No idea how or exzactly when it happened. It musta been whilest I was cathing some Z's. Mostly it evolved I guess. I am putting together my inventory of personal items - collectibles - not nose trimmers and "pads"...... and I noticed that 90% of all my 800+ tobacco cards
are
ghast
hold
onto
yo
pantaloons
.
.
.
GRADED
!
who wudda thunk it. Certainly not me. As a collector and by choice or default concurrently a seller - dealing mostly in cyberspace with all it's (+)'s and (-)'s - it just became more convenient to traffic in graded cards. Lotta $ lost as like with buyer's "penalties" and shipping/insurance costs - that money spent adds cost - not value - to the cards themselves. On the other hand they are secure to the degree I trust the grading companies (bit of a leap-o-faith) and can be bought, sold, traded like any commodity. Holders make the cards present better (I collect tobacco as art) and keep the cards away from most environmental problems. I understand those that say it distances one from their cards. More than one person has admitted to sniffing their cards (I do it sometimes when I buy it - but after owning it - that should only be done in the privacy of one's home). It's a big hobby - lotsa room for all - I was just a bit surprised at myself and I guess my current condition.......
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(neat how for now one can still see eBay wins ) but all the important 19th century sets I'm chasing are all graded now (N2,N28,N29,N43,N162 (slow chase as I sold my near set long ago and these babies are not cheap), and N184. The cards for my Sunny South and sepia Indians are generally in softer conditions - no need to holder - I use screwdowns. My set of generals booklets (only Peter L. would holder these!) - Ginter world smokers (nice x/mt complete set that looks fine in a binder & actually bought from MIA Mike T.) - and many smaller unusual types don't seem to warrent the expenditure. I actually considered holdering my Trump playing card set a week or two back. I could look/handle the cards more easily in a holder - and after a quick glance many looked to be in the ex/mt to nm range - which in today's market might yield a very good return overall when graded. 265$ + ship/insure to do so is a bit much as for now they're in my "accumulation". As for my foray into the T206's - I just like the variety of colors and poses - there's plenty of history in the players AND the collectors - there's the thrill of the hunt - and the rest what comes with collecting something that interests you - although I could give a crap about baseball except for the stories and the quotes!! From the sister side - "there ain't much to being a ballplayer; when you are a ballplayer" - Honus Wagner - one of my favorites. Anyway I'm concentrating on the commons first while keeping an eye out for SL players and treating myself to a HOF player once in a while just to keep me going ..... It's a rather expensive undertaking - and probably won't yield a favorable return when I'm done as I'm buying at around current market prices instead of 25% below and in bulk. Right now it's all about the hobby for me as collector - I've done well on most of what I've bought and sold along the way - and the near T206 set will be kinda like a reward - and kinda my representative "showpiece" of 20th century tobacco cards - like some of my 19th century sets are.
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I think you said it best when you said slabbing "adds cost, but not value". Of course, when you resell it, some of the graded cards will actually recoup their cost (and then some) because they were slabbed. But if you collect for yourself and not to resell them, then slabbing turns into an unhelpful and expensive across the board tax. It's kinda like people who love to see their property values increase. It's great if you plan on reselling your home anytime soon, but if you just want to live there, increased property values mean increased property TAXES, and the cost of maintaining your homestead (or hobby) can become cost prohibitive.
Funny thing is, the reverse never seems to happen. Our property values in Florida jumped in the last decade and so did our property taxes, but now that the values have fallen, the taxes seem to have remained pretty much the same. Weird, huh? (Yet not suprising.)
Oh well, it is what it is. I think there are many instances when slabbing makes sense, but most people are doing it about a thousand times more than needed. It could be worse, though. At least they aren't punching holes in them to make jewelry out of them or exporting the cards all to another country.
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Hello again Mark (my long-lost,email reply delayed to UK friend)and hello Kurt ( my not so long lost R36 broker)
Pleasure meeting you both here at this point, on this post.
Timing is everything. (at least that's what a business man told me after I lost the sale) (the sale left with the other salesman who passed me on the way in!)
