Card Collecting Malaise and Ennui? Just Me?

[49erRCCollector]

Anyone else feeling this lately, and is it more than the normal cyclical dissatisfaction?

As a team collector I know I'm prone to burnout, I see it with player collectors as well. That, along with ridiculous wax prices, some weak draft classes and hyped players underachieving have me a feeling uninspired. Normally I would chalk this up to just a bout of disinterest but I feel like the highs of the COVID boom have worn off and there's just not a lot to draw me in right now, specifically in football, even with my golden boy Purdy lifting tides in 2022 product. I've been more excited by selling than buying, and purely just to bank the cash, not to re-invest.

Anyone else?

[Scottish Punk]

You are not alone. I am feeling the latest draft stuff from all sports have dampened my desire to open new product. Along with the crazy prices of course. I think it is a direct result of the industry being in a full blown junk wax era again. It just feels different since we have all the parallels of the same card.

I am getting more motivated to lop off all the extra stuff in my collection. Something that I have been slowly trying to do for the last few years. I am going to back to my early collector strategy of the 5 year rule. Don't buy anything from a draft class until 4 years have gone by. So this year, you look at rookies from 2018 to start buying. Yes, you will get burned on higher prices for somebody like Allen, but you skipped all the hype in buying Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, etc. I am also going back and buying more vintage. There will always be an endless supply of any popular rookie player's cards from the past 5 years sitting on eBay.

[TheFrenzy]

I too am moving more towards selling and getting things listed for the upcoming season.

Finding cool, serial-numbered insert sets with great checklists and putting those together has been my main grind for the last year.

[majestik101]

I can't afford the hobby anymore. A non-autographed 2022 Prizm Brock Purdy Rookie Silver PSA 10 sells for $500 bucks for chrissakes

[Fenway55]

It's too darn expensive to buy wax. I've actually bought more baseball wax this past year than football.

[kluke84]

Yes. This is what happens when checklists continue to expand, prices don't reflect the value of the RC, and rampant shill bidding.

I am focused on buying sub $100 for my PC and sending cards in for grading in advance of the selling season. The PSA $15 special is pretty good, just wish it wasn't capped at a $199 value.

[TheFrenzy]

I can't afford the hobby anymore. A non-autographed 2022 Prizm Brock Purdy Rookie Silver PSA 10 sells for $500 bucks for chrissakes

You want moxie? It's gonna cost you.

[49erRCCollector]

It's too darn expensive to buy wax. I've actually bought more baseball wax this past year than football.

I hear you. I wish I liked Baseball, hobby-wise, because you can still bust packs without setting money on fire.

As far as football boxes... the return on investment feels like I'm setting money on fire, which just feels stupid. I don't like feeling stupid. I rarely buy boxes. Rarely. And when I do, I'm reminded why I don't.

[Grid]

You want moxie? It's gonna cost you.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/297/055/875.gif

[tjforce]

I've had a lot of fun lately collecting, but it isn't chasing the latest and greatest stuff that people will probably forget about in 2 years... it's going back and picking up a lot of the stuff that nobody else seems to care about.

I've added almost 100 Contenders Rookie Tickets of guys from 1998-2015, most of whom are no names, but some are quite rare with players as good a Edgerrin James.

It's actually a whole lot of fun just collecting for myself and not having to worry about what other people are buying, and I'm not going broke doing it.

[49erRCCollector]

I've had a lot of fun lately collecting, but it isn't chasing the latest and greatest stuff that people will probably forget about in 2 years... it's going back and picking up a lot of the stuff that nobody else seems to care about.

I've added almost 100 Contenders Rookie Tickets of guys from 1998-2015, most of whom are no names, but some are quite rare with players as good a Edgerrin James.

It's actually a whole lot of fun just collecting for myself and not having to worry about what other people are buying, and I'm not going broke doing it.

Totally get this. I bought two Jamie Winborn parallels from his rookie year (2001) that randomly came up for sale - one #'d to 5, one a Quantum Purple #'d to 15. My most fun pick-ups in a while. I know no one else cares, but I still collect old, rare, deep-cuts for fun.

I still have two white whales lurking out there in common boxes that I would pay gross amounts for, but beyond that, I'm pretty blah on everything. When I do buy anything but vintage, I do it out of habit, not desire.

[JeremyNick]

Just pivot and turn to other things. No more wax or ultra modern for me. Put a pause on my Steelers Contenders Playoff Ticket run until those prices stop being stupid.

Through the pandemic I flipped a ton of wax and sold off a ton of my non Steelers stash from when I got back into collecting in 2017. Used that to pay down student loans and expand my Watt PC.

In the meantime my boys got into Pokémon, so I’ve turned my attention to that and having fun with them building up their PCs and grading.

Too much stupidity with prices, hype and newbs right now so I keep most of the new stuff at arms distance.

[TheFrenzy]

I've spent more time and money over the last year or so tracking down and buying some rarer Godzilla cards from Japan than I have necessarily on sports cards.

These came in the mail a few days ago. Mini cards that came with some kind of milk product twenty years ago.

I absolutely love them.

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/2tgAAOSwD3pkZ4xW/s-l500.jpg

[49erRCCollector]

Just pivot and turn to other things. No more wax or ultra modern for me. Put a pause on my Steelers Contenders Playoff Ticket run until those prices stop being stupid.

Through the pandemic I flipped a ton of wax and sold off a ton of my non Steelers stash from when I got back into collecting in 2017. Used that to pay down student loans and expand my Watt PC.

In the meantime my boys got into Pokémon, so I’ve turned my attention to that and having fun with them building up their PCs and grading.

Too much stupidity with prices, hype and newbs right now so I keep most of the new stuff at arms distance.

I did a similar thing over the pandemic - sold off a TON of raw cards, graded and sold some high end/key issue comics I had been sitting on for 20+ years (almost all done there), about 600 Blu-Rays (many rare and out of print) and an almost complete loose vintage Star Wars figure collection. Sold off a ton of guitar effects and guitars as well (when you have 12 guitars, you have too many).

I turned that into cash, graded vintage Niners and a some selected modern.

I've spent more time and money over the last year or so tracking down and buying some rarer Godzilla cards from Japan than I have necessarily on sports cards.

These came in the mail a few days ago. Mini cards that came with some kind of milk product twenty years ago.

I absolutely love them.

Those are amazing. I sometimes think about doing a PSA registry run for an '80s Topps film card set, but it just doesn't turn me on that much.

[TheFrenzy]

Those are amazing. I sometimes think about doing a PSA registry run for an '80s Topps film card set, but it just doesn't turn me on that much.

Few things turn me on like men in rubber suits.

[49erRCCollector]

Few things turn me on like men in rubber suits.

You are a big DEVO fan, I take it?

[nabzy28]

You are not alone. I am feeling the latest draft stuff from all sports have dampened my desire to open new product. Along with the crazy prices of course. I think it is a direct result of the industry being in a full blown junk wax era again. It just feels different since we have all the parallels of the same card.

.

