So I walked into a card store today, and was puzzled by...

Rich Klein · #1 11-24-2020, 09:59 AM

A few random thoughts:

The store that survives on supplies may very well be doing just that. Back in the day the promoter (no longer with us) who used to promote the Nassau Coliseum show said he paid his rent with the profit from supplies. I know for me, it's easier to go to a LCS and have pre-made 3200 ct or monster boxes than for me to do them. The extra money is worth it for my aggravation. Plus getting sleeves and semi-rigids gives me a reason to visit the four stores within a half hour of my domicile.

Nick's Sportscards near me got in a large collection of Goudey's in a few months ago. They sent them to BGS for grading (frankly because they could drop off and pick up in person) and this was an original collection. I think maybe 10 percent of that collection was still there 3 weeks later. Sometimes you just have to be lucky as a vintage collector to visit a store when cards come in.

When we discuss vintage on hobby hotline (I do try to bring some vintage discussion in when I'm on the show) one aspect which gets pointed out is the lack of film about vintage players. Back in the day when we got our news via daily papers and television that mix allowed us to read about the older players. In today's world it's far more important to have visuals than printed word.

With the profits out there on modern boxes/cases/singles what do you do? You got to sell what more of the people want. As Leon has said (and I apologize if I get his quote wrong): We're about 1 percent of the card collecting community albeit a very important part thereof. I received the REA Catalog last night and even there with all the great vintage in it, there is a lot more modern stuff than ever before.

More thoughts later

Rich

jchcollins · #2 11-24-2020, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Klein

The store that survives on supplies may very well be doing just that.

I used to have an LCS 15+ years ago that I only bought supplies from. Not sure if they totally made their living that way, but I would not have been surprised. The "cards" in the store were mostly Pokemon and a small selection of modern boxes, one tiny display case of beat and overpriced raw vintage and junk era stars. I literally never bought a card in the place, only boxes and toploaders and sleeves. It closed some time back.

luciobar1980 · #3 11-24-2020, 11:05 AM

For the record and to clarify my original post, I don't hold it against any shop owner for focusing on modern. It totally makes sense. If I owned a card shop I would definitely focus on modern in store and then sell vintage online. I was just surprised at how down on vintage that owner seemed to be. And unrealistically down, the way he talked about Mays card being worth $20. He sort of vaguely lumped all vintage Mays card together and said they aren't worth what they used to be. And clearly that's just not true.

jchcollins · #4 11-24-2020, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luciobar1980

For the record and to clarify my original post, I don't hold it against any shop owner for focusing on modern. It totally makes sense. If I owned a card shop I would definitely focus on modern in store and then sell vintage online. I was just surprised at how down on vintage that owner seemed to be. And unrealistically down, the way he talked about Mays card being worth $20. He sort of vaguely lumped all vintage Mays card together and said they aren't worth what they used to be. And clearly that's just not true.

As is true elsewhere in multiple other walks of life - either he was deliberately lying to you, or he was genuinely uniformed. I've gotten some very nice deals in the fairly recent past on prewar HOF in person - and in retrospect I think it's because the dealer was mainly a modern guy, and didn't realize how on-fire some of that stuff was. They make mistakes like everyone else.

luciobar1980 · #5 11-24-2020, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jchcollins

As is true elsewhere in multiple other walks of life - either he was deliberately lying to you, or he was genuinely uniformed. I've gotten some very nice deals in the fairly recent past on prewar HOF in person - and in retrospect I think it's because the dealer was mainly a modern guy, and didn't realize how on-fire some of that stuff was. They make mistakes like everyone else.

I totally get that. It seems lately some cards can change in price from week to week! So I'm sure some of these dealers aren't informed up to the last sale.

jchcollins · #6 11-24-2020, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luciobar1980

I totally get that. It seems lately some cards can change in price from week to week! So I'm sure some of these dealers aren't informed up to the last sale.

Some don't help themselves though by not staying up to date on the latest pricing tools. My current LCS owner has no idea what VCP is; he still looks things up in the online version of Beckett along with sometimes checking ebay prices. I'm like Oh kaaaay.... Vintage is not his main business by a long shot, but he has dealt in enough of it to where I wouldn't want to be guesstimating what certain things were really worth. With his Mantles at least, he seems to follow the standard card shop practice of horribly overpricing them for the masses, but he would come down / be willing to make deals with collectors like me who are more in tune to their real value if I was interested in something.

Knoxy24 · #7 11-24-2020, 02:00 PM

Im amazed at the number of dealers I have spoken to that had very little knowledge of the card market or just cards in general. For an example I typically go to card shows in search of specific items. When I ask dealers if they have these items they typically have no idea what im looking for. Granted I collect non mainstream stuff but they have never even heard of it. One show I was looking for a 47 sports exchange Ted Williams and a 1950 prest-o-lite Ted Williams, no one knew what the hell I was talking about or even what those cards were.

rhettyeakley · #8 11-24-2020, 11:54 AM

Funny but true story.

A few years back at one of the local card shops by my house here in Boise that has some vintage but not a ton. I was looking through a bargain box and found (3) 1914-1915 Cracker Jack cards in the $1 each box. They were real but the shop owner had never seen a real one and thought they were cheap fakes because they were on such thin paper. I paid him much more than what he had on the cards (I want to say I gave him $300 for them) and showed him how to tell they were real. He was pretty happy to get the extra money. He had gotten them in a collection of mostly 1950-60�s cards and just never thought in a million years that they were actually that old. Unfortunately they weren�t major stars or anything, just 3 pretty decent condition commons.

He sells almost exclusively newer cards and some Pok�mon but I�ve never seen another pre-war card in the shop.

tschock · #9 11-24-2020, 12:36 PM

When my better half and I drive around and regularly pass any business that never seems to have any activity, one of us will eventually make the comment about another business that's just a front for money laundering.

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