late 80's early 90's cards

[uniquebaseballcards]

and a card needed by collectors of that SET (remember those people?).

 

[MansGame]

I had no idea those were valuable. I have a few somewhere... Have to dig deep in the closet for them I guess


---
Looking for Albert Belle cards! PM me!

 

[BBCgalaxee]

From what I've read about the dumping of '52 topps......

The reason why the high # cards are so valuable is because it came out so late in the baseball season & candy stores didn't want to carry them due to lack of demand.

For about a decade, topps tried to liquidate the remaining inventory of the high # series without luck.

They tried everything, even offering them to carnivals for literally next to nothing. No takers.

So sometime in the 60s, the cards were dumped to make room, since no one wanted them.

 

[bobthewondercat77]

Enlighten us then, oh wise one.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Not trying to say that I am smart...

But thinking that incredibly overproduced 80s/90s baseball stuff is going to increase in value is crazy to me.

Sports card collecting was a hugely popular nationwide hobby for a few years. Almost every kid went through a phase where they collected cards. They believed their cards to be "worth something", and they enjoyed the idea of their cards becoming more valuable. Manufacturers cashed in by printing millions of cards.

Card collecting is now just a small niche hobby for a few thousand people around the world. (I think 50,000 devoted collectors is a liberal estimate.) For a card to be valuable now it generally has to be limited to less than 1000 copies, that should give you an idea of how small the collecting community is. It is either continuing to get smaller, or has bottomed out, depending what market statistics you look at.

Everybody that wants mainstream 1980s/90s cards already has them or can get them for pennies. Is there suddenly going to be an increased demand for 1987 Topps or 1991 Donruss? Will there be a coordinated worldwide effort to destroy tens of millions of junk wax era cards?

If you look at any other hobby that had a brief period as a Boom or Fad, the massively overproduced collector-oriented stuff from its Boom era is virtually worthless... just like 87-92 baseball cards.

 

[bobthewondercat77]

And don't get me wrong, I enjoy collecting junk era stuff.

But I let go of the illusion that it had, or would have "value" long, long ago.

 

[ronniedp23]

This is what I was looking for. I distrust blanket statements with zero reasoning evidenced behind them. Thank you.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[tramers]

years ago a local farmer used full 800 counts to insulate a wall in his house

 

[mmier118]

Not trying to say that I am smart...

But thinking that incredibly overproduced 80s/90s baseball stuff is going to increase in value is crazy to me.

Sports card collecting was a hugely popular nationwide hobby for a few years. Almost every kid went through a phase where they collected cards. They believed their cards to be "worth something", and they enjoyed the idea of their cards becoming more valuable. Manufacturers cashed in by printing millions of cards.

Card collecting is now just a small niche hobby for a few thousand people around the world. (I think 50,000 devoted collectors is a liberal estimate.) For a card to be valuable now it generally has to be limited to less than 1000 copies, that should give you an idea of how small the collecting community is. It is either continuing to get smaller, or has bottomed out, depending what market statistics you look at.

Everybody that wants mainstream 1980s/90s cards already has them or can get them for pennies. Is there suddenly going to be an increased demand for 1987 Topps or 1991 Donruss? Will there be a coordinated worldwide effort to destroy tens of millions of junk wax era cards?

If you look at any other hobby that had a brief period as a Boom or Fad, the massively overproduced collector-oriented stuff from its Boom era is virtually worthless... just like 87-92 baseball cards.

And don't get me wrong, I enjoy collecting junk era stuff.

But I let go of the illusion that it had, or would have "value" long, long ago.​

I just really enjoyed these two statements and wanted to second this opinion on the "junk era" stuff. Very fun to collect but I'm not holding my breath for any of it to have any value. Even stuff that i once thought was rare like 85 donruss, 87 fleer or 89 UD is pretty common. Even 84 donruss isn't that tough nowadays although I wouldn't say it is common but you can pick up a set of that for less then most boxes of current cards and I don't see it heading up any time soon.

 

[MartinFFcollector]

As someone mentioned before, it will take a generation or too. Many that collected during that era have huge stashes. For example my Dad. He wont ever sell because he'd rather die with them than sell for a loss. Thinks they will "come back".... Well he will pass on and I will get them. I have the internet and like most everyone in the world know how to use it. I will quickly see they sell for less than a meal at Taco Bell, want instant gratification and will dump them.