I attended a large show last weekend. While I witnessed a lot of people, and many deals, I just scanned right over all the showcases of shiny paralleled into stupidity Panini football era stuff. I just do not care at all. About any of it. I really want to collect new football cards, but this ain't it.

Trying to stick with the stuff I've always loved, and even that is getting crazy. Older, on-card HOFer autos from UD. Some of that stuff seems to have absolutely found the floor, and bounced back upward.

[rmw10]

As another team collector, it's the overproduction that has me burnt out to some extent. I'm sure I'll get the itch once the cards of the 2023 draftees start coming out, but once you get to the end of the season and you're looking at Kyle Hamilton's 1500th card, it gets old.

[49erRCCollector]

As another team collector, it's the overproduction that has me burnt out to some extent. I'm sure I'll get the itch once the cards of the 2023 draftees start coming out, but once you get to the end of the season and you're looking at Kyle Hamilton's 1500th card, it gets old.

I feel this.

Purdy, yeah. hype, etc., but other than that I am completely uninspired by Tyrion Price-Davis, Drake Jackson, Danny Gray, all of who have dubious futures on the Niners, if not the NFL at this point. So much so even that at lower price points, I'm not sure about buying much of anything for those guys beyond Prizm and NT (for the PC).

[rmw10]

I feel this.

Purdy, yeah. hype, etc., but other than that I am completely uninspired by Tyrion Price-Davis, Drake Jackson, Danny Gray, all of who have dubious futures on the Niners, if not the NFL at this point. So much so even that at lower price points, I'm not sure about buying much of anything for those guys beyond Prizm and NT (for the PC).

It's more the sheer number of products than the players themselves for me. Don't know why I would need or want 30 cards with nearly the same picture but a different background/design of that 6th round rookie. Would much rather they slim the products line down but I know the chances of that are basically zero at this point.

[49erRCCollector]

It's more the sheer number of products than the players themselves for me. Don't know why I would need or want 30 cards with nearly the same picture but a different background/design of that 6th round rookie. Would much rather they slim the products line down but I know the chances of that are basically zero at this point.

I think we're saying the same thing.

[hairysasquatch]

I can't afford the hobby anymore. A non-autographed 2022 Prizm Brock Purdy Rookie Silver PSA 10 sells for $500 bucks for chrissakes

Bingo!

[Archangel1775]

Anyone else feeling this lately, and is it more than the normal cyclical dissatisfaction?

As a team collector I know I'm prone to burnout, I see it with player collectors as well. That, along with ridiculous wax prices, some weak draft classes and hyped players underachieving have me a feeling uninspired. Normally I would chalk this up to just a bout of disinterest but I feel like the highs of the COVID boom have worn off and there's just not a lot to draw me in right now, specifically in football, even with my golden boy Purdy lifting tides in 2022 product. I've been more excited by selling than buying, and purely just to bank the cash, not to re-invest.

Anyone else?

I've pretty much regulated to collecting the one set in my signature. No more group breaks, no new boxes, no baseball prospecting. I'm actually considering going back to opening vintage packs.

[chris_ac]

1st world issues with tissues my father would say in terms of card fatigue. My point being if you have great alternate passions/hobbies/social events to take it's place awesome and move on to those if sports cards lost it's luster. But this being a card driven forum, and keeping to the hobby itself, no fatigue. Can always find things I like, players I like. Cutting back the wasteful budget is important of course like breaks.

Real trouble is the good singles are still hard to secure imho. I noticed the massive dump of the common inserts/higher #'d parallels starting back in March. My Jefferson search results each night jumped from 200ish in January after their season ended to almost 400 by April and now can sometimes be 600 in 1 night. But the key it is the common stuff that everyone nets from breaks overall. Key autos, cards numbered /25 or less are still VHTF and then the QC of the last 2 years is off at times. Mountains of PSA 8s for brand new cards across the board. Too many scuffed mags coming in high end products to make me wince patiently waiting to see a PC card I would like to purchase.

Some will say the mag's condition should not matter if the card itself is fine but I will not grade it and some of the scratches are just flat eyesores going across white backgrounds on the cards. People won't admit it but it does effect the sale price if the mag is very scratched. You would need to grade it (and hope it grades well of course) to remove that stigma.

[49erRCCollector]

I've pretty much regulated to collecting the one set in my signature. No more group breaks, no new boxes, no baseball prospecting. I'm actually considering going back to opening vintage packs.

Am I missing it? Which set?

1st world issues with tissues my father would say in terms of card fatigue. My point being if you have great alternate passions/hobbies/social events to take it's place awesome and move on to those if sports cards lost it's luster. But this being a card driven forum, and keeping to the hobby itself, no fatigue. Can always find things I like, players I like. Cutting back the wasteful budget is important of course like breaks.

First world issues FOR SURE. Listen, my life is great. I buy overpriced shiny cardboard for fun. I was more curious if others are feeling the same way - if it was beyond my personal experience and maybe tied to bigger variables in the hobby.

Which, largely, appears to be the case.

[mike1498]

Sold off some pieces I thought I wouldn't part with cause there's some stupid money right now.

I've actually had a little more success with game worn jerseys as of late since the sneaker bois seem to still be into cards fairly exclusively.

I haven't bought too much right now because I flip cards to fund my collection. I've been sitting on a lot of cash because prices don't make sense even from a flipping standpoint.

Once some people leave the hobby, collecting and flipping will be easier again. On top of outrages prices, a lot of cards are definitely being shilled which makes gauging value more difficult.

Another point as well is that HYSA are 4+ APR so along with eBay fees increasing to 13.5% it's making it increasingly difficult to put money into cards right now.

There is no one that can convince me that a correction is coming. I'm not saying a crash but rather an ugly correction. There's no long term signs suggesting this is sustainable. Fed also said today 2 more interest rate hikes are likely this year which will only decrease spending and increase HYSA rates.

[roberth404]

Junk cards are too expensive

Ultra rare stuff doesn't pop up anymore

[Derekbauer]

I was on a roll filling my 2012 prizm gold set as prices tumbled for the low end guys. Then out of nowhere someone (or some group) has decided to bid against me in every recent auction. $270 for Doug Baldwin and $260 Karlos Dansby being the latest auctions. A month ago I would’ve had those for $100-$120

So yeah my collecting spirit is broken right now

[49erRCCollector]

There is no one that can convince me that a correction is coming. I'm not saying a crash but rather an ugly correction. There's no long term signs suggesting this is sustainable. Fed also said today 2 more interest rate hikes are likely this year which will only decrease spending and increase HYSA rates.

It's weird, I keep thinking... while looking at non-card, historically-studied, real-world "market crashes": housing, stock market, certain investments... that ALL the signs for a crash are there. The pandemic boom (which we are already significantly down in many areas), lot of blue chip players (basketball as an example) who were commanding big money on base PSA 10s are now 1/10th of their peak, new and uninitiated-to-collectibles money coming reckless and fast into the hobby, Fanatics cornering the market during the absolute PEAK overvalue moment...

...that a lot of people are in for a personal-level financial apocalypse.

