Observations on the current state of the hobby from a show this weekend

[vintg]

[vintg]

above is my "haul" from the sports spectacular

(the prices are NOT what i paid, but what i'm selling them for,
i set up at shows 2-4 times a year)

i guess my point is , if you look hard enough, you can find high eye
appeal cards in the lower grades.

the hobby is alive and well.

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by vintg

above is my "haul" from the sports spectacular

(the prices are NOT what i paid, but what i'm selling them for,
i set up at shows 2-4 times a year)

i guess my point is , if you look hard enough, you can find high eye
appeal cards in the lower grades.

the hobby is alive and well.

The monkey says it's dead.

[NYBBFAN]

Originally Posted by vintg

above is my "haul" from the sports spectacular

(the prices are NOT what i paid, but what i'm selling them for,
i set up at shows 2-4 times a year)

i guess my point is , if you look hard enough, you can find high eye
appeal cards in the lower grades.

the hobby is alive and well.

You found some of the cleanest 1s in existence! Very nice haul.

[vintg]

Originally Posted by NYBBFAN

You found some of the cleanest 1s in existence! Very nice haul.

thanks alot, i appreciate it. i work hard at it, but, it's alot of fun.

all 3 have clean backs.

the mantle has the letter B written and erased in the upper right corner,
it blends right in, you can't hardly see it.

the koufax has spider wrinkling in the upper left quadrant, not creased though.

AND, the williams has a tiny pinhole right above his head, and a partial pinhole
(does not go all the way through) on his right sleeve.

thankfully, or not, the tpg's "decided" pinholes are a max 1 or 1.5.

seriously, why not up to a 3, if the card otherwise would be a 6 ??

i'm glad though, b/c i can buy the card for way cheaper.

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by solt0131

The monkey says it's dead.

The monkey is never wrong. I'm going to be right even if I have to suspend my buying and crash the market on my own.

[vintg]

sorry, wrong thread

[ohflrsu]

Anyone here going to the show next weekend in Burlington, NC or been to previous shows? My 13-year old has gotten into collecting and I was thinking about taking him to check it out.

[towerymt]

Originally Posted by vintg

picked up '54 bowman ted williams...

Very nice! Were you able to get it down under $1500? I picked up a sharp 1.5 '54 williams earlier this year for about 1200 with a small surface defect, but otherwise looks sharp like yours and with no creases.

Pinholes (+ staple holes) are my favorite defect.

[vintg]

went to the monthly show in lake station, IN today

parking lot 90% full when i pulled in, pretty good foot traffic

nice show

1 main vintage guy, and 3/4 other with a handful, so kinda light in that
regard

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

The monkey is never wrong. I'm going to be right even if I have to suspend my buying and crash the market on my own.

If the market is dead, then why are all of these shows:

-Sold out with dealers?
-Packed with customers who are actually spending money?
-Growing in popularity and number?

[PuddleMonkey]

Originally Posted by solt0131

If the market is dead, then why are all of these shows:

-Sold out with dealers?
-Packed with customers who are actually spending money?
-Growing in popularity and number?

The bots are lying to you.

[Cracktoast]

Originally Posted by solt0131

If the market is dead, then why are all of these shows:

-Sold out with dealers?
-Packed with customers who are actually spending money?
-Growing in popularity and number?

Just because you see people spending money doesn't mean much.

How many different people are there ?

How much money are the spending per transaction is it low dollar or high dollar cards ?

At larger shows it may seem like more people are buying than there really are compared to the actual number of people attending the show.

Just because dealers say they had a good show doesn't mean much as hardly anybody will admit they had a bad one. Gotta keep the motivation high.

[anusinha]

The football, basketball, and soccer markets seem to have more or less completely died. Hockey is stable, baseball products with Skenes are decent, and Pokemon/MTG are completely on fire. That's my basic view of the current market from a modern singles perspective. Wax of course, is grossly overpriced.

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

The bots are lying to you.

