A born again collector who is now a consignment director for a major auction house talks about what’s happened in collecting over the last 30 years.
Few hobbies have advanced and grown as much as sports collecting. From a quiet little niche into a big business for some, cards and memorabilia have changed a lot.
For Mike Gutierrez, some of the changes have been for the good. Others, maybe not. He’s a consignment director for Heritage Auctions in Dallas, and has spent many years working in the hobby.
30 years ago, there was only one major card company. Mickey Mantle was alive and well and just getting started on his post-career life as an autograph guest. There were plenty of old time collectors around who didn’t care about the grade of a card and bought stuff because they liked it–not because it might be more valuable in ten years.
There’s a lot to learn if you’re just getting your feet wet in the hobby and Gutierrez chatted about all of it in this interview with CollectorsWeekly.com.
