Why are Crusades so hot?

[Russ S.]

Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

 

[predatorkj]

Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

Normally I'd agree with you but I think this entire board has been focusing on 90's stuff as a whole, quite a lot lately.Not just the Crusades either.The fact that we had a jazillion threads on it(the Crusades) certainly didn't help either.But hey...some people like the competition.

 

[jarcar]

[quote="Philip J. Fry"4rgmpxf](Alice In Chains FTW)

NICE!!!
I never knew you liked that. They are hands down my favorite band. I checked my Ipod top 25-played list and they have 21 of the spots

My quote that I had on Facebook for the longest time still stands (keep in mind this was when Fox was considering new voice actors for Futurama) read:

"Futurama without Billy West is like Alice In Chains without Layne Staley."

Nothing against William Duvall and the new album, but Layne's voice was, is, and always will be, the sound of AIC. Well, his voice and Jerry Cantrell on his mad guitar rifs.

I would so love to punch Duvalls head right off his shoulders. Talk about completely killing a legacy. So Im with you on that for sure.[/quote4rgmpxf]

Being that we are talking Alice in Chains, here is my cool story:

I live in Vancouver (2 hours north of Seattle) and in December 1994 (I think) some friends of mine and my wife went down to Seattle for a few days. We decided to go to a bar called the Rock Candy to watch whatever band was playing. We didn't know it before hand but the 3rd band that came out was called Mad Season, it was the first time they performed live. Mad Season was the drummer of the Screaming trees, the basist of Sound Garden (If I remember correctly), the guitarist of Pearl Jam (Mike McCready) and the Lead Singer of Alice in Chains (Layne Staley). Needless to say we pretty much crapped our pants. It was an absolutely amazing show one that I will never forget. And to think we just went there to listen to some bands play music.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

[quote="Philip J. Fry":314qb4um](Alice In Chains FTW)

NICE!!!
I never knew you liked that. They are hands down my favorite band. I checked my Ipod top 25-played list and they have 21 of the spots

My quote that I had on Facebook for the longest time still stands (keep in mind this was when Fox was considering new voice actors for Futurama) read:

"Futurama without Billy West is like Alice In Chains without Layne Staley."

Nothing against William Duvall and the new album, but Layne's voice was, is, and always will be, the sound of AIC. Well, his voice and Jerry Cantrell on his mad guitar rifs.

I would so love to punch Duvalls head right off his shoulders. Talk about completely killing a legacy. So Im with you on that for sure.

Being that we are talking Alice in Chains, here is my cool story:

I live in Vancouver (2 hours north of Seattle) and in December 1994 (I think) some friends of mine and my wife went down to Seattle for a few days. We decided to go to a bar called the Rock Candy to watch whatever band was playing. We didn't know it before hand but the 3rd band that came out was called Mad Season, it was the first time they performed live. Mad Season was the drummer of the Screaming trees, the basist of Sound Garden (If I remember correctly), the guitarist of Pearl Jam (Mike McCready) and the Lead Singer of Alice in Chains (Layne Staley). Needless to say we pretty much crapped our pants. It was an absolutely amazing show one that I will never forget. And to think we just went there to listen to some bands play music.[/quote:314qb4um]

Very nice. I believe Mad Season was the result of Layne being in rehab and trying to keep himself clean by working with other band members to do something positive.

Back on topic, sorta for the Crusades. I mentioned I was working on a site for them...here's some screenshots of what I have so far.

Main page:

Checklist, with integrated Google Docs Spreadsheet:

 

[Fandruw25]

Checklist, with integrated Google Docs Spreadsheet:

Looks good, can't wait to see this getting up and running. Once you get to the point of needing images let me know and I'll send you some hi-res scans and let you scale them down accordingly.

Outa curiosity why are you using googledocs for the checklist? It's not its going to change anytime soon (except w/ promos being discovered). Is this going to be a way to find the collectors who have/want these cards?

 

[Philip J. Fry]

Checklist, with integrated Google Docs Spreadsheet:

Looks good, can't wait to see this getting up and running. Once you get to the point of needing images let me know and I'll send you some hi-res scans and let you scale them down accordingly.

Outa curiosity why are you using googledocs for the checklist? It's not its going to change anytime soon (except w/ promos being discovered). Is this going to be a way to find the collectors who have/want these cards?

Well, I was trying to avoid creating a table with the information, and integrating the checklist I already had in Excel seemed to be the easiest idea. I was playing around with the idea and it seemed to work.

Definitely going to be a way to help collectors. That was the main goal last year when I registered the domain; I finally got the purple and knew I would be on an endless chase for the red. Never did I imagine I'd find it almost a year later!

 

[onionring9]

Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

Normally I'd agree with you but I think this entire board has been focusing on 90's stuff as a whole, quite a lot lately.Not just the Crusades either.The fact that we had a jazillion threads on it(the Crusades) certainly didn't help either.But hey...some people like the competition.

I'm actually going to agree with pret.

There's a very large bandwagon in this hobby, especially on these boards. These crusades are a perfect example of the "I want" virus that spread here really fast.

Every time the cards are talked about on FCB (and previously it was on Beckett), its always a few members raving about them and the prices skyrocket right away. Next thing you know, people all over come out of the woodwork saying how beautiful they are and how they want one too, etc. I don't blame them, they really are some of the nicest cards out there, but prices now are ridiculous because they are being hyped up.

McGwire Purple crusade was a perfect example.