Recently seen a picture about Hurricane Katrina survivors and what they saved in a magazine. Ripped out the pic to scan and share (someday). Had a Husband and wife proudly showing 2 early 90's D sets. (lite blue box). Both had water damage and one had the top missing. The boasted how they were saved and they also saved them when their house burnt down. Said they were to pass them to their kids. Their kids will see thay are worth a few bucks, if that and unable to sell probally save them for sentimental reasons. They pass. Next in line, never heard about the significance or it means little to them and they get tossed.

So eventually I think they will be worth something but it will take more time than we have.

Few exceptions, in the years I collected 1989 Fleer, I noticed the availability of 89 F rack dry up from when I first started.

 

[Sportsfan78]

Oh...didn't realize that this era of cards was made from indestructible paper that cannot be burned, dissolved into pulp and recycled, cut up, dumped in the Atlantic and not be turned to mush, etc...

You do realize why Mantle's '52 is worth hundred of thousands and not just thousands, right?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Actually, the reason the 52 mantle card and others in that era are so valuable has nothing to do with cardboard or paper. Attention to collecting and long term investments were not considered or thought about that much back then. An extreme minority took the time to protect and put away their cards. The attention and popularity of collecting was based on the enthusiasm of the player or sport and not monetary investments. Today's cardboard cards from the 80's and 90's can be found in near mint or better condition everywhere. There are hundreds and thousands of them on ebay and online sports cards stores. An 89 upperdeck griffey will never reach a 52 mantle level. There are too many examples and numbers produced of these cards in great condition to warrant an increase in value to even remotely compare to vintage cards. So actually, by taking care of our cards and paying attention to long term investments, we have in a sense lowered the price and value of a lot of the cards from the 80's to today. WE have stored them , protected them and the monetary collectors have paid attention to what helped to the elimination and destruction of so many childhood vintage baseball cards from the early 1900's to the 1960's. There is a reason that Babe Ruth rookie cards and Mickey Mantle cards in good condition are so much more valuable than any of the players rookie cards or inserts today. Quantity and quality is there today where as the cards from the good old days simply can't match it. Which is a good thing for vintage era cards and not so good for today's. In short, in an effort to protect our long term investments in sportscards, we have created a surplus of great conditioned, high quantity cards of great players. So...you're comparison of the Mantle and todays cardboard cards counters your point.

 

[Brewer Andy]

I think there's a possibility that today's cards will be worth even less. I can't say I know a single person (offline) that collects sportscards. Yeah I see a few here and there at the shop but no one I know. In '87-'93ish every kid that had a bike in every town collected baseball cards. The possibility remains that people which had these junk cards may want to buy them again for nostalgia (especially at $5 a box) or collectors who like buying old items that represent a time in our past. But the lack of collectors today leaves a much smaller chance that anyone 30 years from now will feel nostalgic about 2013 Topps, especially with all the different releases decreasing any feeling of an "iconic" look to sets. The boom is over, much like action figures. Sure there's still a small demand for rare and well conditioned items, but the main ship has sailed and kids aren't playing with action figures or buying cards. Hoard your Xbox 360s now, my 11 year old son will probably pay thousands for one 30 years from now (if it can even be connected and it will probably just be digital copies but you get my point). Collect for fun, always

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Looking back at all eras of cards, the ones worth the most now and have greatest future potential value were considered completely worthless and without potential value in their era/at release.

Cards only started becoming worthless when people thought new cards were considered valuable, or potentially valuable, in their era/at release.

A number of factors, which most notably include the lack of future collectors and greed, can continue this trend, which probably will continue. Rarity won't be able to overcome all obstacles to make cards valuable.

 

[allstars]

I consider 1987 the start of the boom.

The "boom" was peaking in '87, raging at that point. You're off by about 5 years on the starting point kahuna.

 

[ronfromfresno]

The "boom" was peaking in '87, raging at that point. You're off by about 5 years on the starting point kahuna.

I feel like the boom "peaked" in the '89-'91 range, but as a starting point, you might be right. I remember the craze really kicking off for the '86 Donruss Canseco, so the interest must have existed before then.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I feel like the boom "peaked" in the '89-'91 range, but as a starting point, you might be right. I remember the craze really kicking off for the '86 Donruss Canseco, so the interest must have existed before then.

'84 Mattingly (his third year playing) moreso perhaps than even Canseco. I'd agree with '89 as a starting point, Billy Ripken and UD/Griffey helped - although Griffey didn't do much in '89.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

The "boom" was peaking in '87, raging at that point. You're off by about 5 years on the starting point kahuna.