You got Bron, Brady, Mahomes, Curry - you're OK (though, depending on the card, you're STILL down if you bought in 2021). But a lot of people went deep on Zion, Ja, suspect QBs, listened to Gary V. LOT of people.

You HAVE to think a big crash is coming. But we ain't there yet. Maybe it's too big to fail?

I was on a roll filling my 2012 prizm gold set as prices tumbled for the low end guys. Then out of nowhere someone (or some group) has decided to bid against me in every recent auction. $270 for Doug Baldwin and $260 Karlos Dansby being the latest auctions. A month ago I would’ve had those for $100-$120

So yeah my collecting spirit is broken right now

Tha sucks. I got squeezed out of some chases on inserts, I guess I could still do it, but my frugal brain won't allow for it.

[tjforce]

I was on a roll filling my 2012 prizm gold set as prices tumbled for the low end guys. Then out of nowhere someone (or some group) has decided to bid against me in every recent auction. $270 for Doug Baldwin and $260 Karlos Dansby being the latest auctions. A month ago I would’ve had those for $100-$120

So yeah my collecting spirit is broken right now

So I do believe that some of the more collectible and hard to find stuff has found a bottom and is starting to recover, while other stuff continues to fall.

[mike1498]

It's weird, I keep thinking... while looking at non-card, historically-studied, real-world "market crashes": housing, stock market, certain investments... that ALL the signs for a crash are there. The pandemic boom (which we are already significantly down in many areas), lot of blue chip players (basketball as an example) who were commanding big money on base PSA 10s are now 1/10th of their peak, new and uninitiated-to-collectibles money coming reckless and fast into the hobby, Fanatics cornering the market during the absolute PEAK overvalue moment...

...that a lot of people are in for a personal-level financial apocalypse.

You got Bron, Brady, Mahomes, Curry - you're OK (though, depending on the card, you're STILL down if you bought in 2021). But a lot of people went deep on Zion, Ja, suspect QBs, listened to Gary V. LOT of people.

You HAVE to think a big crash is coming. But we ain't there yet. Maybe it's too big to fail?


There's a couple variations worth considering.

Housing market: A lot of this was based on the fact that mortgages were one of the safest investments because that last thing intuitively we would default on is our mortgage. So creditors were really lose their borrowing requirements.

People saw this coming all the way back in 2005 (Well known example Michael Burry) and it still took about 2-3 years to officially burst. So this "card bubble" could be reasonably longer than some people think on these boards.

The reason it may be hard to compare cards is because they are discretionary to begin which already makes it different than houses (or I'll use stocks since most retirement plans depend on the market).

Really the only loose comparison I can see here is credit use. I do have the hunch that a lot of flippers are buying cards on credit and immediately trying to flip which is probably fueling the need to shill. I think what's sustaining this is that I also do believe there are real buyers winning what was shilled listings (either because they financially can or do not know). So I don't really know what causes this market to slow down. I guess it would be when people stop having discretionary income to spend if people start losing jobs but I feel like this hobby has some really deep pockets.

We're seeing the cracks in the ultra high end because that was purely investment and (as we saw with the SCI guy) there's people with a lot of money with no understanding of the card market buying super high end cards.

What I question is if the two markets are correlated? Because I'd argue what you may be seeing is the first market is just hobbyist being more aggressive than before and the other market is purely financial. If the first bucket is just hobbyist being more aggressive, than the market that you and I participate in may take a lot longer to cool than the latter.

[JeremyNick]

It's weird, I keep thinking... while looking at non-card, historically-studied, real-world "market crashes": housing, stock market, certain investments... that ALL the signs for a crash are there. The pandemic boom (which we are already significantly down in many areas), lot of blue chip players (basketball as an example) who were commanding big money on base PSA 10s are now 1/10th of their peak, new and uninitiated-to-collectibles money coming reckless and fast into the hobby, Fanatics cornering the market during the absolute PEAK overvalue moment...

….that a lot of people are in for a personal-level financial apocalypse.

You got Bron, Brady, Mahomes, Curry - you're OK (though, depending on the card, you're STILL down if you bought in 2021). But a lot of people went deep on Zion, Ja, suspect QBs, listened to Gary V. LOT of people.

You HAVE to think a big crash is coming. But we ain't there yet. Maybe it's too big to fail?


Don’t overthink it. People will latch to what they want to hear and confirmation bias will allow them to block the rest out.

We are in for a nasty crash.

[Armybennetts]

I'm with you, I've almost shut down buying anything new because of prices but also because the number of parallels etc. just feels a wee bit overwhelming. My focus has gone to my Notre Dame set chase and my individual collections and every couple months I'll add a signed mini-helmet, baseball, jersey, basketball to keep scratching that itch. I haven't bought a 49ers rookie card in almost a year, which feels bizarre.

[tjforce]

It's weird, I keep thinking... while looking at non-card, historically-studied, real-world "market crashes": housing, stock market, certain investments... that ALL the signs for a crash are there. The pandemic boom (which we are already significantly down in many areas), lot of blue chip players (basketball as an example) who were commanding big money on base PSA 10s are now 1/10th of their peak, new and uninitiated-to-collectibles money coming reckless and fast into the hobby, Fanatics cornering the market during the absolute PEAK overvalue moment...

...that a lot of people are in for a personal-level financial apocalypse.

You got Bron, Brady, Mahomes, Curry - you're OK (though, depending on the card, you're STILL down if you bought in 2021). But a lot of people went deep on Zion, Ja, suspect QBs, listened to Gary V. LOT of people.

You HAVE to think a big crash is coming. But we ain't there yet. Maybe it's too big to fail?



Tha sucks. I got squeezed out of some chases on inserts, I guess I could still do it, but my frugal brain won't allow for it.

I've seen this all before in the card market... the 1990s.

I have shoe boxes full of raw Shaq, ARod, MJ, and Drew Bledsoe inserts that are worth a fraction of what they were 25 years ago. And even bigger boxes of Natrone Means, Nomar Garciaparra, and Shawn Bradley cards that I couldn't get rid of for any profit if I tried.

Yet 90s stuff is some of the most collected in the history of sports cards.

The lesson from this is that only the best of the best holds up over time. Best player, best set, best condition.... you really need at least 1 or 2 of these to hold up over time. The other 99% of stuff out there gets forgotten about.

Which is okay if all you want to do is collect. But if you're banking on mass printed base cards of players who don't end up in the inner circle of the hobby hall of fame... good luck.

[Dallas Cowboys]

I hear ya.
From 2011 up till I think around 2016 or 17 I was purely a team collector. Then I hit a wall and malaise set in. Then I got into HOF autograph collecting which led to HOF rookie cards and jumbo game used prime patch cards as well. It helped spark new energy to my love of the hobby. It's funny too how it's almost like a switch will get flipped and I will work on a different facet of my collection.
Most of 2023 I have been working on My Cowboy team collection. Just in the last week now I have quit that and am working on HOF autographs.
So maybe you need to add some new facets to your collection?

[mike1498]

I've seen this all before in the card market... the 1990s.

