Griffey UD rookie prices

[Brad]

I’ve had a BGS 8 of his 1989 rookie for years. I found it in a box recently and thought I might upgrade it to a Mint graded one. Last month they were averaging $80-85 with some selling as low as $70. All of a sudden you can’t touch one for less than $100. Did I miss something to cause this spike for a BGS 9?

 

[sjm76]

I've seen the same thing recently with Troy Aikman's graded 1989 Score cards. Can't really explain it other than the fact that Griffey has always been very popular and graded vintage cards tend to experience price spikes at a given time.

 

[smapdi]

There seems to be a lot of new money flowing into the hobby. It could be a combination of stimulus checks, tax returns, and Gary V follower types who have money and need someone to tell them how to spend it. And from the Magic section more rumblings about crypto money being offloaded into collectibles. The bitcoin/ether prices are up about 50% in the last month, and supposedly they will move profits into commodities that are fairly liquid, high-dollar for their size (easy to carry $100K+ in your pocket when it is in the form of a couple PSA slabs), and basically untraceable. Possibly some boat-raising from the big spike in just about all nice cards from Jordan and Jeter. The hobby has always had a herd mentality so that when one thing pops off, it will get another boost as the herd buys in, and other similar things will also pop off.

 

[mrmopar]

Different situation, but somewhat similar. I decided years ago that although I don't collect graded cards, it would be neat to get a run of Garvey Topps cards in PSA8 or better condition. I expected that I could get 9s or 10s in the later years and starting in the early 80s, shift to 8s. Keep in mind, I have many multiples of all of his cards, many in really nice raw shape. I would not send in my own, so I was not looking to pay a lot (outside of the 71 rookie or 72 semi-high number). I secured the 72T PSA 8 (several copies, in fact) and most of the newer ones in 8s or 9s, but stopped trying for the late 80s copies after it became apparent that I was going to have a real problem scoring the 71 for "my price". I figured if I couldn't get the 71T, why spend even $5 on a 1987 Topps graded card.

At the time I started this quest, I was coming very close, but losing every single time on the 71T. The end prices were consistently in the $60-75 range. I wanted one for $50 delivered. My patience and shopping around almost always pays off in the end in cases like this, but not this time. Not one Garvey 71T PSA8 ever sold for less than $60 that I saw. I slowly crept up my price I was willing to pay, but each time I did, I still lost.

I have continued to watch them over the years and they regularly top $100 now, sometimes $200 and I have even seen a few cases recently where someone dropped nearly $300 for one or two. Now I see the 72s slowing rising as well. It was almost a given to be able to buy a 72T PSA8 for $40 or often much less. Now I sometimes see those breaking $100! I don't get it, but I obviously missed my opportunity. Still not willing to pay more than $60 delivered for a 71 PSA8 and I can live with the fact that I am terribly out priced now.

 

[michaelstepper]

all 9's and 10's for whatever reason have jumped. look at trout, Griffey and a slew of other superstars. I bought a sgc 9 griffey two months ago for $75.

 

[Brad]

Thanks for the insight. I would assume the market would slowly rise over time, so I may just hope for a dip in a couple of months