Money and Cards

JollyElm · #1 07-30-2022, 07:24 PM

Money-wise, collecting-wise, it was so much easier when I only collected cards in their natural state. Trading was easier, negotiating with sellers at shows was easier, and on and on it goes. Now that a huge percentage of my cards are in plastic prisons (mainly to make them easily sellable in the future), everything has changed. Now it's all about past sales prices, VCP or whatever, and the actual state of the card you're looking to buy doesn't seem to ever come into play. For instance, how many graded cards on eBay have the sellers actually describing the various pros and cons of the card up for auction? Umm...0%?? The listing will simply say "(enter year, brand, number and player's name here) PSA 8!! L@@K!!!!!!!!!!" and no further information.

jingram058 · #2 07-31-2022, 06:54 PM

These are great responses. Thanks for taking the time to answer. I thought it was maybe kind of personal and perhaps touchy, but your replies are excellent. I am at the low end of the spectrum, and consider myself extremely fortunate to have had some disposable cash at various times during my Navy career, and my collection of pre and post war vintage is really a combination of 1980s-90s purchases when so many of these cards could be had inexpensively, an inheritance of one of my nephew's collection, and a good friend who literally gave me a sack of great old cards as he took his vast collection to auction.

G1911 · #3 08-01-2022, 02:05 AM

I strictly budget. A portion of my income goes to savings to keep at a certain level of pure cash on hand, a greater portion to investment, a portion to scheduled expenses, and a portion to my hobbies. My hobbies are my beer money fund, instead of beer, money I spend on things I like to do while I'm alive and expect to recoup nothing from but the satisfaction of enjoying life. I am very lucky as a late millennial that I can responsibly do this, but one of the fun things about this hobby is that it can be done extremely cheap and most can partake if they want. Cards are only expensive if you chase the very 'best'. If you want a Hank Aaron rookie to flex, it's $3,000. If you want a cool Hank Aaron card, it's like $3 for a 1976 Topps with round corners. You can get nice looking cards of superstars for a quarter or even less. What's a 2000 Topps card of Pedro Martinez worth, a nickel? Just because a card is cheap and doesn't buy bragging rights doesn't mean it's any less cool if you're collecting cards you like. I collected as a teenager when I made a few bucks a week or less, by not being a mint collector and not needing the brag cards. When I was in college and broke as broke gets I still had fun with my collection and diving deeper into the research side. I got to buy some cheap but cool cards when I was first out of college and making very little.

If your budget is $10 a week, you can have a ton of fun. If it's $1,000 a week, you can have a ton of fun too. One of the reasons I like rare but less popular material is that it's about the effort and putting in the work, turning up new or even unknown items that aren't a dollar flex. Some of the coolest collections aren't worth much. Pick up threads by their nature tend to skew to the wealthy and give a distorted picture; I wish more people who weren't made of cash would show their stuff. A T206 Wagner is not difficult to get, it's just about how much money you have, but rare items are often cheap and impressive in a different way.

jamest206 · #4 08-01-2022, 01:13 PM

For me, it is a constant going after whatever looks cool and is fun to hunt. I don't think my wife or four cats will inherit anything, so taking a small loss on something after laying my hands on it isn't too big of a deal. I love really old cards, and they drive my interest in to other things as well. If parting ways with it brings joy to someone who wouldnt otherwise have it, so be it. Losing a little money along the way, no big deal. I am fortunate to be a 43 year old kid, living the dream my dad & grandfathers imagined, probably a little better than they thought.

As long as it looks appealing, or has a good story behind it, my wife loves it. That is the main drive now for me.

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