I have shoe boxes full of raw Shaq, ARod, MJ, and Drew Bledsoe inserts that are worth a fraction of what they were 25 years ago. And even bigger boxes of Natrone Means, Nomar Garciaparra, and Shawn Bradley cards that I couldn't get rid of for any profit if I tried.

Yet 90s stuff is some of the most collected in the history of sports cards.

The lesson from this is that only the best of the best holds up over time. Best player, best set, best condition.... you really need at least 1 or 2 of these to hold up over time. The other 99% of stuff out there gets forgotten about.

Which is okay if all you want to do is collect. But if you're banking on mass printed base cards of players who don't end up in the inner circle of the hobby hall of fame... good luck.

I'm curious, what would one of those cards costed in 1990 and then what would it have costed if you bought it in 2005?

[49erRCCollector]

I hear ya.
From 2011 up till I think around 2016 or 17 I was purely a team collector. Then I hit a wall and malaise set in. Then I got into HOF autograph collecting which led to HOF rookie cards and jumbo game used prime patch cards as well. It helped spark new energy to my love of the hobby. It's funny too how it's almost like a switch will get flipped and I will work on a different facet of my collection.
Most of 2023 I have been working on My Cowboy team collection. Just in the last week now I have quit that and am working on HOF autographs.
So maybe you need to add some new facets to your collection?

Probably this? I'm just not sure what this would be. Cards - specifically football cards - still, mostly, have the "magic" for me whereas a lot of things I loved as a kid have just fallen away. Need to ponder.

I'm curious, what would one of those cards costed in 1990 and then what would it have costed if you bought it in 2005?

Well Bledsoe's 1993 SP RC was a big deal... maybe $60 right out of the box?

I remember around '94 - '95 was the first time I noticed sharp spike in prices. Most commons were .50 to $1, and inserts were a few bucks. But Marino spiked, the key USFL rookies all spiked (because pre-eBay they were not common place 10 years after release). I think I spent $200 on a raw '84 Steve Young USFL (again, in the Bay Area pre-eBay in the 90s this card was SCARCE).

But one of the first shows for maybe the '96 season, inserts were $60, $80 right on release. I remember thinking I couldn't keep up. At that point I had nearly every Steve Young card ever made.

Vintage was a whole other animal.

[tjforce]

I'm curious, what would one of those cards costed in 1990 and then what would it have costed if you bought it in 2005?

Probably this? I'm just not sure what this would be. Cards - specifically football cards - still, mostly, have the "magic" for me whereas a lot of things I loved as a kid have just fallen away. Need to ponder.



Well Bledsoe's 1993 SP RC was a big deal... maybe $60 right out of the box?

I remember around '94 - '95 was the first time I noticed sharp spike in prices. Most commons were .50 to $1, and inserts were a few bucks. But Marino spiked, the key USFL rookies all spiked (because pre-eBay they were not common place 10 years after release). I think I spent $200 on a raw '84 Steve Young USFL (again, in the Bay Area pre-eBay in the 90s this card was SCARCE).

But one of the first shows for maybe the '96 season, inserts were $60, $80 right on release. I remember thinking I couldn't keep up. At that point I had nearly every Steve Young card ever made.

Vintage was a whole other animal.

The big difference was that the stuff we thought was rare, really wasn't.

There just wasn't a huge network to buy and sell cards until ebay was around, so the only ways to track down a card you wanted (like a Bledsoe SP or Griffey UD) were Local Card Shops, Local Shows, or the collections of your friends. When your options for procurement are so few, you could image the the desire to be the one to track down one of the few copies that you have at your disposal whenever a guy got red hot.

[oplum29]

Anyone else feeling this lately, and is it more than the normal cyclical dissatisfaction?

As a team collector I know I'm prone to burnout, I see it with player collectors as well. That, along with ridiculous wax prices, some weak draft classes and hyped players underachieving have me a feeling uninspired. Normally I would chalk this up to just a bout of disinterest but I feel like the highs of the COVID boom have worn off and there's just not a lot to draw me in right now, specifically in football, even with my golden boy Purdy lifting tides in 2022 product. I've been more excited by selling than buying, and purely just to bank the cash, not to re-invest.

Anyone else?

buy vintage! let all these flippers play with the new toys, while you build up your vintage collection.

[pejc300]

I love this thread, mostly because it is filled with OG's who I respect, and when they are all saying the hobby is not in a good place, I think that says something. This is the definition of a TLDR post, but I think it's just therapy for me. I know no one is going to read this lol.

I've been thinking about my collecting a lot lately. I collected cards from when I was 6 to 18 religiously. I started in 1986 with Topps football and the last cards I remember buying were 1998 with Manning and Vince Carter because that is the year I went to college and other priorities took over. I never sold a card at that point. I still owned every card I ever had, tens of thousands. I spent every single extra dollar I got for birthdays/gifts/work etc. on cards. Every penny. I collected Thurman Thomas and Frank Thomas and never had anything high end. I spent hundreds of hours reading every back of every card, sorting, making sets, all the good stuff. My best card when I stopped collecting was probably worth $50 or so but I didn't care.

Went to college, lived life, got married at 27 (2008) and wanted to pay off debt so I dusted off the cards. Thought I would have a few grand in cards but it turns out almost everything was worthless (couldn't get $.99 for 500 Kerry Collins cards, that kind of stuff) sans a few Mannings. But, when I got them out it I immediately fell in love with cards again.

I started buying cards and was shocked at how cheap they were (they had almost all dropped in value in the decade since I had collected). But I also started selling. My first sale ever were some 1997 Upper Deck Legends autos (Fran Tarkenton and a few lesser known guys) that I had pulled from packs. They sold immediately (because I had no idea the set was popular and I had underpriced them big time) and I was hooked on selling.

I was a social worker at the time making about 45k a year and I started to think wow, maybe I can make like an extra $200-$300 a month selling cards which would actually be huge for my family. So I started the journey of flipping. It was 2010. I joined this board to ask a question about a 1998 Peyton Manning Prestige hobby card that was stamped with a National Convention stamp. My first big flip was Sam Bradford. I bought a Topps auto for $127 and before it landed in my mailbox I sold it for $250 (yeah, I was that guy who posted it for sale on ebay before I even had it in hand...I repent...but times were different back then lol).

In the many years after that I flipped and flipped and flipped on the side. Most years I made $3,000-$5,000 in profit for the year, which meant I got to take my family on vacation. One year I made $18,000 which was insane.

My entire goal was that maybe one day I could pay for one of my kid's weddings or maybe a year or two of college. That's all I hoped for. I did venture into higher end, realizing that rather selling 500 cards at $1.00 profit ($500) I'd be better off buying a card for $2,000 and selling it for $2,500 an that method worked pretty well, but it was very very scary when I bought my first Brady Champ Ticket for $4,000 and sold it for $4,450 a week later lol.

Then in 2019 everything changed. In 2018 I didn't watch any football (and really wasn't focused on sports for about two years because I was focused on another endeavor). I remember watching the 2018 AFC championship game and it was the first time I had ever even heard of Patrick Mahomes. I had no idea what kind of year he had had, but as the 2019 season approached I thought, "this dude had 50 TDs and 12 INTs in his first year? why is he so cheap?"

