Completely switching to vintage

[discodanman45]

With the grading hysteria, inflated prices for junk wax, and being priced out of modern cards I made a decision to move completely into "vintage.' For me vintage is anything prior to 1980 since I didn't watch the majority of those players play. I am also giving up on graded cards for awhile and going top loaders. I personally don't feel the prices of cards is sustainable and pouring money into a hobby for me is not enjoyable. I am not an investor, I am a collector! I have a great job and make enough money to put into cards. However, paying thousands of dollars for a Luka rookie sounds silly to me.

I started my journey by buying some lots of 1960's and 1970's basketball and football card lots a few months ago. It has been addicting to say the least. I can usually get a lot with HOF's for around $1 a card. I then go through the lots and I have to research since I never heard of them. It is interesting for me to read their stories and accomplishments. I can usually sell the doubles I get to cover the entire cost of the lot and it is a free hobby, well with some work attached to it.

Here are some of the "free cards" I got in lots. I sold the doubles or players not in the HOF to cover the price of the lots. They are not perfect, but who wouldn't want a Phil Jackson rookie off-centered for nothing The McAdoo I am sending into PSA with my vouchers this week. It has really good centering for that year and is a clean card.

[irv]

Not a bad decision.

Me, personally, I have been dabbling more and more into modern (on the cheap) but that is mainly due to the expense of vintage and the fact most come from the U.S.

With the exchange rate, duty, shipping, etc, I have lately been purchasing most of my cards from CDN sellers as it just makes sense.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by irv

Not a bad decision.

Me, personally, I have been dabbling more and more into modern (on the cheap) but that is mainly due to the expense of vintage and the fact most come from the U.S.

With the exchange rate, duty, shipping, etc, I have lately been purchasing most of my cards from CDN sellers as it just makes sense.

There are some nice O-PEE-CHEE lots and cards I see from Canada on eBay quite a bit. If I was in Canada I would definitely start looking at hockey lots.

[Scottish Punk]

Cool cards, vintage HOF still beats a lot of the new shiny stuff. Don't have to worry about 40 parallels across 30 products to figure out RC and 2nd year cards.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Cool cards, vintage HOF still beats a lot of the new shiny stuff. Don't have to worry about 40 parallels across 30 products to figure out RC and 2nd year cards.

I have about 40 different Shaquille rookie year cards. The insanity of the numerous sets and inserts of the 1990's to current day numbered cards, autos, and 30 different color variations has driven me away from these products. The more I dive into vintage, the more I appreciate simplicity.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Cool cards, vintage HOF still beats a lot of the new shiny stuff. Don't have to worry about 40 parallels across 30 products to figure out RC and 2nd year cards.

Also don’t have to worry about a career ending injury to Luka, Zion, Lamelo etc when you have thousands invested in those cards.

Personally I’ve been buying raw vintage and low graded vintage and raw UFC cards lately. But even prices on that stuff keeps going up. Still much cheaper than modern NBA


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[soey10]

I have been doing the same. Going backwards in time. I would rather drop the $1200 I did on a nice Nolan Ryan card that I have always dreamed of rather than buying a player playing today and crossing my fingers that he pans out and doesn’t get hurt. I also find that vintage cards are a lot like artwork and the fact that the cards were never intended to be collectables make them even better.


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[49erRCCollector]

I have a respectable vintage 49ers collection going, it is PSA graded but I find that the market is more stable than modern and more fun. I add to it slowly, best grades I can afford.

[RetailHitsOnly]

I dabbled in vintage for a little while because of the lack of retail too. Partially didnt know what I was doing though, buying mostly 50s cards and only Hall of Famers I chased as a kid. Prices were great for a little while but seemed to explode after Hank Aaron’s passing. Since then, I’ve been going back and forth between modern and vintage both raw and graded.