Not in my book for sure.

All you have to do is compare vintage prices at the start & end of the decade.

Also, you'll never see hoards of early 80s, let alone 86, wax boxes at shows for any price.

But there's never ever a problem finding 1987 to 1991 boxes. Thats because the boom had started, the companies started to crazy mass produce because the demand had exploded.

News reports stated that cards were better than any investment and it was this period, the boom.

Vintage cards started to explode during this time, not just "go up"



Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[sportscardtheory]

Not trying to say that I am smart...

But thinking that incredibly overproduced 80s/90s baseball stuff is going to increase in value is crazy to me.

Sports card collecting was a hugely popular nationwide hobby for a few years. Almost every kid went through a phase where they collected cards. They believed their cards to be "worth something", and they enjoyed the idea of their cards becoming more valuable. Manufacturers cashed in by printing millions of cards.

Card collecting is now just a small niche hobby for a few thousand people around the world. (I think 50,000 devoted collectors is a liberal estimate.) For a card to be valuable now it generally has to be limited to less than 1000 copies, that should give you an idea of how small the collecting community is. It is either continuing to get smaller, or has bottomed out, depending what market statistics you look at.

Everybody that wants mainstream 1980s/90s cards already has them or can get them for pennies. Is there suddenly going to be an increased demand for 1987 Topps or 1991 Donruss? Will there be a coordinated worldwide effort to destroy tens of millions of junk wax era cards?

If you look at any other hobby that had a brief period as a Boom or Fad, the massively overproduced collector-oriented stuff from its Boom era is virtually worthless... just like 87-92 baseball cards.

It already is on the rise. It's not skyrocketing, but prices for junk wax are steadily increasing.

 

[predatorkj]

It already is on the rise. It's not skyrocketing, but prices for junk wax are steadily increasing.

Really? On what in particular? Also, I think there may be buyers out there looking for really hard to find errors or variations. So even if people are buying, the vast majority of these are probably still not being collected or kept.

I do still think prices could go up. Things tend to trend back to the past. A few years back, everything 80's was a big trend. Now 90's are popular and maybe in a few years the early 00's. I also think as long as sports are popular, cards will or have the possibility to be collected. So, when people find out they can get rookies or cards of some really great players for cheap, they may be apt to go after those as opposed to $100 autos #'d low. A majority of casual fans are just fine with owning a base topps rookie.

 

[bobthewondercat77]

Think of it this way. Pick a mass-produced card, let's say 1987 Topps Mark McGwire.

Conservative estimates of production on junk era issues is around 1mil sets. Probably much higher for peak issues like 87T.

Let's say half of all the copies ever produced were thrown out / destroyed (VERY liberal estimate). Leaves 500,000 copies.

A key rookie card produced at 1% that amount these days (5000 copies) is worth $10 at the most (ie Trout, Harper chromes etc)

Assuming equal demand for today's superstars and those of the 80's/90's, that would put the value of 87T McGwire at $0.10, which is about right.

Now, in terms of the future value of such a card:
Amount of collectors -- going down approx 25% decade over decade (look at NSCC attendance, ebay figures, message boards, card shows, card shops, card values)
Amount of 87T McGwires -- destroying 10,000 copies every year would be a 10% decrease decade over decade.
So -- the ratio of demand to supply is going down -- value will continue to go down. (or stay bottomed out for a 10c card like the McGwire bc selling it for less than that isn't worth the bother of a transaction)

There's a reason card companies serial number most issues now, and 1000 copies is considered an easy to get card. It's because there really are not that many collectors left, and the cards are going directly to the collectors. Think of how easy it is to obtain a card /100 or even /25 of your favorite player from a new issue. That's approx 0.01% of the print run of the 52T Mantle.

Demand is getting so low on these issues that even limiting copies of base cards to 80 each (Five Star baseball) results in values around 10 bucks, which is what 87T Bonds or Maddux was getting at the peak, despite a print run about 20,000 times higher.

Baseball cards are not going to make a nationwide comeback and be a boom phenomenon again. The market as it is now is relatively stable. Junk era stuff will stay roughly valueless for the foreseeable future.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Any kid who collected during this period is now grown.

If they want to relive their childhood cardboard wise, they can easily afford any card they craved back then.

I can't imagine anything from this period, except the truly rare errors, having any big real value.

Sent from my HTCONE using Freedom Card Board mobile app