| I am one to agree, that the amount of stuff has increased and supply of
anything, good quality or not, should level off prices. But, I still
feel the real collector will stay with the big "5" card companies, and
their sets, and the rest of this stuff is just "nice" filler, to round
out everyones collection. The last show I went to, there was so much
new stuff out there, I couldn't recognize all the new companies and
variations from the different companies. Seems like every big company
has 15 variations, like Rookies, Allstars, Teamsets, Future stars,
Kmart Stars, etc. Its getting absolutely crazy. I can't keep up with
it! I guess you can call it grabbing market share. The other thing I
noticed was the HOFer stuff being produced, like plates, statues,
placques, dual pictures autograghed, etc. Its getting real
commericalized, and automated to the point where the stuff can be
bought very easily as long as you have money, you can buy it, the
supply is there. I wonder what it will do to the whole market, because
there is so much of this stuff floating around. Five to ten years ago,
the stuff was hard to find, but not anymore. Look in SCD, there ads in
there for baseballs, and bats autograghed, and game used bats for sale.
The players are really cashing in on this one BIG TIME!! The the
hobbiests are the ones who are going to take it in the chin. Someday,
the value won't be there, there won't be the appreciation, and the
hobby will DIE! I still say the MONEY is whats driving this hobby, and
the market is getting saturated quickly. Lets face it, you can't buy
everything that hits the market, so you have to pick and choose your
investments very carefully, or you will loose at the end of it all.
"This reply was written with the investment side of the hobby in
mind", and not to imply that the pure hobbist in any way would be
effected by the present glut of sports collectibles on the market."
|
| I also like the K-mart set and buy it every year. For about $2 you get
the same stars, but with a better gloss picture, and you usually get
33 star players, that would cost you $15 seperately from the regular
issue set, and the card isn't as nice. I also have seen these sets
broken up, and the dealers are selling them to people collecting one
particular star. Last few years, they called it the Dream Team, and
their selection was real good. I don't know why they don't come out
with a Rookie set and sell that for $2. Same stars as the regular set,
for a lot less money, and paper stock on the Kmart cards are better
than the Topps regular issue. I feel its a good buy for the money.
|