So I started buying. Everything. Prizm parallels by the boatloads. I just felt like Prizm was starting to explode so I kept buying. The Chiefs won the super bowl and I thought, I need a really nice Mahomes. Someone posted a Gold Optic RC 9.5 right after they won the SB and I bought it for $6,400 and I was scared to death. Then the seller said, "Hey, I have a gold prizm 9.5 as well if you're interested." Again, scared to death, had never spent that much on a card. We agreed on $11,750. I had to sell some stuff to pay for it, and the seller worked with me. I couldn't believe I had spent 18k on 2 Mahomes cards.

Then it all changed. I don't need to tell you all. My investment in Mahomes went 20x and I sold almost all of it. I bought a second gold Mahomes during this time for $125,000. Insane. I sold it for 400k. I profited $500,000 one year (40% went to Uncle Sam). My yearly salary was 60k. Think about that. I had sold that $6,400 Gold Optic for $70,200. I sold a Kobe that I bought for $38,000 for $120,000. It was just crazy. Crazy.

Thanks to Covid and Patrick Mahomes we paid off our mortgage, my mother in law's mortgage, got a new roof, paid for two sets of braces, the adoption of our son, a trip to Hawaii, and gave away tens of thousands of dollars to people we love. It was awesome.

And I was STILL sitting on probably another 500-600k in cards. I thought I was set for life. Then the market started going down. I thought I was smarter than everyone and knew the market better (because I've been in it for a long time) but I fell for the hype on Burrow and even bought a very expensive Herbert that is going to cost me probably 30k. I gave back some huge profits.

So now I sit with a gold Prizm Mahomes that I honestly still think will be worth $300-400k in the future (I am in the minority here it seems), but now is only 100k and people are saying might go down to 30-50k and a Steph Curry Black Prizm 1/1 (his first Prizm black finite). I have a few other cards, but not much.

Pretty much every day I debate about selling what I have left which would likely net me maybe 250k to buy a rental property, but even though I worry about selling now because I still think about those prices in 2021 and think "My Steph is going to be worth $1 million in 10 years!" but I think that' just wishful thinking.

The truth is, I'm a flipper. I love cards. I love learning about them, scouring for them, and flipping them. I don't think I've ever had the luxury to have a PC because I just don't make a lot of money in my job. With the market tanking I'm going back to the drawing board and starting to flip cards for $50 or $100 profit which is not easy anymore and kind of hard mentally when you're used to flipping cards for minimum $1,000 profit for a few years.

I have no interest in almost anything past 2020. Not even Gold Mahomes. There's just too many. I did buy first "PC" Mahomes card last week in a long time, and it felt good. The heyday for making insane money selling cards is over and I don't know how to deal with it lol. I think I might just try to go back to being a 12 year old collector again and just enjoying cards. I'm also looking at some emerging markets like magazines and tickets (yes, I know they are being pumped, but I have no probably jumping in the bandwagon and making money when I can).

I never imagined in a million years that thousand and thousands of people would be willing to buy a card for $200,000 and then sell it for $30,000 or buy a card for a million and sell it for $50,000. I thought a lot of this money was going to stay in the hobby, but it hasn't. I can't imagine a Mahomes Gold Prizm RC going down to like 20k, but maybe it will if there's no buyers.

One thing is for sure...the hobby is in a weird place, and there is so much junk out there. But I also know there are hundreds of thousands of collectors still out there, buying, and stashing. Sidenote: vintage baseball is insane. Anytime I can get my hands on that stuff it sells so quickly and so well.

[49erRCCollector]

buy vintage! let all these flippers play with the new toys, while you build up your vintage collection.

That’s most of my collection (Link in my signature). I have so much of what I want that it’s more of a waiting game but I have a pretty significant vintage 49ers collection going back to ‘48 Leaf.

[SleeperCards]

I know no one is going to read this lol.


I did. I'm a flipper as well, except that's all I do. It's difficult for me to care about the market because I don't really care about money, but I recognize it's a bit of a requisite for living. Hopefully I'll be able to continue to make it work in the future.

[IpcSteveYoung]

While I witnessed a lot of people, and many deals, I just scanned right over all the showcases of shiny paralleled into stupidity Panini football era stuff. I just do not care at all. About any of it. I really want to collect new football cards, but this ain't it.

Trying to stick with the stuff I've always loved, and even that is getting crazy. Older, on-card HOFer autos from UD. Some of that stuff seems to have absolutely found the floor, and bounced back upward.

I can relate to this sentiment of false rarity and the death by a thousand parallels that is the current business model in the hobby.

It's a joke at the expense of the customers/collectors at this point. I'd rather open up a box of 90's Pro Set over anything being produced today.

[Archangel1775]

I've pretty much regulated to collecting the one set in my signature. No more group breaks, no new boxes, no baseball prospecting. I'm actually considering going back to opening vintage packs.

Am I missing it? Which set?

My bad, I was impressed by my own quote in the GOAT Basketball argument that I forgot I changed it. Haha

It's the Baseball 2020 Finest Flashbacks Refractor set. I'm working on my second set right now. I've been thinking about completing a refractor graded set but that can get pretty expensive. I did start the Gold Set on the PSA registry adding about 5 more affordable cards but I don't even know what I need for a raw set yet. I know I got most of the big ones knocked out except maybe Ohtani and a ton of all All-Stars.

[bamafan3559]

I've had a lot of fun lately collecting, but it isn't chasing the latest and greatest stuff that people will probably forget about in 2 years... it's going back and picking up a lot of the stuff that nobody else seems to care about.

I've added almost 100 Contenders Rookie Tickets of guys from 1998-2015, most of whom are no names, but some are quite rare with players as good a Edgerrin James.

It's actually a whole lot of fun just collecting for myself and not having to worry about what other people are buying, and I'm not going broke doing it.

I've been doing some of this lately myself. I was on COMC a few days ago and picked up two Shaun Alexander Elite Status /37 for $10 a piece, along with a Brodie Croyle /12 for about $5. Nothing super special to the average collector, but they fit my PC.

[Grid]

It's weird, I keep thinking... while looking at non-card, historically-studied, real-world "market crashes": housing, stock market, certain investments... that ALL the signs for a crash are there. The pandemic boom (which we are already significantly down in many areas), lot of blue chip players (basketball as an example) who were commanding big money on base PSA 10s are now 1/10th of their peak, new and uninitiated-to-collectibles money coming reckless and fast into the hobby, Fanatics cornering the market during the absolute PEAK overvalue moment...

...that a lot of people are in for a personal-level financial apocalypse.

You got Bron, Brady, Mahomes, Curry - you're OK (though, depending on the card, you're STILL down if you bought in 2021). But a lot of people went deep on Zion, Ja, suspect QBs, listened to Gary V. LOT of people.

You HAVE to think a big crash is coming. But we ain't there yet. Maybe it's too big to fail?

mike1498 posted a good take on this already. But I will add, the variables of what is happening with trading cards are completely different than those that effect the other markets.