But I digress:
If I may be so bold as to speak for Kurt..
Mark, I believe you miss the subtle yet cynical jab Kurt made. It seems(as an American)that with NAFTA and everything since.
We "yanks" have become accustomed to seeing everything "red,white & blue" being sent and or shipped overseas along with the jobs that produced said things. Yet we are all so busy scrambling to take care of ourselves,our families,our loved ones and friends. We simply don't have time to picket or "throw the bums out" of office. So the inference here would be: "well, at least they are not sending our hobby/cards overseas"
I do not believe there is anything wrong with you collecting USA issues and you probably don't care if people in the USA collect UK issues.
Kurt was just trying to look at " the glass half full" while making a deeper point. One which was not lost on me.
Kurt?
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Hi Charley , Many thanks for the quick insight into what it feels like to be American and how the NAFTA has affected the ordinary citizen on the street .
If this is what Kurt was getting at i fully understand , and to be honest with you , i thought that if Kurt had meant it (the way i read it) that it would be a strange statement for him to make , as he's usually very informative/open minded concerning the cards .
Charley , hope all is going well and the Cinema Stars are lighting up your Silver Screen .
Have a Great Holiday Season .
Mark .
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I will save my rant about the effects of the falling dollar on my auction losses for another time. I will also save my expressions of joy over some of the great foreign issues I have snagged at bargain prices.
All that restraint is because this one is in response to Kurt's observation about real estate taxes: My last tax bill recognized that housing prices have taken a tumble and they lowered my house assessment considerably. Then they raised the value of the land to compensate! The effect was close to a wash.
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That's very funny Alan (in a sad kind of way). Leave it to the taxmen to figure a way to lower the value of your house and yet, raise the value of your land at the same time! Anything to keep that money from staying in our pockets too long.
And yes, regarding the overseas stuff, I have no problem with overseas people buying US cards. I love to collect foreign issues (and also love the fact they tend to be cheaper) but at the same time, I recognize that if EVERYONE did it, the prices would rise to a level where I would join the chorus of people complaining about it. Anytime you have factors that reduces the supply of something or increases the demand, it inflates the price. Slabbing does a little of both. If it gets a decent grade, it increases the demand on the card because more people know the seller isn't exaggerating (which increases the price the card sells for in auctions), plus the cost of slabbing is also added to the cost of the card. Then for cheapskates like me, it reduces the number of cheaper unslabbed cards, driving those prices up as well.
Of course, prices tend to go up over time anyway. We all get nostalgic about when cards were affordable, but that time we're thinking of usually means when ever it was we started to collect! What I consider cheap is very different from what someone who collected them when they were just 1 or 5 cents a pack!
I don't see any problem with overseas buyers of vintage cards today. It is not a major factor that I know of. And even if they become more expensive because of it, we Americans have no more "right" to the cards just because they happened to be made here. (We may feel otherwise, but it's only an emotional response, it has no rational basis). And the truth is, the same applies to slabbing. We can complain about it, and I love doing so, but it won't change the reality that it is happening and it is going to keep on happening with or without my permission.
For some odd reason, people seem to do what THEY want to do instead of what I think they should do. The nerve!
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you that I'm doing my best to pull back some of the american cards from across the pond too! I routinely buy stuff from Murraycards and from other UK-based tobacco card sellers. I have GREAT results from buying from them. Great sellers offering nice cards that fill many holes in my swiss-cheese like collection.
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in graded cards. Lotta $ lost as like with buyer's "penalties" and shipping/insurance costs - that money spent adds cost - not value - to the cards themselves. On the other hand they are secure to the degree I trust the grading companies (bit of a leap-o-faith) and can be bought, sold, traded like any commodity. Holders make the cards present better (I collect tobacco as art) and keep the cards away from most environmental problems. I understand those that say it distances one from their cards. More than one person has admitted to sniffing their cards (I do it sometimes when I buy it - but after owning it - that should only be done in the privacy of one's home). It's a big hobby - lotsa room for all - I was just a bit surprised at myself and I guess my current condition.......
