Everyone knows things are bad. One of the bellweather (sp?) 19th century sets is N162 - thought by many to be the most beautiful of the "N" sport related sets. In my weekly review of feebay - I thought the SOLD prices on some N162 commons to be quite significant - albeit a small sampling - but clearly representative of other middle grade cards in today's marketplace. I had always thought that the low and middle grade cards would not suffer too much in such an economic downturn. Well, 4/5 sgc 50's brought about 45.00 each - a price lower than I was paying 10 years ago when the NS hobby was still in it's infancy. Another "blue chip" set - N28 Ginter - the billiard players in Vgx/X are in the same price range - what I paid without the extra value of the holders - in 1996. Cards from tough series are still strong compared with the 90's but declining. My thoughts are that the 50$ card of the mid 1990's became the 175.00 card of the last few years - and is now in the 100. to 125.00 range. Perhaps a neccesary market adjustment that would have occured independent of the downturn?
I have pared down portions of my many accumulations (can't afford to chase it all) - lucky to get decent prices for some things when the market was better. I'm still working on 7/8 sets and still chasing Allen and Ginter "stuff" as well as other interesting tobacciana - although the idea of "ownership" has become less important lately for other than core things (whatever that is as I collect too many categories). As I am not a dealer - I am happy that prices are coming down a bit. I like my stuff. I "use" my stuff and so financial appreciation is not that much of a concern for me. Making money is a nice benefit - as it allows me to buy more stuff than I could without selling. If I don't sell along the way - I'd just have to buy less - my wife would be happier and I'd have more room . I've said before I only hope to live long enough that my stuff is worth what I've paid for it.
One problem however with declining prices is that it discourages sales. Collectors don't like to sell things for less than they paid. Experienced dealers can buy and sell in any marketplace but the more casual sellers are more fragile. It's the $$ that encourages sellers to find stuff for buyers. EBay has been THE place marketplace. Fewer buyers - fewer sellers - fewer listings - less to see and buy - less interest in collecting - are we in trouble as collectors?

What you write makes sense, but I haven't seen any decline in sellers. In fact, there have been lots of cards for sale in the last six months that haven't been for sale in years. Examples: American Historical Characters singles (in really good raw shape), a complete set of SGC First Column Defenders being sold individually, some Cops & Robbers singles, some Tootsie Circus lots, SGC (low-grade) Don't Let It Happen Over Here set being sold individually, SGC True Spy Stories set being sold individually, lots of high number Uncle Sams, Civil War News PSA 10s, Battle PSA 9s, etc.. Additionally, the number of Indian Gum and Sky Birds cards for salein the last few months has been amazing.

If you add in what has been available at the Auction Houses, I don't see how you can say the economy is deterring people from selling their cards. If anything, I'd say the opposite is true. But it is certainly a buyers market at the moment and prices are way down from where they were a year ago.

I don't collect N cards though, so if the number of these that are available has declined, I wouldn't know.

Alan

mainstream.......there's a huge amount of nonsports in the current Legendary auctions and more sellers like Bob McCann (from another thread) and others like HUX777 have begun selling vintage nonsports. I think some of the old-time collectors have seen the inflated prices and decided to bring stuff out of the woodwork. I think it more or less parallels the baseball market and stock market in general. Losses in value of 20-40% on some items, but in both baseball and in nonsports the really cherry stuff--condition-wise or scarcity-wise still commands good dollar. It will be interesting to see where the stuff goes in the future. In some cases, investments in sports and nonsports cards and memorabilia have stood the economic climate much better than other similar investment vehicles. While I don't exactly 'invest' in the stuff, you can't help but be concerned by the $$ you pay and what they're subsequently 'worth' on the market.

I think Henry is right. I have made very few recent purchases - nothing is being sold that I am particularly interested in. When they do appear I'm buying cheaper - hence sellers are holding back.

Seems to me plenty of material is still flowing onto the market and for the prime stuff, prices are still holding up. But to the extent there are some bargains to be had, for all of us who are primarily collectors (not investors), this has just got to be wonderful news!

I think low to mid grade card prices have fallen. However, high grade cards are still bringing record prices and difficult to locate. When they are located, numerous buyers are falling over themselves to acquire the best of the best. Hopefully the lower prices encourage new collectors and more sets are started, added to and completed.

Hi all,

For a high-grade PSA collector like me, this is a great time to buy. High-grade material is scarce, but it is always scarce for the stuff I specialize in (early-to-mid 1950's). I have been upgrading my sets card-by-card, which is quite enjoyable. Building a great set should be difficult, and take years of effort. For many of the cards in my sets, I can recall when I purchased it, from whom I purchased, and how it upgraded my set. Each card assumes the personality of an individual, which may make me weird.

Some material is being offered at outrageious prices, but you don't have to buy. Be patient and don't be afraid to make reasonable offers (I don't try to "low-ball", but I am not offering to pay the prices I might have paid 12 months ago). You will be surprised how many of your offers are accepted.

Our hobby has been affected adversely by the recession (depression?) but these economic conflagrations eventually end. Buy now while prices are still reasonable. Within five years, I believe that prices for the best material, as well as for a lot of desirable mid-grade material, will explode upewards. Demand (as well as supply) is temporarily suppressed now, but there is a pent-up demand which will be released in the future, both from existing collectors, and from collectors migrating from other hobbies.

As a friend of mind says, the best time to buy stocks is 10 years ago (not completely true for this past decade). That probably applies to choice non-sports cards, which in my opinion (with certain exceptions) do not suffer from the overvaluation problems of stocks in the late 1990's.

Best in collecting, Bill Bengen

I'm a collector who is very happy with low to mid grade PSA1 to 6's.

I haven't seen a price decrease in the cards I collect, more like an increase.

I know there are better cards out there but owning cards graded PSA1, 1.5, 2 with a Pop 1 0f 1 with none higher gives me a perverse sense of satisfaction - check out my 1941 USHD PSA Registry set for the lower end 1 of 1's.

Also love my 1 of 1's PSA7 BION cards