If somehow 10MIL new houses/condos entered the market at the same time, the value of those existing units would tumble. As people have more options to chose from.

If a publicly traded company issues more and more common stock. The share dilution lowers the value to current stock holders.

If there was a dead famous artist, who only has a handful of paintings out in the public. And suddenly someone finds a warehouse full of never before seen paintings. The values plummet, as now there are more to go around.

Think of trading cards in that vein. That is what we are mostly seeing now. We always had a lot of base PSA 10s. But over the past 3 years, during the bubble, how many people sent base to be graded? You have millions of more slabs hitting the market now. As the grading companies are done playing catch up.

Remember when no one could find boxes of cards at retail? That lead to surge pricing on the secondary market. The card companies started the next junk era, in order to make more product available. Adding more and more parallels and letting the printers run 24/7.

Yes, the sneaker bois and new investors have left. But not because they got bored. But because the money to be made wasn't as easy or plentiful.

Its all just supply and demand.

[jplarson]

I was on a roll filling my 2012 prizm gold set as prices tumbled for the low end guys. Then out of nowhere someone (or some group) has decided to bid against me in every recent auction. $270 for Doug Baldwin and $260 Karlos Dansby being the latest auctions. A month ago I would’ve had those for $100-$120

So yeah my collecting spirit is broken right now

I feel you on that one. In my mind I go "wtf, why is this getting bid up so much?!" and I do my best to let go pricing before 2020 and heck, for some stuff before 2022 even. One particular Deion Sanders Finest card I thought was overpriced at $100 then went for $150 then broke $200 in the last 6 months or so.


Tha sucks. I got squeezed out of some chases on inserts, I guess I could still do it, but my frugal brain won't allow for it.

And that right there is why I failed to pick up that Deion card. I can't justify picking up something that more than doubled in 2020, then doubled again by 2023. If it was the last one I needed for the collection, maybe I YOLO. But with other wants out there, I can't justify it.


Just pivot and turn to other things. No more wax or ultra modern for me. Put a pause on my Steelers Contenders Playoff Ticket run until those prices stop being stupid.

An excellent point. I pivoted towards collecting non-sports cards of my favorite video game Starcraft. Wound up getting a TTM from one voice actor and buying a couple from another voice actor for $20. Gonna get them framed and be tons cheaper and honestly I'd probably get more enjoyment from them.

[Derekbauer]

So I do believe that some of the more collectible and hard to find stuff has found a bottom and is starting to recover, while other stuff continues to fall.

100% agree. Glad I was able to scoop up about 10 more this year before they bumped up again.

I feel you on that one. In my mind I go "wtf, why is this getting bid up so much?!" and I do my best to let go pricing before 2020 and heck, for some stuff before 2022 even. One particular Deion Sanders Finest card I thought was overpriced at $100 then went for $150 then broke $200 in the last 6 months or so.
.

Yeah and that’s the hardest part with set/player collecting right now. I think a ton is overpriced but I don’t want to miss out on some these players which I may not see for another few years. But it’s hard to justify paying $300 for a Karlos Dansby PSA 8 2012 prizm gold.

[49erRCCollector]

Bumping this for no reason.

Yes - outlandish wax prices. Yes - random cards going for outrageous prices. Yes - large part of the post-pandemic market in a free fall. Uncertainty with Panini faltering, Fanatics waiting in the wings.

I also recognize that I have a Kicker as my top rookie chase.

All that said, I think this is the least amount of cards I've bought (2023) in a decade.

I'm at my nadir with collecting. It feels like every Panini move is to make the hobby less friendly, less fun. It's not the money, it's the "emotional reward" (for lack of a better term) of the hobby.

Anyone else?

[MiamiMarlinsFan]

Bumping this for no reason.

Yes - outlandish wax prices. Yes - random cards going for outrageous prices. Yes - large part of the post-pandemic market in a free fall. Uncertainty with Panini faltering, Fanatics waiting in the wings.

I also recognize that I have a Kicker as my top rookie chase.

All that said, I think this is the least amount of cards I've bought (2023) in a decade.

I'm at my nadir with collecting. It feels like every Panini move is to make the hobby less friendly, less fun. It's not the money, it's the "emotional reward" (for lack of a better term) of the hobby.

Anyone else?

Think maybe Topps will help fix your blues when they take over? I mean, it won’t help you with box prices, but coming from someone who collects mostly baseball… there’s always fun singles around to pick up at an affordable price. So maybe there’s hope!

[kluke84]

Bumping this for no reason.

Yes - outlandish wax prices. Yes - random cards going for outrageous prices. Yes - large part of the post-pandemic market in a free fall. Uncertainty with Panini faltering, Fanatics waiting in the wings.

I also recognize that I have a Kicker as my top rookie chase.

All that said, I think this is the least amount of cards I've bought (2023) in a decade.

I'm at my nadir with collecting. It feels like every Panini move is to make the hobby less friendly, less fun. It's not the money, it's the "emotional reward" (for lack of a better term) of the hobby.

Anyone else?

Better or worse than a OL being the chase rookie in '23? Toss-up.

Less pessimistic than I was last year. Since most of my Lawrence cards have cratered 40-50% I am just going to ride the roller coaster and maybe get a whale card this offseason. Yes this is dumb. At this point I am in IDGAF mode which is much less stressful. With any luck maybe I'll make a Rosen 2.0 thread in 2 yrs!

[oplum29]

went to Walmart yesterday, they had about a dozen Prizm football boxes.

picked up a couple.

trash...nothing but absolute trash. i'll buy a box hobby box here and there, but i haven't bought a hobby box of football since i believe pre-covid prices. they are just stupidly overpriced.

[TheFrenzy]

Tracking down rare Godzilla cards from Japan is giving me a ton of joy right now.

Nothing from sports at the moment.

[boxbuster7]

Better or worse than a OL being the chase rookie in '23? Toss-up.

Less pessimistic than I was last year. Since most of my Lawrence cards have cratered 40-50% I am just going to ride the roller coaster and maybe get a whale card this offseason. Yes this is dumb. At this point I am in IDGAF mode which is much less stressful. With any luck maybe I'll make a Rosen 2.0 thread in 2 yrs!

do you mean as a jags collector?

I definitely feel like retail is just trash these days. just burning money opening it.

[49erRCCollector]

do you mean as a jags collector?

I definitely feel like retail is just trash these days. just burning money opening it.

Every time I do it (retail) "just for fun" I regret it.

Every time.

[boxbuster7]

It isn't fun anymore and it is expensive

[asujbl]

I’m having a blast

[49erRCCollector]

I’m having a blast

With retail, or cards in general?

[asujbl]

With retail, or cards in general?

Cards

I haven’t opened a pack of cards in 25 years

My son has but not me

[49erRCCollector]

Cards

I haven’t opened a pack of cards in 25 years

My son has but not me

Wow. Ok. I get wild hairs about boxes, both new and old now and then. Opened a lot in 2013 (worst year for that)and some 2002, late 80s/early 90s junk wax, etc.

