Originally Posted by AsianBrizz
I've been collecting for years and I have an Excel spreadsheet with all my purchases, so I can see the exponential growth in just the last few years. My collection is already worth ten times what it was worth just a few years ago.
For example, back in 2012, I was buying Messi rookies in bunches for $5 apiece, including his Megacracks that some sellers on ebay are now listing for $500-1000.
Back in 2013, I bought two Alfredo di Stefano rookies (from 1953) for $3 and $4 each...today, those are going for $85-100, and sometimes much more. And now that Di Stefano has passed away, just imagine how much his autograph is worth on a 50-year old German card printed in limited supply.
I bought a bunch of old Spanish (chocolate) cards from the 1920s featuring Paulinho Alcantara (the all-time leading goal scorer at Barca until Messi broke his record a few years ago) on the cheap for less than $5 apiece, and I just saw one sell today for over $100.
The same goes for rookies of CR7, Beckenbauer, Maradona, (the other) Ronaldo, Garrincha, Beckham, and on and on...the market is exploding, but it's a mistake to think that the first big soccer product started in 2014. Soccer cards have been around since the 1800s, and if you're lucky enough to have a rookie card of Pele or Jose Andrade or Hans Gamper (the guy who started FC Barcelona), you can count yourself very lucky indeed.
The market is exploding, if you know what to buy. In five years time, as these old cards become more and more rare, they'll be worth ten times what they're worth today, and the potential market will be much larger than for American-based sports like basketball or American football. I am American, but I live in Thailand and there are tons of collectors here. Just imagine when citizens of other footie-loving countries get more disposable income.
It's going to get even better in the coming years...if the ice caps don't flood all our major cities and destroy human civilization as we know it.
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