The new breed of collectors...

[chjh]

I don't think the hobby/industry has really changed much over the years. What has changed is technology.

I was collecting as a kid in the 70's. Research had to be done at the library or buying price guides, shopping was done at card shows and the local card shop.

And trading was done with a handful of friends who also collected.

Collectors have always done research, shopping and trading. We've always collected cards because we liked them, or because they were rookies, or because they were rare. We have always tried to trade for, or buy, cards we felt were going to go up in value.

It's just that the internet has made all those things easier and more interesting. Instead of a few friends from school we have N54. Instead of the local card shop we have online auctions.

My prized card as a kid was a 1969 Jackson Rookie. I have kept that card for 40 years and protected it. Last year I sent it to PSA for grading just for fun. It came back as trimmed and they wouldn't grade it. I had no idea. But that trimming wasn't done by any of the people well known to be altering cards in recent years.

It was done by an 'old timer.' I acquired that card at a card shop around 1980.

So, there's always been people altering cards.

I think this is a great industry/hobby. If someone wants to invest in cards, great. If someone wants to collect raw, great. To each their own.

There have always been new people coming into the hobby with different interests. Some collect for fun, some for investment and some for nostalgia. Nothing new there.

Any changes to the hobby that bring in more people and allow for the sharing of info the better.

I also welcome grading, vault storage and more auctions. They are all optional services. If you don't like 'em, don't use 'em. Maybe those innovations don't last. But innovation and new ideas generally are positive.

I think the whole industry is moving in the right direction.

[chjh]

A few thoughts on prices for vintage cards: they will go up forever. I don't own modern but I would expect the scarce modern will go up in price forever, too.

Any asset that is scare and high quality and desirable will go up in price. Waterfront real estate, Art, high quality companies... scarce and desirable cards.

This has been happening far longer than 2 years.

It's been going on for 100 years and will go on for another 100 years

[homerunhitter]

One way to look at it for me is, the more young modern card collectors that enter the hobby the better my vintage collection grows! What I mean by that is I can sell modern shiny cards like wander Franco, Pete Alonso, mike trout, Vladimir Guerrero jr, Soto, acuna jr, tatis jr, ohtani and Buster Posey! And flip that money to buy more vintage. An example is I sold some ohtani, Guerrero jr, Juan Soto and tatis jr cards and took that money and bought some 1950’s and 1960’s topps cards! 2022 Modern cards are red hot sellers right now on eBay! The new generation are buying them up lightning fast. So, now is a perfect time to flip modern cards for vintage! I could not build my vintage collection as fast without the new generation of collectors buying modern cards from me!

[John1941]

Originally Posted by chjh

A few thoughts on prices for vintage cards: they will go up forever. I don't own modern but I would expect the scarce modern will go up in price forever, too.

Any asset that is scare and high quality and desirable will go up in price. Waterfront real estate, Art, high quality companies... scarce and desirable cards.

This has been happening far longer than 2 years.

It's been going on for 100 years and will go on for another 100 years

The thing about the scarce modern stuff is that it's not actually scarce. Yeah, a 1/1 is cool, but there are thousands of other 1/1s. It's manufactured scarcity, and most of it will go down in value eventually.

[VoodooChild]

I collect all eras. There's actually cool ways to collect modern that are more similar to pre-war than you would think. Trying to complete a color run of a modern card is just like trying to complete a back run of a T206 card in my opinion. There's a lot of new collectors (not the investors) who actually do collect in interesting ways like that. I've seen guys who collect the first or last #'d in a print run like 1/25, 50/50, etc. or only cards #'d with the players uniform number so the only collect Trout cards #'d like 27/50, 27/200, etc. There's guys collecting cards where the color of the refractor has to match the color of team uniform so red refractors for Cardinals, blue for Cubs, etc. Not all of this "new breed" buys just the PSA 10's of flavor of the week rookie/prospect. There's a new crop of kids out there with the same collector's gene (or addiction or whatever you want to call it) that we all have and they'll keep the hobby going. Even after the next bubble bursts and the investors realize there's no difference between their shiny PSA 10 and the thousands of PSA 9's (or even 8's really) and find a new way to waste their money. Here's some card pics for this thread:

[Lobo Aullando]

Same thing happens with Old Judges. So many are rare that rarity is the norm. I'm trying to sell a 1/3 in the $300-range – I'd like to find something a little better, if more common, for my type set – and it seems to be shelf turd-ing away. AITA?

Originally Posted by John1941

The thing about the scarce modern stuff is that it's not actually scarce. Yeah, a 1/1 is cool, but there are thousands of other 1/1s. It's manufactured scarcity, and most of it will go down in value eventually.