What is the long-term value of Game-Used cards?

[Orioles1954]

I love it when pre-war guys imagine themselves as the "real" hobby and the "shiny" guys are some how less than. The vast majority of this hobby are modern collectors. Interestingly, I know of several who became pre-war collectors because of "retro" themed sets and of swatches of older uniforms. Most "shiny" collectors I know actually love baseball and appreciate its history. The "shiny" equivalent to Net54 is Freedom Cardboard. It is a huge and very friendly environment where BOTH modern and vintage are celebrated. I find it a refreshing place.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

I love it when pre-war guys imagine themselves as the "real" hobby and the "shiny" guys are some how less than. The vast majority of this hobby are modern collectors. Interestingly, I know of several who became pre-war collectors because of "retro" themed sets and of swatches of older uniforms. Most "shiny" collectors I know actually love baseball and appreciate its history. The "shiny" equivalent to Net54 is Freedom Cardboard. It is a huge and very friendly environment where BOTH modern and vintage are celebrated. I find it a refreshing place.

I get kind of tired of people saying we (vintage collectors) think the modern collectors are somehow inferior. Please point that out to me in this thread. I love the new card collectors and FreedomCardboard is the only other board I post on (besides the SGC one sometimes). I distinctly remember several instances when I personally went up to new card collectors at the National and shared some of their excitement. Again, please show me where our members are saying we are the "real" hobby and new card collectors aren't. Maybe I missed it?

[Orioles1954]

Originally Posted by Leon

I get kind of tired of people saying we (vintage collectors) think the modern collectors are somehow inferior. Please point that out to me in this thread. I love the new card collectors and FreedomCardboard is the only other board I post on (besides the SGC one sometimes). I distinctly remember several instances when I personally went up to new card collectors at the National and shared some of their excitement. Again, please show me where our members are saying we are the "real" hobby and new card collectors aren't. Maybe I missed it?

When what somebody collects is deemed "crap" or "garbage" and of no "real value", it does not take much reading between the lines or countless works cited pages. I'm glad you enjoy Freedom Cardboard as well, we can agree it is very much a breath of fresh air to this hobby. They very much respect the pre-war hobby over there.

[Orioles1954]

By the way, it's kind of a moot point now. The majority of the modern collectors out there are much more interested in baseball prospects, autographs, parallels and the like than Hall of Fame game-used swatches. Unless it's a multi-colored patch or an early Hall of Famer (not much being produced at all now) there just isn't the demand.

[Iwantmorecards77]

I purchase a few boxes of modern baseball and hockey cards per year. Now that I'm into the "vintage" more, the money for the modern cards isn't there as much as it used to be. I still enjoy busting open some packs though!

Sometimes pulling that "big" card is a thrill! I remember when I pulled a dual GU/Auto jersey card of Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky! It was a lot of fun!

Then there was my "hot box" of 2009 Topps Heritage where I pulled the SP variations of Pedro Martinez, Alex Rios, Justin Pedroia, Neftali Feliz and Albert Pujols! (I know, I know, manufactured scarcity...) But it's all in fun!

I enjoy the thrill of that pre-war or vintage card arriving in the mail and I enjoy busting open some packs too! I occasionally turn to Ebay to add to my player collections of Pierre Turgeon (hockey) and Kevin McReynolds (I know, I know...who?) lol

I even have a "want list" of card sets from when I was younger. Some might consider them "junk," but they are the "key" sets/cards from my childhood years. I plan to purchase them all within the following year: 1978 Topps (the year I was born!), 1982 Topps and Topps Traded, 1982 Fleer, 1982 Donruss, 1983 Donruss, 1983 Fleer, 1983 Topps and Topps Traded, 1984 Fleer and Fleer Update, 1984 Donruss, 1985 Topps, 1985 Fleer, 1985 Donruss, 1986 Donruss, 1986 Fleer, 1986 Topps Traded, 1987 Fleer, 1987 Donruss, 1988 Score Update, 1989 Upper Deck, 1990 Leaf, 1991 Stadium Club, 1992 Bowman, and 1993 SP. lol Not as exciting, but I really would like to have these just for "fun."

That's what it is all about: fun! (for me, anyways)

Todd

[NeuhartCards]

How many of us really, truly buy cardboard as investments? If we would have put all of our $$ into cardboard in 1991, or even as recently as a couple of years ago, we would have lost our shirt on many things...not all, but many.

We buy/sell/trade as a hobby...an expensive one, but a hobby. Let's not forget that aspect. You like T206 cards, someone else may like hot wheels. Some people actually buy cards because they like the way they look...not just because of the investment quality and the value they hold.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by Orioles1954

When what somebody collects is deemed "crap" or "garbage" and of no "real value", it does not take much reading between the lines or countless works cited pages. I'm glad you enjoy Freedom Cardboard as well, we can agree it is very much a breath of fresh air to this hobby. They very much respect the pre-war hobby over there.

edited to be nicer...I hope all new card collectors get all the cards they hope to get and continue the tradition of collecting baseball cards ..Happy holidays!!

[Orioles1954]

Awwww Skip it.

[jcmtiger]

I think the cards are collectible, just not for me. The best part is the gamble that you might find one in a box or pack. These cards are fun for the card shops and the their customers. I don't see any long term investment possibility. You make your money on the cards right away if you decide to sell.

Joe

[36GoudeyMan]

Like many, I disagree with the destruction of scarce items in order to make mass-produced items with a sliver or a chip from that genuinely (and genuine) scarce item. The idea that a relic has been chopped up so that it is not a true relic but an indistinguishable fraction of a relic is disturbing on many levels. But, clearly there is a market for this type of thing. And where there is a market, whether it the new shop owner who needs the foot traffic that relic cards might generate in order to keep his doors open, or the manufacturer who keeps (for better or worse) the new card makret stocked with product, there are people willing to exploit (non-pejorative version of the word here) that market.

If you look on eBay, you will often see auction sales of "three words in Geroge Washington's handwriting," which refers to an historical document written by George Washington that has been chopped into a thousand pieces of three or four words and sold in such tiny fractions. And they sell. And its criminal, in my mind, to destory that handwritten Washington document (although the do sometimes come from badly damaged documents that are otherwise unsaleable).

I do not like either practice, I wish they would stop, but as long as there is potentially profitable demand, there will be supply.