You are totally clueless.

[premium1981]

Anyone who thinks the market is dead is out of touch with reality. The market is absolutely different/morphed into a new beast, but its as strong, if not stronger than ever before. You may not like what is going on, but there is more money changing hands and more people in the hobby than ever before. I don't know what else you can judge its strength on. Money and people are an accurate judge IMO.

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by premium1981

Anyone who thinks the market is dead is out of touch with reality. The market is absolutely different/morphed into a new beast, but its as strong, if not stronger than ever before. You may not like what is going on, but there is more money changing hands and more people in the hobby than ever before. I don't know what else you can judge its strength on. Money and people are an accurate judge IMO.

They are out of touch with reality because the ones with those opinions never go to shows and never actually know what is going on out there. They buy their cards online, do breaks online and form their opinions based on everything they read and see online. The next show they go to will be the first.

[premium1981]

Originally Posted by solt0131

They are out of touch with reality because the ones with those opinions never go to shows and never actually know what is going on out there. They buy their cards online, do breaks online and form their opinions based on everything they read and see online. The next show they go to will be the first.

Agreed, and also a bit of reality blindness. Some people believe what they want to believe and facts do not matter. Even if they went to a show they would make claims that people aren't buying, or the wrong people are buying, or its only high end that is selling, or only low end that is selling, or this is not common, yada yada yada. Some people just want to live in their own made up reality instead of actual reality.

[KhalDrogo]

Prices are all over the place for what I collect.

MJ - all-time highs
90s sets - all-time highs
Pikachu - all-time highs
GoT - maybe not all-time highs, but close
Griffey - really strong
Ohtani - all-time highs
Soto - way down from the peak, basically treading water
Messi - older interesting stuff doing incredibly well
Mbappe/Haaland - continuing to get crushed, especially anything new
Brady - still falling hard
Mahomes - good run the last year, losing steam

[discodanman45]

Vintage baseball is really strong. Vintage everything else is very weak. No one will ever care for vintage basketball or football and I am happy for that as a collector.

[solt0131]

Originally Posted by premium1981

Agreed, and also a bit of reality blindness. Some people believe what they want to believe and facts do not matter. Even if they went to a show they would make claims that people aren't buying, or the wrong people are buying, or its only high end that is selling, or only low end that is selling, or this is not common, yada yada yada. Some people just want to live in their own made up reality instead of actual reality.

One thing I've learned at shows:

People spending thousands of dollars do not want anyone to know or see them spending thousands of dollars.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by solt0131

One thing I've learned at shows:

People spending thousands of dollars do not want anyone to know or see them spending thousands of dollars.

Until the vlog drops on youtube.

[StateEx]

Originally Posted by KhalDrogo

Prices are all over the place for what I collect.

MJ - all-time highs
90s sets - all-time highs
Pikachu - all-time highs
GoT - maybe not all-time highs, but close
Griffey - really strong
Ohtani - all-time highs
Soto - way down from the peak, basically treading water
Messi - older interesting stuff doing incredibly well
Mbappe/Haaland - continuing to get crushed, especially anything new
Brady - still falling hard
Mahomes - good run the last year, losing steam

I've seen the same on players I collect. It could be a good sign, but I'm concerned that the valuations are getting wildly distorted and aren't sustainable/rational (see, e.g., 2022 Panini brand Witt prices). And I say this as someone who pretty much collects to collect.

[KhalDrogo]

Originally Posted by StateEx

I've seen the same on players I collect. It could be a good sign, but I'm concerned that the valuations are getting wildly distorted and aren't sustainable/rational (see, e.g., 2022 Panini brand Witt prices). And I say this as someone who pretty much collects to collect.

I’m selling nearly every last MJ, Kobe, Luka, and football card come January 2025. Time to take advantage of the run up and move on.

[imbluestreak23]

The show in Lex Ky this weekend was a turd, at least for what I look for. Decent foot traffic tho