1952 Topps set question?

[homerunhitter]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Buying baseball cards is not an investment. Talk to an investment advisor about how to invest for your heirs.

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So I take it that you think the 1952 Topps set is not a good investment? (My question is about baseball cards only not non card investment advice as I abreast have that part covered! Thanks

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by homerunhitter

So I take it that you think the 1952 Topps set is not a good investment? (My question is about baseball cards only not non card investment advice as I abreast have that part covered! Thanks

Baseball cards are not investments. Since they are not investments, they cannot be good investments. You can make or lose money in cards by speculating, but you are not investing.

I am glad to hear you have an investment advisor.

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[ValKehl]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Baseball cards are not investments. Since they are not investments, they cannot be good investments. You can make or lose money in cards by speculating, but you are not investing.

I am glad to hear you have an investment advisor.

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You can make or lose money stocks, bonds, and real estate, which are considered investments. What makes you believe cards are different?

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by ValKehl

You can make or lose money stocks, bonds, and real estate, which are considered investments. What makes you believe cards are different?

Stocks, bonds, and real estate generate income, which, as an owner, you share in. Stocks pay dividends, bonds pay interest and real estate earns rents. You calculate the intrinsic value of an investment by estimating its future earnings.

A baseball card has no earning power. The only way you can make money on a card is to sell it to someone for more than you paid for it. It has no intrinsic value.

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[rats60]

Originally Posted by Gorditadogg

Stocks, bonds, and real estate generate income, which, as an owner, you share in. Stocks pay dividends, bonds pay interest and real estate earns rents. You calculate the intrinsic value of an investment by estimating its future earnings.

A baseball card has no earning power. The only way you can make money on a card is to sell it to someone for more than you paid for it. It has no intrinsic value.

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Investment definition:the action or process of investing money for profit or material result.

There is no requirement that your investment potentially earns income. Do your stocks pay a dividend if the company loses money? If your rental property generates more expenses than rental income, you are doing worse than investing in a non-income generating asset. Baseball cards are an investment.

To the OP, start with the big HOFers, Mantle, Robinson and Mays then move on to the other high number HOFers, the low HOFers and high number commons. Do the low number commons last.

[ALR-bishop]

If Al is right the person who bought this is going to regret it if they were hoping it was a good investment

[skelly423]

For what my two cents are worth, I don't view baseball cards as investments either, they're first and foremost a hobby. That being said, 1952 Topps has a long track record of increasing in value historically, and I don't know of any reason why that won't continue.

From a pure investment perspective there are better ways to invest your money. If you're looking to provide a tangible piece of nostalgia for your grandkids that might increase in value, 1952 Topps is as good as any option in the vintage baseball card sphere.

The cards are beautiful, scarce (relative to most sets that followed), in high demand, and are anchored by the most important card in the hobby. That seems to me like a good recipe to at least preserve the value of your money.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by rats60

Investment definition:the action or process of investing money for profit or material result.



There is no requirement that your investment potentially earns income. Do your stocks pay a dividend if the company loses money? If your rental property generates more expenses than rental income, you are doing worse than investing in a non-income generating asset. Baseball cards are an investment.



To the OP, start with the big HOFers, Mantle, Robinson and Mays then move on to the other high number HOFers, the low HOFers and high number commons. Do the low number commons last.

That's a very general definition, basically buying something with the intent to make a profit. That definition covers a lot of other things that are not investments, though. You can buy a lottery ticket or bet on a ball game, with the intent to win and make a profit, but that doesn't make those things investments.

And as you point out, you can make bad investments and lose money. Some investments are relatively safe, like bank CDs, while others are riskier.

The baseline question the OP asks is whether he should buy certain graded baseball cards as an asset for his heirs. If you want to speculate in cards, that's fine. You can do what you want with your own money. But if you think it's a good way to build wealth to pass on to your kids, that's misguided.

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[rsdill2]

I tend to agree with the sentiment that you shouldn't buy baseball cards as investments.

But, it's hard to argue they haven't been good investments historically.

That's fine if you want to consider it an investment. Are your kids/grandkids collectors? Do they care who Cookie Lavagetto is? What about Smoky Burgess?

Not to take anything away from Lavagetto or Burgess, but about 90% of the 407 cards in the '52 set are commons that the average person doesn't know or care about. It's also much more difficult to store, sell, and ship 407 cards and their plastic tombs.

No idea what your budget is. But my advice would be to take whatever you think that budget is, and buy them a handful of cards. If you're fixated on '52 Topps, the Mantle, Robinson, Mays, and Mathews are inarguably the top 4. Venture out to '33 Goudey Ruth, T206 Cobbs. The classics.

If you're buying these purely for inheritance to your heirs in hopes they increase in value, my advice is quality over quantity.