I thought that the Base Chrome Market was dead...

[ballerskrip]

There has been quite a few members of the board that have been proclaiming that Base Chromes were DEAD.

Is anyone's mind changing?

With Starlin Castro reaching over $10 per chrome, and Jason Heyward doing the same, the base chrome market seems to be rebounding quite nicely.

Has your perception changed? Or are they still a bad investment in your eyes?

Skrip

 

[Lally1]

I would stay away.. but thats just me.

 

[AmishDave]

I believe there's no such thing as too much base Bowman Chrome. I may be a bit biased though ...

 

[bballcardkid]

Autos are obvously far safer. You have to think, this is only 2 guys in the past 3 years of Bowman products whose base chrome cards have blown up. They just aren't what they use to be.

 

[gt2590]

I voted yes.

IF a guy blows up, they give potential buyers a cheaper option. IMO, that still makes them a good oppurtunity, especially 'cuz you have hardly any investing in a particular player in the first place.

Neftali Feliz is a good example of this kind of potential well-priced "base" Chrome card.

 

[archiebunkerjr]

Meh. Those Heywards won't stay $10 for long when the #1 prospect hype goes away. And Castro's base prices will fall as soon as his autographed cards are produced.

And that's too bad. I wish the gold base parallels would get more hobby love.

 

[RandomH]

I remember when lots of 5 of like 06 Chris Davis chromes were going for like 35-40$.

that's cash man. Base chromes are cash.

 

[Topnotchsy]

Certainly far from dead. The ROI's can be tremendous. I've sold some lots of Desmond Jennings RC's recently and can say that in my experience they are often the easiest way to make a solid ROI, even without a huge blowup ala Heyward or Bruce. What people have to remember is that when the players blow up (like Howard, Papelbon, Buchholz and others) the return is not 100% or 200%, it's 1000% or 2000% percent.

 

[PeteD]

Dead and buried imho.

 

[17ROCKIES12]

Individually or in small amounts the cost of shipping makes it riskier. When it comes to large lots it's definitely possible.

 

[Topnotchsy]

Anyone care to expound on why they feel it is dead? Seems hard to understand while others are making huge margins on them.

 

[bballcardkid]

Anyone care to expound on why they feel it is dead? Seems hard to understand while others are making huge margins on them.

Because the auto killed it. It's inevitable that a Chrome auto will come out eventually, and given now that collectors care not to differentiate whethere the auto is a 1st or 2nd year, people will wait to get the auto and put the base aside. If you look at all of the guys you listed, all of them except Heyward made gains before the market shifted in early 2008. It would have to take a super prospect like Heyward or Strasburg this year, or a typical top prosect with no Chrome autos currently out like Tommy Hanson (when he tore up the AFL), or Starlin Castro, Desmond Jennings, etc. Now a days, there are only a handful of top prospects who have cards that lack a Chrome auto, which means there aren't many cases like those of Castro and Jennings because everyone is going with the Chrome auto.

 

[011873]

How can anyone think the base market is dead? ::facepalm::

The BC base market has been fine since the very first BC prospect card was issued.

Even WBC BC Chapmans sell very well with a 4 ct lot getting nearly $8 per card.

Add in Hanson, Heyward, Starlin, the big boys from 2007 draft class, Chris Davis, Cueto, Volquez, Snider, etc etc for even more proof.

Hold your ears folks......here it comes......and when MONTERO does his thing in the Bronx, his NON AUTO BCDP will near $10 per.

 

[aaron41984]

Base Chrome's are tougher to get the return that you see on parallels and auto's initially but can be a very good investment if you pick the one guy from the set that gets the right amount of attention. Obviously, when a guy like Heyward's autos jump through the roof, the base will go up as a cheaper alternative. If you bought 100 base Heyward's (and only Heyward) for $1 each and flip them for $1000+, that is huge. On the other side, if you bought 100 each of Heyward, LaPorta, Moustakas, Price, Bumgarner, Dominguez, etc., and only Heyward reaches those prices, you still come out pretty even.

 

[brouthercard]

Base chromes always give you the best ROI- they are the absolute cheapest and go up a larger percentage than the autos.

 

[jbhofmann]

If collectors would quit crying out for 2nd and 3rd year Chrome Autos this wouldn't even be a topic. "My guy" never has had a Chrome auto so base chromes are definately ok with me. Heck I even advertise in my sig that I'm always looking for more. Probably just jinxed myself and Cueto will get a 4th year auto in Bowman Chrome 2010.

 

[trevordchi]

Base chromes always give you the best ROI- they are the absolute cheapest and go up a larger percentage than the autos.

+1

When you can get a 20 ct lot for 4-6 bucks and then eventually turn them around for $5-10 each it's a great investment. You can miss a lot more often and be profitable than with $10-20 autos.

 

[colts1888]

honeslty depends on the player you look on ebay you are gonna pay 10-15 per utley,mauer and a few others. Overall though theres better cards to collect of each player so like others said i would stay away as well

 

[All The Hype]

Obviously there is a huge market for them so I'm not sure I see how anyone can possibly say the base chrome market doesn't exist or is dead.

Heywards could have been had for $3-$5 per chrome last year, and now they're getting about $10 per. How is that a "non-market"?

My best investment from a ROI standpoint has been Gerardo Parra. I never had a single parallel better than a base refractor, but I made over 300% of what I invested because when he got hot, his chromes took a huge jump from about $0.60 per to $2-$3 per.

Some players have chromes that sell for $1-$5, which tells me that there is without question a market for them.

When single chromes of some guys reach $10+, I don't see how it's even a debate.

 

[bballcardkid]

Bottom line is, the number of guys who have a market for their base chromes is considerably smaller than guys who have a market for their autographs. Base may not be dead, but it is nothing like what it used to be.