I recently got lucky enough to purchase some heritage blasters from Target, but one of the reviews says it’s not what’s advertised so I don’t know what to do if they’re not what I expected. They’re supposed to have the die-cuts, at least from the photos and product details, but like I said, a reviewer claims they’re generic blasters. I was thinking of returning them if they’re not what I thought they were, or maybe I’ll just squirrel them away.


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[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

I have a respectable vintage 49ers collection going, it is PSA graded but I find that the market is more stable than modern and more fun. I add to it slowly, best grades I can afford.

I got a lot with a Jimmy Johnson 1964 rookie coming later this week. Even finding a raw version of that card is hard! None on COMC and if one gets put under $15 it immediately sells even with a crease. I wish I started to buy SGC versions a couple months ago, you could get some steals. A SGC 9 version of the Jimmy Johnson rookie sold for $62.51.

[oplum29]

vintage is the way to go for sure!

love it

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

I got a lot with a Jimmy Johnson 1964 rookie coming later this week. Even finding a raw version of that card is hard! None on COMC and if one gets put under $15 it immediately sells even with a crease. I wish I started to buy SGC versions a couple months ago, you could get some steals. A SGC 9 version of the Jimmy Johnson rookie sold for $62.51.

Excellent. I jumped into the deep end a while back with a 1950 Joe Perry (PSA 8) and Jimmy Johnson RC (PSA 9). I have most of the 49ers RCs from 1950 - Present in PSA 8 or better. And from 1980 forward almost all are PSA 10.

[49ersSF]

When I started to collect again about 8 years ago I was only interested in pre-1980's. My goal was to get NM sets of all 4 sports for the entire 1970's decade. After 3 or 4 years of steadily collecting only vintage, I moved on to modern.

During Covid, I finally decided to organize (albeit slowly) all the vintage I bought over the years. I had nearly 30 4000 count boxes full of pre-1980's I had to sort through but ended up with nearly 2 of each set from the 1970s in all 4 sports. Thankfully, I was very picky when buying sets/cards and almost all of it is in the NM range.

I thoroughly enjoyed collecting vintage much more than modern but I will never ever sort sports cards ever again.

[49ersSF]

Originally Posted by 49erRCCollector

Excellent. I jumped into the deep end a while back with a 1950 Joe Perry (PSA 8) and Jimmy Johnson RC (PSA 9). I have most of the 49ers RCs from 1950 - Present in PSA 8 or better. And from 1980 forward almost all are PSA 10.

Great cards! That Joe Perry in a PSA 8 is a gem. It's one I have always wanted in high grade. The 1948 Leo Nomellini and the 1950 YA Title as well as both versions of the 1952 Hugh Mcelhenny.

[49erRCCollector]

Originally Posted by 49ersSF

Great cards! That Joe Perry in a PSA 8 is a gem. It's one I have always wanted in high grade. The 1948 Leo Nomellini and the 1950 YA Title as well as both versions of the 1952 Hugh Mcelhenny.

Yeah - The McElhenney is a recent add:

[salas1991]

Originally Posted by discodanman45

With the grading hysteria, inflated prices for junk wax, and being priced out of modern cards I made a decision to move completely into "vintage.' For me vintage is anything prior to 1980 since I didn't watch the majority of those players play. I am also giving up on graded cards for awhile and going top loaders. I personally don't feel the prices of cards is sustainable and pouring money into a hobby for me is not enjoyable. I am not an investor, I am a collector! I have a great job and make enough money to put into cards. However, paying thousands of dollars for a Luka rookie sounds silly to me.

I started my journey by buying some lots of 1960's and 1970's basketball and football card lots a few months ago. It has been addicting to say the least. I can usually get a lot with HOF's for around $1 a card. I then go through the lots and I have to research since I never heard of them. It is interesting for me to read their stories and accomplishments. I can usually sell the doubles I get to cover the entire cost of the lot and it is a free hobby, well with some work attached to it.

Here are some of the "free cards" I got in lots. I sold the doubles or players not in the HOF to cover the price of the lots. They are not perfect, but who wouldn't want a Phil Jackson rookie off-centered for nothing The McAdoo I am sending into PSA with my vouchers this week. It has really good centering for that year and is a clean card.