I'm also a grading dork so if I see a card I want graded, I'll go for it and unleash it on the world.

I bought maybe 6 blasters this year and might as well have dumped it straight from the box into the trash, really.

[asujbl]

Wow. Ok. I get wild hairs about boxes, both new and old now and then. Opened a lot in 2013 (worst year for that)and some 2002, late 80s/early 90s junk wax, etc.

I'm also a grading dork so if I see a card I want graded, I'll go for it and unleash it on the world.

I bought maybe 6 blasters this year and might as well have dumped it straight from the box into the trash, really.

I spent $75 on Michael Redd PSA 10’s yesterday

That’s better than blasters

[TheFrenzy]

I bought maybe 6 blasters this year and might as well have dumped it straight from the box into the trash, really.

It’s so true.

I’ll go into my LCS and grab some supplies, think “eh, I may as well buy a few loose packs because I appreciate the owner,” and then end up with nothing dozens of new junk cards.

[PrimeTimeScott]

With an 11 year old who is getting into cards with me, it is sad that I can't really find anything but Chronicles at my local Target. I'd love to buy a few packs here and there to open with him. When we find some, we get a couple packs. This year it has been mostly Prestige and a few packs of Score. I still have fun keeping up with Broncos cards. As a team collector, that will never end. I don't do high end stuff so it keeps the cost manageable. I still like finding singles of the players I collect. I just wish Panini would spread around the vets they have in the various releases.

[Stifle]

Anyone else feeling this lately, and is it more than the normal cyclical dissatisfaction?

As a team collector I know I'm prone to burnout, I see it with player collectors as well. That, along with ridiculous wax prices, some weak draft classes and hyped players underachieving have me a feeling uninspired. Normally I would chalk this up to just a bout of disinterest but I feel like the highs of the COVID boom have worn off and there's just not a lot to draw me in right now, specifically in football, even with my golden boy Purdy lifting tides in 2022 product. I've been more excited by selling than buying, and purely just to bank the cash, not to re-invest.

Anyone else?

Or could it be having limited companies copying the ultra competitive mid 90’s era of producing unique designs, signed on card auto’s, parallels, game used instead of commercialized jerseys at a signing or some rookie event, etc.

The days of competition is flatlining the ability of card companies to compete for quality products that are created with thinking outside the box. Everything is becoming like clothing, retro.

[49erRCCollector]

Or could it be having limited companies copying the ultra competitive mid 90’s era of producing unique designs, signed on card auto’s, parallels, game used instead of commercialized jerseys at a signing or some rookie event, etc.

The days of competition is flatlining the ability of card companies to compete for quality products that are created with thinking outside the box. Everything is becoming like clothing, retro.

That, too. I have frequently thought that Panini doesn't even try on their deigns anymore. Sleepwalking.

[49erRCCollector]

I'm feeling extra blah about the hobby today, and life in general.

Show me something good.

[nabzy28]

^

At this point, I'm pretty much just waiting for Topps to return. Mid to high end with actual game used jerseys and on card autos from star players, again. For the first time in way to freaking long.

There's stuff like this, too:

https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=1586181

[jplarson]

I'm feeling extra blah about the hobby today, and life in general.

Show me something good.

2000 Playoff Absolute Leather & Laces. Each piece cut from a game used football with the game and date on the front and how the player did on the back. Bottom two are the "Combos" parallel that includes pieces of the laces from the football.

https://i.postimg.cc/s3r6h7pp/2000playoffabsoluteleatherlaces49ers.jpg

[hairysasquatch]

went to Walmart yesterday, they had about a dozen Prizm football boxes.

picked up a couple.

trash...nothing but absolute trash. i'll buy a box hobby box here and there, but i haven't bought a hobby box of football since i believe pre-covid prices. they are just stupidly overpriced.

I missed this actual good take by oplum.

[49erRCCollector]

Love it - Are those yours, JP?

And Nabzy - I too am ready for Fanatics/Topps, just because. Panini feels they have just given up, completely.

I don't even know what is going to get released or when, but I know two top QBs won't have autos in it and will be priced like 10x too high.

[49erRCCollector]

I missed this actual good take by oplum.

I think after the SB, we may have lost him. I made a new Niner thread, hope it pulls him back.

[jplarson]

Love it - Are those yours, JP?

They are! I have the whole 130-card set, the Niners are well represented in the set :).

[49erRCCollector]

They are! I have the whole 130-card set, the Niners are well represented in the set :).

Amazing.

[nabzy28]

Love it - Are those yours, JP?

And Nabzy - I too am ready for Fanatics/Topps, just because. Panini feels they have just given up, completely.

I don't even know what is going to get released or when, but I know two top QBs won't have autos in it and will be priced like 10x too high.

They haven't given one single F about football in, at least, 7 years. There are no autos of top QB's, RB's, WR's that are actually able to be pulled regularly by fans/collectors. How the hell is that good for the hobby? It's not. When you're seeing Mike Trout, Ohtani, Acuna, Griffey Jr's, game worn patch autos with MLB authentication hologram stickers on the swatch that you can match to the actual game it was worn in....

you realize that the sandwich company is complete trash and has driven football cards into the ground.

All the hype generated by the Chiefs and the corresponding events of the last few months.... can anyone hope to go pull a Mahomes autograph out of a pack. NO. Can anyone hope to go pull Kelce autographs out of a pack. NO. If they put top QB autos in a product, they're serial numbered to less than 25. It's a complete joke.

And, yeah, as I've posted in other threads - all the shiny crap they've released for the last 5+ years looks exactly the same, with 2 trillion parallels. I see it at shows and will keep right on walking. No one will care about any of this in a few years. You can't even tell what the hell any of it is. The only reason I can even identify certain years of it is because I know what a Mahomes prizm RC looks like, so I know what 2017 prizm is. The rest, forget it.

Here's an insanely rare TO 49ers card to enjoy, from back when we had real companies making football cards that gave a crap. I know of only 3 confirmed copies that exist. The serial numbering is a lie. They did not honor the redemptions. From a Cowboys fan to a 9ers fan... it will get better, lol.

https://thumbs-us-east-1.myalbum.io/photo/540/f37bc0c8-46c5-46eb-98b8-eaace2fde7d0.jpg

[49erRCCollector]

https://thumbs-us-east-1.myalbum.io/photo/540/f37bc0c8-46c5-46eb-98b8-eaace2fde7d0.jpg

Love it!

[jplarson]

Not nearly as rare as Nabzy's TO, but enjoy some other Niner sigs from a quarter century ago.

1999 Upper Deck Inkredible.

https://i.postimg.cc/t9tFRgpC/1999udretroinkredible49ers.jpg

[TheFrenzy]

It doesn’t help that high-end cards of certified bums are being priced like they are future Bradys.

Why are Desmond Ridder NT RPAs still $300????

[weeds73]

It doesn’t help that high-end cards of certified bums are being priced like they are future Bradys.

