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Friday, 17 October 2008 |
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Warren Buffett is still bullish on America. We're still bullish on sports collecting.
He's sticking with stocks--buying more in fact--despite the recent turn of events on Wall Street. A lot of collectors have the same idea.
While there has been a run on people taking their collections of virtually anything to the local dealer for quick cash, the truly high grade, vintage cards and collectibles isn't crashing. Demand still outweighs supply and the more collectibles make news, the more buyers we'll see enter the marketplace. Guernsey's sale of vintage Yankees memorabilia along with the last Yankee Stadium home run ball is generating a buzz this weekend. Same goes for the ongoing Shea Stadium sale, although that's about to run its course.
The section of the hobby that is getting hit hardest is the mid level material. When the news is bad, people tend to be a little more cautious, whether they're getting hammered by stock prices or not. Wealthy guys will always have money. It's the middle class that tends not to venture to eBay or the local card show during times like this. If you need cash, testing the market is probably a good idea. Do a search on eBay to see if someone else has sold what you're selling (or a similar item) and you'll have a better idea of what to expect.
We all have our favorite sellers. One of mine is The Topps Vault. The company still has vintage sports cards in binders, put away during the year of issue as "file copies". Over the last few years, they've been selling them---along with other one-of-a-kind pieces. Even if you're not bidding, it's fun to see what they pull out.
There are signed contracts from players who agreed to appear on cards, original cartoon drawings from the card backs, negatives from the pictures used on cards and a lot more. Much of it is purchased for very reasonable prices, considering that there are no other copies in existence. We'd like to welcome The Topps Vault as an advertiser here on Sports Collectors Daily and encourage you to check in on their auctions a couple of times a week.
Apparently online autograph dealers can no longer sell items from Schwartz Sports and Mounted Memories after this month. Both companies are subsidiaries of Dreams, Inc., which is opening brick-and-mortar stores under its FansEdge brand. The stores will have internet kiosks, allowing fans to buy online what they don't see in the store. They also operate the autograph powerhouse ProSportsMemorabilia.com. Distributing autographs to other dealers' websites puts Dreams/FansEdge in competition with itself.
If the Red Sox come back to beat the Rays, I wonder what the baseball that wound up in the stands and started the 9th inning rally will be worth. Kevin Youkilis hit a grounder that Evan Longoria threw front of Rays' 1st baseman Carlos Pena. The ball then bounced into the stands, allowing Youkilis to get into scoring position where J.D. Drew drove him home, completing the miraculous comeback from a 7-0 deficit. TV camera shots showed the guy in the box seats with the ball. No one is hoping for a comeback more than that guy. |
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