Mood at the National of Buyers, Sellers

[murphy8276]

Originally Posted by Leon

I think the hobby is doing fine. Everything gets cleaned in the wash. In other words, it all works out. Attendance at the show will be fine.

Or cleaned again and rewashed until most cannot recognize it is the actual original (altered).

You may be right about the overall health of the hobby, but the hobby has changed enough to threaten what collecting was actually about before it became the lottery.

[Johnny630]

I'm not sure if many net54 members are on other FACEBOOK Sports Card Groups but the interest has been way down this year....not much in the way of talk or buying/selling going on.

[Hankphenom]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I'm not sure if many net54 members are on other FACEBOOK Sports Card Groups but the interest has been way down this year....not much in the way of talk or buying/selling going on.

Uh oh. Is this for modern, vintage, or both?

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

Uh oh. Is this for modern, vintage, or both?

Vintage and Modern

[Exhibitman]

I don't know that you can extrapolate from a particular social media site to the hobby as a whole. There are quite a few people who detest Facebook. twitter, etc., and don't participate. Auctions are still sizzling with very few passed lots. That's a better indicator of hobby health, I think.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I don't know that you can extrapolate from a particular social media site to the hobby as a whole. There are quite a few people who detest Facebook. twitter, etc., and don't participate. Auctions are still sizzling with very few passed lots. That's a better indicator of hobby health, I think.

Really special stuff kicking ass as usual. The sort of close to special stuff. . . not so much.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Exhibitman

I don't know that you can extrapolate from a particular social media site to the hobby as a whole. There are quite a few people who detest Facebook. twitter, etc., and don't participate. Auctions are still sizzling with very few passed lots. That's a better indicator of hobby health, I think.

Just a guess, but I assume our friends who run auction houses are getting no shortage of calls from consignors who were disappointed in what their items sold for. Human nature … remember the height of the market …. Not the fact that you bought for 2k and sold for 5k …. But the fact that at the height of Covid shutdown the same card sold for 17k.

[bbcard1]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

Vintage and Modern

I haven't found the interest in good stuff to be down in the least.

[Johnny630]

Originally Posted by bbcard1

I haven't found the interest in good stuff to be down in the least.

Agree most of the stuff on Facebook is not the good stuff, it's meh average at best.

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

Agree most of the stuff on Facebook is not the good stuff, it's meh average at best.

I'm more on the autograph side of things, and the Facebook activity I've encountered in this regard is geared towards the lowest end of the value spectrum. Lots of $1 item sales ("I'll give you 10 cents."). If someone posts a Mantle autograph (value is in the hundreds), people in these groups OOOH and AAAH like they're witnessing the Shroud of Turin. I can imagine the card faction to be a lot like this.

[bobbyw8469]

Originally Posted by Johnny630

I'm not sure if many net54 members are on other FACEBOOK Sports Card Groups but the interest has been way down this year....not much in the way of talk or buying/selling going on.

I did a few sales...not much....the prices were nothing to write home about.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by murphy8276

Or cleaned again and rewashed until most cannot recognize it is the actual original (altered).

You may be right about the overall health of the hobby, but the hobby has changed enough to threaten what collecting was actually about before it became the lottery.

Good point Murph (I always have to call Murphys Murph in honor of the great SF Giants trainer).

As a pre war collector the market constantly forces me to examine my choices on what I want my collection to look like, these decisions are now big financial decisions when they may not have been in the past, when spending 5k or 10k on a card I better be damn sure that card fits my collection. For me it's a 1200 piece jigsaw puzzle, I've bought pieces that don't fit but every piece that does will remain until I die and my kids can do what they want with it.

There's still a few of us that ascribe to the old school collecting philosophy, it ain't as easy as it used to be though.