Market trends and fluctuations? (T206)

[btcarfagno]

I am of the opinion that there are a lot of people out there like me in one respect. We were heavily into collecting the "shiny new stuff" in the 1970's and 1980's when we were kids. We were part of the "boom" in collecting cards, and many of us revered the vintage stuff at the time, but could not afford it. Then the 90's came with all of the truly "shiny" new stuff and we soured on the hobby and what it became.

Many of us in this situation now find ourselves with some amount of disposable income for the first time. As such, I see the market for vintage...cards that many of us once yearned for from afar, and cards that retained their value while the new stuff tanked...to be strong going forward for quite a while.

That's my take anyway.

Tom C

[pgellis]

I've been collecting T206 (SGC Graded) for about 6 years now. I would say that I have seen a slight (10%) increase in commons over those 6 years. Not much really......I think it is probably a result of fewer true auctions on eBay today.

I would say that your common T206 SGC50/PSA4 goes for about $50. 6 years ago, I picked up several T206 SGC50 on Ebay for under $40. I think that was because you would see at least 100 true auctions for T206 SGC50 cards every week on eBay......now you see probably 10 or so, with many overpriced BINs taking their place.

The big increase in T206 pricing and demand lately has been on rare backs. 6 years ago, I could pick up some mildly rare backs (Cycle 460, Sovereign 460) at not much more than a common back.......today there is a big demand for backs other than SC or Piedmont.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by pgellis

The big increase in T206 pricing and demand lately has been on rare backs. 6 years ago, I could pick up some mildly rare backs (Cycle 460, Sovereign 460) at not much more than a common back.......today there is a big demand for backs other than SC or Piedmont.

I have been away from the hobby for a while, but that's exactly what I'm seeing as well - the common backs on vg-ex and below don't seem to have changed much, other than a few oddball cards like the Cobb bat off. What that tells me is that there are still plenty of T206's circulating and if all you care about is the pretty picture on the front, you're good to go (that would be me).

As far as the backs going up, the tough backs were always tough (by definition of scarcity), and people who cared about them in the past were less likely to let go of them than a common back. More collectors means more collectors of tough backs, means less tough backs. We'll find the same thing with commons some day, but I'm hoping that is a long way off still.