close to a million like we're seeing today.