Are graded cards the future of vintage?

[homerunhitter]

The Burbank card show when I was out west

[CardsMax]

I'm younger and newer to vintage. I personally wouldn't touch a raw card worth four figures right now. I can't judge condition and authenticity, and don't want to lose hundreds for buying a fake or raw card that a dealer overstated its condition!

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

Thanks for your responses!

I noticed at the last big card show I went too, EVERYONE had slabs. There wasn’t a single raw card in sight! And this was a BIG show! Seemed like every was walking around with their pelican cases full of slabs. A totally different hobby now it seems.

I was at Burbank and Philly. Burbank is the bigger modern show, while Philly will always be more vintage oriented.

Graded, or slabbed, is the future simply out of newer buyers not wanting to get hosed on a raw card!

[RCMcKenzie]

To me, grading is passe'. These 52's came in the mail yesterday. Geeked to go thru these and add the upgrades to my binder. Grading is like Nirvana and the 90's to me.

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

To me, grading is passe'. These 52's came in the mail yesterday. Geeked to go thru these and add the upgrades to my binder. Grading is like Nirvana and the 90's to me.

That pic is AWESOME!!

[homerunhitter]

Awesome guys!

I see both sides of the coin as mentioned above.

Nothing beats getting a box of true vintage unslabbed topps cards to go through. I love it!

However the hobby waters we are now in is there is a TREMENDOUS amount of fake vintage topps cards out there. I bought a 1950’s card on eBay not too long ago . Pics and price were just right. Once I got the card in hand it looked like someone printed it on their home computer. The quality was really good dnd would probably fake out most people but not this old fart that’s been in the hobby forever. So of course I put it right into my shredder. It left a bad taste in my mouth that fakes are in our hobby and I got ripped off.

I would much rather have an old shoebox of vintage cards than a box of graded cards but these fake cards out there now is pushing me toward graded only and yes I know there are fake slabs out there too. That’s a whole other thread! But at least with slabbed cards the chances they are real are much greater than a card not graded.

The good news for me is most of my collection of vintage I bought 30,40+ years ago when I knew without a doubt they were real .

[G1911]

eBay will side with you on returning a fake card. You don't need to shred it and lose the money.

[homerunhitter]

I didn’t think of that I was just thinking shred it so it doesn’t get recycled back into the hobby. Don’t want anyone else to get ripped off like I did. (Fortunately I didn’t pay too much for the card)

[RCMcKenzie]

Originally Posted by vintagebaseballcardguy

That pic is AWESOME!!

Thanks, I think it's kind of fun to see photos of stacks of cards.

[homerunhitter]

anyone notice that modern graded cards are going for very low prices (in some instances less than the cost to grade) and vintage graded cards have ridiculous starting bids (where do sellers come up with these crazy starting prices?)

[cesarcap]

I prefer raw but if the slabbed price is right I will jump on it. Not cracked too many but it seems that asking prices for raw > graded prices all things being equal.

[Kutcher55]

Originally Posted by RCMcKenzie

To me, grading is passe'. These 52's came in the mail yesterday. Geeked to go thru these and add the upgrades to my binder. Grading is like Nirvana and the 90's to me.

I’d take the 90s and Nirvana over the complete sh*tshow of 2023 any day of the week.

[homerunhitter]

any new updates or thoughts? thanks

[raulus]

Don’t think much has changed in the last 7 months.

Other than one of my key graded cards being outed as doctored. So I guess there’s that for me, which doesn’t make me eager to buy more high graded stuff.

[Zach Wheat]

It seems like there is more of aa transition in viewing collectibles as an investment and along with that comes a positive correlation with buying graded cards only. I have come across buyers that actively buy PSA 10 cards only as an investment.

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

The Burbank card show when I was out west

I was one of the only dealers there with raw vintage cards. i will have a ton of raw vintage sports and non-sports at the Pasadena show January 27-28 and at the Ontario show (the Burbank show) over Presidents' weekend in February. And of course at the Labor Day Burbank show in Anaheim.

[homerunhitter]

I just saw someone posted on Facebook that there are a Ton of fake graded cards circulating in the hobby. What are your thoughts on the number of fake graded cards circulating in the hobby?

[raulus]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

I just saw someone posted on Facebook that there are a Ton of fake graded cards circulating in the hobby. What are your thoughts on the number of fake graded cards circulating in the hobby?

Do they mean fake?

Or do they mean authentic but altered?

I suspect the number of outright fakes is low. Not that there aren't some, but certainly not a meaningful fraction.

But there are some around here who will tell you that there are a high number of altered cards running around in slabs , at least when it comes to high grade vintage.

Having said that, from time to time you do hear about some goons running around with their own slabbing machine and putting fake slabs together. Or a similar situation is goons who do a crack and replace with a reseal of the slab. Still a real card usually, but much lower grade after they replace the real card with a low grade version and reseal. Those situations have the potential to be a bigger deal, particularly for an unwary buyer who just assumes that if it’s in a slab, it must be good.

[homerunhitter]

Originally Posted by raulus

Do they mean fake?

Or do they mean authentic but altered?

I suspect the number of outright fakes is low. Not that there aren't some, but certainly not a meaningful fraction.

But there are some around here who will tell you that there are a high number of altered cards running around in slabs , at least when it comes to high grade vintage.

Having said that, from time to time you do hear about some goons running around with their own slabbing machine and putting fake slabs together. Or a similar situation is goons who do a crack and replace with a reseal of the slab. Still a real card usually, but much lower grade after they replace the real card with a low grade version and reseal. Those situations have the potential to be a bigger deal, particularly for an unwary buyer who just assumes that if it’s in a slab, it must be good.

The post I read was referring to actual fake slabs (not altered cards)

[raulus]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

The post I read was referring to actual fake slabs (not altered cards)

So fake slabs, not fake cards residing in real slabs.

Not sure how widespread that is. You hear about rings from time to time that are running slab counterfeiting operations. But it’s not clear to me how many get out into the wild, and how many include vintage cards rather than modern shiny stuff.

[homerunhitter]

Either way it looks like graded cards are here to stay.