I simply do not understand Modern - Doncic vs Mantle

[drazz5]

[QUOTE=Rhotchkiss;2206401]

Originally Posted by drazz5

Being a 20-something t206 collector, I find I do not have the typical collecting habits of my generation. From my perspective, the "manufactured" scarcity of modern cards completely cheapens the hobby. T206 cards, and all vintage cards for that matter, intrigue me because their value is determined by external limiting factors on a mass produced product that was never intended to be scarce. Age, wear and tear, poor storage practices, and historical significance (as OP mentioned) are what drives the desirability and therefore value.

For the modern card counterpart, a card manufacturer can change the printing settings and slap a x/10 on the card, and it seems like we are just expected to assign the same desirability. One seems organic, the other feels like I am getting duped into a profit taking scheme.

Less than 15 years ago, I was spending my allowance money to buy the latest /20 jersey relic card for $50. Those same cards are worth $3 today. I have a hard time believing cards that have the same basic components 15 years later, with prices that have inflated 10,000%, will ever retain their value as well as vintage...but I guess we will see.[/QUOTE

Thank you for an on-topic post.

Regarding manufactured rarity, we are Badgers, and a few months ago my 13 year old son got (or I bought him) a 2020 Pannini Red Wave, auto, Jonathan Taylor rookie (I hope I said that right). He is into modern and I love that he is interested in cards and I want to do stuff with him so I indulged, especially a Badger. So the other day I started to contemplate what if we did a “color run” in that card? We looked up what would constitute a color run and it made no sense. There are like 10 different, but that’s just the start. There are many different other colors and versions based on which boxes you are opening. All in all, if you got every available card in that pose (from all the different boxes that could have that pose), it would be like 40 of them. Several are red, but one is wave and one is cracked ice and one is prizim, same with blue and green. And some have signatures and some dont. Some are 1 of 1s or 1 of 5 bc they are gold or black and bc it says it on the back. Some are camouflage and are worth more than signatures bc the cami is rarer (despite no auto). But anyway you slice it, there are many variations of that Jonathan Taylor pose - same pic, just different color, or auto, or limited edition (number on back). The pose is hardly rare. In fact, it’s super common. The rarity is the color, or background, or number.

Admittedly, the t206 Cobb pose is on different cards, as is the case with many of the Horner portraits and/or early cards (e107 has many same poses as t206, w600, etc and e92 has same poses as e101-106 and t216 etc). So I concede that even my beloved prewar uses the same poses over and over. But for some reason I can follow that but get lost looking at 2020 Jonathan Taylor cards.

Agreed, what a perfect example. As a side note, I was piddling around the PSA registry today and came across what I would assume is your set. Beautiful collection! Congrats on 100%.

[Snowman]

While Morant is again sidelined due to another injury (knee), the Grizzlies continue to demolish every other team in the league. They just beat the Bucks, with a healthy Giannis, by 25 points the night before last. Tonight, they're up 63 to 37 over the Warriors at halftime.

All this talk about how Morant single-handedly turned them into a top team is hilarious. The soon to be 18-2 Morantless Grizzlies are the best team in the league when Morant isn't on the floor. That 90% win rate drops to 62.5% when he's out there (35-21). Again, don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Ja Morant, but I'm getting really sick of this narrative about him being the reason for the Grizzlies' success this season. He's an absolutely electric player and so much fun to watch. But he's also a considerable defensive liability. Not as bad defensively as Trae Young (who just so happens to be the worst defensive player in the past 40+ years, literally), but he is certainly a below average defender.