OT but front page worthy Jordan card ebay

[barrysloate]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Well one difference is the modern manufacturer is creating scarcity to create a speculative secondary market in its product and to create the illusion it's a financially valuable commodity. Neither of which were the goals of the President of the Goudey card company. The old scarcities are rare today because they are scarce, not because someone set out to make them desirable on Ebay.

This sums up my feelings. When vintage cards were printed some hundred years ago, there was not one iota of thought by the manufacturer that one day these cards would be valuable. They were printed for one reason only: to help sell a product associated with it. It would take generations for collectors to discover that some were genuinely rare and worth a premium. It would take generations to determine that some were hard to find and in great demand, and that somebody would be willing to pay a lot of money to purchase them.

Modern cards are different. In the case of this Jordan, a bunch of guys in suits sat in a boardroom and came up with a strategy to manufacture a rarity that current collectors would pay a huge premium for. You can collect whatever you want and pay whatever you want, but a vintage card that became rare and expensive over time is a completely different animal than a modern card that was planned from the outset to be a chase card for collectors.

I don't acknowledge the latter, but apparently there are collectors who do. Chances are in the long run they will lose money on most of these manufactured rarities, but that is their choice and it is their money

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

This sums up my feelings. When vintage cards were printed some hundred years ago, there was not one iota of thought by the manufacturer that one day these cards would be valuable. They were printed for one reason only: to help sell a product associated with it. It would take generations for collectors to discover that some were genuinely rare and worth a premium. It would take generations to determine that some were hard to find and in great demand, and that somebody would be willing to pay a lot of money to purchase them.

Modern cards are different. In the case of this Jordan, a bunch of guys in suits sat in a boardroom and came up with a strategy to manufacture a rarity that current collectors would pay a huge premium for. You can collect whatever you want and pay whatever you want, but a vintage card that became rare and expensive over time is a completely different animal than a modern card that was planned from the outset to be a chase card for collectors.

I don't acknowledge the latter, but apparently there are collectors who do. Chances are in the long run they will lose money on most of these manufactured rarities, but that is their choice and it is their money

well stated Barry!

[Huysmans]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

This sums up my feelings. When vintage cards were printed some hundred years ago, there was not one iota of thought by the manufacturer that one day these cards would be valuable. They were printed for one reason only: to help sell a product associated with it. It would take generations for collectors to discover that some were genuinely rare and worth a premium. It would take generations to determine that some were hard to find and in great demand, and that somebody would be willing to pay a lot of money to purchase them.

Modern cards are different. In the case of this Jordan, a bunch of guys in suits sat in a boardroom and came up with a strategy to manufacture a rarity that current collectors would pay a huge premium for. You can collect whatever you want and pay whatever you want, but a vintage card that became rare and expensive over time is a completely different animal than a modern card that was planned from the outset to be a chase card for collectors.

I don't acknowledge the latter, but apparently there are collectors who do. Chances are in the long run they will lose money on most of these manufactured rarities, but that is their choice and it is their money

+2

[ALR-bishop]

5 cents in 1933 is worth what today ? $1 or 95 cents ? $100 then is worth what?
$2667 or so ?

[Peter_Spaeth]

It may be a cult set, and that's cool for people who enjoy it, but to me it's just a base card painted green.

[frankbmd]

Modern, Vintage, Prewar and Pop Goes the Weasel

A modern card in an 8 or 9 holder is virtually the same as the same card in a 10 holder.

Similarly a prewar tobacco card in a 6 holder, is also quite similar to its higher graded brethren occupying 7 or 8 holders.

However Pop reports in all eras suggest that there is rarity at the extreme upper end of the grading scale regardless of the era or issue.

So what difference does it make anyway, suits in the Topps board room manufacture rarity, card doctors restore tobacco cards and by doing so "manufacture" rarity, or graders by their pyramid of grading "manufacture" rarity at the upper end of the scale. All are weasels.

Card grading enhances the ability of collectors to deal via the internet, but
card grading and Pop reports a secondary effect, to facilitate "cashing" in on that rarity whichever factor was involved in creating it. Different weasels to be sure, but the same results when viewed broadly.

Exponential cost differential relative to linear grading increments seems irrational.
Should a card absent one microscopic imperfection be worth 10, 20 or 30 times the card with that imperfection. Probably not, but it is. The necessary catalyst for this construct to flourish is the buyer's ego without which pricing would lose much of its ever increasing exponential steps and return to a more linear scale.

Nothing earth shattering hear but to try to explain the difference between a high grade tobacco card that spent 90 years in a book as a forgotten bookmark, a mint 52 Mantle rookie card of which a small finite number exist, and a Michael Jordan green metallic refractor numbered 1/2 seems like a fruitless exercise. All are rare. Their rarity was created by different circumstances, but each will attract a collector with a wallet compatible with his ego, for a place atop a Registry, bragging rights or perhaps only to profit from a resale knowing that with our current system there will always be a greater fool who will pay more for that special card than he did. Or will there?

[ullmandds]

Auction ended...again???

[WillBBC]

It's still open:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1997-Metal-...frcectupt=true