Why are Desmond Ridder NT RPAs still $300????

just give it a year or so and they will be a fraction of that. People are into these cards for significantly more money than they are worth today and have to just be holding on to some shred of hope that they can recoup something of value. I have to think the losses people have racked up with 2021 and 2022 QBs has been more brutal than any 2 year period in the hobby's history (at least with respect to the NFL)

[boxbuster7]

I'm feeling extra blah about the hobby today, and life in general.

Show me something good.

https://media3.giphy.com/media/VlBlftxwnUZo6yeXJP/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952rxhg2zjinvtcx5j8b4th111hg04ue6nw97ugrxpn&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g

[Stifle]

Am I missing it? Which set?



First world issues FOR SURE. Listen, my life is great. I buy overpriced shiny cardboard for fun. I was more curious if others are feeling the same way - if it was beyond my personal experience and maybe tied to bigger variables in the hobby.

Which, largely, appears to be the case.

My lady is great, she drops me off at a LCS while her and her son go clothes shopping.

What I miss at shows is the lesser boxes that dealers don’t want to contend with as well as the oddball cards. About the only oversized cards that I see are at LCS’s and flea markets. Outside of buying a dealer out, this is where you find some unique cards. You might even locate a Zachary Brunson, and I’m hoping someday somebody will for you !

[jplarson]

https://media3.giphy.com/media/VlBlftxwnUZo6yeXJP/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952rxhg2zjinvtcx5j8b4th111hg04ue6nw97ugrxpn&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g

Dang, you win.

[ShoutFan2020]

The capitalism injected into the hobby by pumpers, group breakers and the online dealers has sucked the wind out of the industry, but lots of other differences factor into it too.

80s and 90s;
Go to the LCS, talk sports with the owner for a bit. maybe a couple packs of pack wars and take a box home with you. All for $50 or less.
Sports memorabilia (signed photo, jersey, ball) were the high dollar items you wanted for a sports showcase room one day.
RCs were priced below HOFer RCs. You could speculate as to if that RC would one day grow to be a HOF RC or not.
Fun to have a PC of one player and see if you could get all their cards from that year.

Now;
Buying online with no interaction at inflated prices that could care less how much money you lose on a box.
Sport memorabilia now priced less than a sticker card auto because a company stamped gold foil on it saying that color is /25 as opposed to the 30 other colors.
RCs are priced like that player has already won 4 Super Bowls and MVPs. Can easily buy 5 RCs of prior players that actually won bowls and awards for same price.
PC collection is dumb unless you like rainbows and companies using the exact same photo of the player on 6 different card sets.

[49erRCCollector]

My lady is great, she drops me off at a LCS while her and her son go clothes shopping.

What I miss at shows is the lesser boxes that dealers don’t want to contend with as well as the oddball cards. About the only oversized cards that I see are at LCS’s and flea markets. Outside of buying a dealer out, this is where you find some unique cards. You might even locate a Zachary Brunson, and I’m hoping someday somebody will for you !

I went to the last 2 Burbank Cards-sponsored shows here in (well, outside of) LA. I hadn't been to a show in years. It was fun, being in SoCal I still saw a good amount of Niners cards/slabs. The downside is what you were saying. Only boxes (overpriced) from the last 3 years, mostly, maybe 1-2 dealers with stuff to pick through looking for treasures. everything else was slab central. I collect PSA graded stuff but I'm not trying to trade up or whatever. I collect for my collection and for fun. I bought one card in two shows. When I go to the Bay Area even the old timer shops don't have old stuff anymore.

I am a sucker for under printed, oddball, etc stuff. Don't care about value, It's the hunt. I'm a dying or dead breed, seemingly.

I have this idea about buying oddball 90s-00s boxes only and doing a big break myself just for the chance to stumble on stuff.

I genuinely enjoy helping other collectors. I pulled a Justin Tucker plate from Topps flagship and sent it to the resident Tucker collector here just because.

I have National Treasures RCs from LAST YEAR that I graded myself in case anyone thinks I'm just stuck in the past, still.. I feel like I'm a dinosaur.

[kluke84]

I think repacks are a problem if you are a buyer. If you are a seller it's nice that inventory occasionally sells. I've tried a few arena club slab packs to see how they went and that's quite enough for me. Don't trust any others.

AC has a drop.today. 750 for 1 card. The 'grail' is/was a CJ Stroud Kaboom PSA 9. Woof.

[49erRCCollector]

I think repacks are a problem if you are a buyer. If you are a seller it's nice that inventory occasionally sells. I've tried a few arena club slab packs to see how they went and that's quite enough for me. Don't trust any others.

AC has a drop.today. 750 for 1 card. The 'grail' is/was a CJ Stroud Kaboom PSA 9. Woof.

I've never done a repack thing. Seems... dicey.

Maybe 10 years ago I'd buy a bunch of current boxes and if I didn't hit anything I felt a tinge of regret, but - you know - whatever.

Not worth it now.

It's also hard to watch top hits seemingly always happen with big breakers. Then get reposted everywhere. Makes one believe in conspiracies.

[49erRCCollector]

I did my first card thing in a while - sent cards to PSA. All but one are really random PC/PSA registry types.

7 Niners
2 Steelers
1 Brown

We’ll see. Not enough to break the ennui, but maybe to shake the rust off.

[TheFrenzy]

I did my first card thing in a while - sent cards to PSA. All but one are really random PC/PSA registry types.

7 Niners
2 Steelers
1 Brown

We’ll see. Not enough to break the ennui, but maybe to shake the rust off.

May the gem be with you.

[49erRCCollector]

May the gem be with you.

Grade long and prosper.

[TheFrenzy]

Grade long and prosper.

One TPG to rule them all, One TPG to find them, One TPG to bring them all, and in the polystyrene slab them

[jplarson]

One TPG to rule them all, One TPG to find them, One TPG to bring them all, and in the polystyrene slab them

"You take the raw card... the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the TPG card submission... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes"

[TheFrenzy]

"You take the raw card... the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the TPG card submission... you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes"

"The name's Ungraded Raw pal, and I won't be talked down to by anybody, not even a PSA 10!"

[jplarson]

"The name's Ungraded Raw pal, and I won't be talked down to by anybody, not even a PSA 10!"

I want the PSA 10!

You can't handle the PSA 10!

[49erRCCollector]

This needs its own thread.

“Favorite movie quote repurposed for card collecting.”

[TheFrenzy]

This needs its own thread.

“Favorite movie quote repurposed for card collecting.”

Finally finding the last card you need to complete a set like:

https://media4.giphy.com/media/kjfHMdG6Y3LP2/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b952gonu27ijupx8sn7o3cepyfnvrgpvqm6rweqda0di&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g

[TheFrenzy]

This thread might help scratch the itch. (https://www.blowoutforums.com/showthread.php?t=525136)

[jplarson]

This needs its own thread.

“Favorite movie quote repurposed for card collecting.”


Word! I'll also admit I totally missed on this one.

I want the PSA 10!

You can't handle the PSA 10!

I should have gone with:

"I want the grader notes on this PSA 9!"

"You can't handle the grader notes!"