Sounds like a good plan, Dan! I've only swung toward modern the last year-ish myself because I've not had great experiences with buying vintage online - quality of cards ends up overstated too often, and even with good photos, you just can't always see everything that you can at a show or in a shop. So I've really bought very little vintage- or even singles-wise since summer 2019, just buying new or unopened stuff for the time being. Looking forward to being back to shows soon so I can get back to working on my early 70s sets!

[Spicoli]

My vintage is rising while most of the rest of the market is coming down from Feb highs.

And the car is safe in the garage. Reggie and Hank are not going to pull a hammy.

[PepperDean]

Originally Posted by Spicoli

My vintage is rising while most of the rest of the market is coming down from Feb highs.

And the car is safe in the garage. Reggie and Hank are not going to pull a hammy.

Yea my collection is almost all vintage and it's aging beautifully. Especially my vintage of players like Mays and Mantle, they've doubled in just a few months.

[gmoney328]

There's just something oddly comforting in a vintage card collection. It's hard to explain.

[Gridiron Bob]

No matter where you have started, eventually you will come home. I consider anything before the junk wax era to be classical.

[ToppsFB]

Welcome to the club OP!
Vintage can be expensive but at least it makes sense. I just don't understand why anything new is valued so high. It's artificial value unlike the Vintage stuff that has sustained value.
https://twitter.com/ToppsGallery/sta...275569153?s=19

[gomiamigo]

I told myself for a few years to get into vintage basketball but had to find the time first to educate myself. Picked up Wilt BGS 6.5 and DrJ psa8 rookies at 2019 prices but that was it.

Almost bought a nice, raw Oscar rookie right before Covid hit and then you know what happened next. Been kicking myself for a while now.

One of the reasons I didn't was that so many of vintage nba is all raw condition at shows and I don't have the eye to tell what's what. And just buying slabs on eBay sounded like less fun and a lot more time consuming. Sigh.

Obvs I should have just pulled trigger on Oscar, Russell, Lew, West and Elgin. And Pete. Sigh.

[discodanman45]

Originally Posted by gomiamigo

I told myself for a few years to get into vintage basketball but had to find the time first to educate myself. Picked up Wilt BGS 6.5 and DrJ psa8 rookies at 2019 prices but that was it.

Almost bought a nice, raw Oscar rookie right before Covid hit and then you know what happened next. Been kicking myself for a while now.

One of the reasons I didn't was that so many of vintage nba is all raw condition at shows and I don't have the eye to tell what's what. And just buying slabs on eBay sounded like less fun and a lot more time consuming. Sigh.

Obvs I should have just pulled trigger on Oscar, Russell, Lew, West and Elgin. And Pete. Sigh.

Buying raw for basketball is actually less of a risk unless you are talking about Wilt, Oscar, Russell, and other cards that are heavily counterfeited. Older basketball is not graded a lot and the slabs have a premium because of the extremely low populations. For example HOF George McGinnis 1972 rookies have a population of 289 graded on PSA, 20 SGC, and 26 on BGS. These cards bring premiums because no one grades them. Below is a card I sent in at $25 to grade and was well worth sending in.



The lesser HOF players from the 1969 to 1981 are still great values IMO. The top players are crazy expensive, but the second tier HOF players are fun to get raw and grade. I have a perfectly centered 1977 Robert Parish, 1978 Bernard King, and a 1973 Bob McAdoo at SGC right now. Not worth much, but great additions to my HOF RC collection.

[pachyderm]

Originally Posted by Scottish Punk

Cool cards, vintage HOF still beats a lot of the new shiny stuff. Don't have to worry about 40 parallels across 30 products to figure out RC and 2nd year cards.

Delete

[corndog]

Originally Posted by gmoney328

There's just something oddly comforting in a vintage card collection. It's hard to explain.

This explains it well for me too.

And what the OP said in post #1 about reading about the players that you have never heard of. That's what collectors do!