Pre thread: $78
Pre thread: $54
Post thread: $122
Post thread: $150

This curve hasn't changed. It was the same way on Beckett message boards as well. Give them time and they'll come back down, start up another thread, get a few responses and they'll start going back up again.

The reds though, are exempt from this because there are so few of them and so many of us fighting over them so they're prices will dip, but not much. It's nothing like the green/purple pendulum

 

[braves2008champs]

I blame Eric, ThoseBackPages for causing this shenanigans!!!!!

 

[predatorkj]

Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

Normally I'd agree with you but I think this entire board has been focusing on 90's stuff as a whole, quite a lot lately.Not just the Crusades either.The fact that we had a jazillion threads on it(the Crusades) certainly didn't help either.But hey...some people like the competition.

I'm actually going to agree with pret.

There's a very large bandwagon in this hobby, especially on these boards. These crusades are a perfect example of the "I want" virus that spread here really fast.

Every time the cards are talked about on FCB (and previously it was on Beckett), its always a few members raving about them and the prices skyrocket right away. Next thing you know, people all over come out of the woodwork saying how beautiful they are and how they want one too, etc. I don't blame them, they really are some of the nicest cards out there, but prices now are ridiculous because they are being hyped up.

McGwire Purple crusade was a perfect example.

Pre thread: $78
Pre thread: $54
Post thread: $122
Post thread: $150

This curve hasn't changed. It was the same way on Beckett message boards as well. Give them time and they'll come back down, start up another thread, get a few responses and they'll start going back up again.

The reds though, are exempt from this because there are so few of them and so many of us fighting over them so they're prices will dip, but not much. It's nothing like the green/purple pendulum

Little bit of a long read so bare with me here...


Thought somebody would notice.I think a few others do as well.I was watching the Bags just out of curiosity.It think it went about $3 or more dollars than the last one I saw.I purchased one for a little less than $23 if I remember correctly.

Now I do agree all out on the Reds.There is no stopping that monster.

I don't get angry that anyone wants to collect 90's stuff.That would be dumb.I mean...that would be like one of ya'll getting mad at me for collecting Bags.I'd tell you to shove it.So that isn't what I am getting at at all.Let me give an example :

Say I went to Target or Walmart and they had a really cool deal one day.Say they had blasters for sale but in these particular blasters each one had 150 different Bagwells and included at least one GU or auto and at least 3 numbered cards for $29.95.To me...this would be a hell of a deal.I would be excited and honestly...its not too far fetched.In fact I have often wondered if we would ever see something like this with respective locations selling blasters full of star players from one of the local teams.It would make a great gift idea and considering this is Houston...they would sell.

But imagine I live in an area that is a little sparse so there aren't too many collectors scooping them up, if any at all.So I buy one and there are still several on the shelf.So I open it and am really pleased.So I call a few buddies up who happen to collect astros but don't necessarily collect Bagwell.I also tell a few people at the card shop.So I go back a week later and all the blasters are completely gone.I get curious so I ask the people I told and they say they purchased everything on the shelf.

So in essence I have created a monster and shot myself in the foot as well.In any case...it didn't help me at all.I took what I collect and made it popular enough to give me unwanted competition that isn't normally even present.And now instead of being able to purchase any of them...I have to fend off several more people who really never were a factor and only are because I opened my mouth.

This is how I feel about the Crusades and 90's stuff in general.None of us can be mad at people for seeing something and liking it enough to purchase it.And by "us" I mean people who actually normally collect the 90's stuff whether there was ever any hype on the boards or not.But we have certainly created competition for ourselves and I don't know about all of you but I certainly don't need the competition.

Its why I said I do agree that these were popular before but what is going on is like taking everyone here and all of a sudden turning them on to the prospects that every prospector here is trying to stash.And in some cases...these johnny come lately's turn around and offer the prospect cards they buy to the prospectors for a nice markup(well over what the prospector was paying beforehand).That is why a lot of people who are prospectors choose to keep quiet.

 

[Philip J. Fry]

[quote="Codasco07":8mgwm4mf]Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

Normally I'd agree with you but I think this entire board has been focusing on 90's stuff as a whole, quite a lot lately.Not just the Crusades either.The fact that we had a jazillion threads on it(the Crusades) certainly didn't help either.But hey...some people like the competition.

I'm actually going to agree with pret.

There's a very large bandwagon in this hobby, especially on these boards. These crusades are a perfect example of the "I want" virus that spread here really fast.

Every time the cards are talked about on FCB (and previously it was on Beckett), its always a few members raving about them and the prices skyrocket right away. Next thing you know, people all over come out of the woodwork saying how beautiful they are and how they want one too, etc. I don't blame them, they really are some of the nicest cards out there, but prices now are ridiculous because they are being hyped up.

McGwire Purple crusade was a perfect example.

Pre thread: $78
Pre thread: $54
Post thread: $122
Post thread: $150

This curve hasn't changed. It was the same way on Beckett message boards as well. Give them time and they'll come back down, start up another thread, get a few responses and they'll start going back up again.

The reds though, are exempt from this because there are so few of them and so many of us fighting over them so they're prices will dip, but not much. It's nothing like the green/purple pendulum

Little bit of a long read so bare with me here...


Thought somebody would notice.I think a few others do as well.I was watching the Bags just out of curiosity.It think it went about #4 or more dollars than the last one I saw.I purchased one for a little less than $23 if I remember correctly.

Now I do agree all out on the Reds.There is no stopping that monster.

I don't get angry that anyone wants to collect 90's stuff.That would be dumb.I mean...that would be like one of ya'll getting mad at me for collecting Bags.I'd tell you to shove it.So that isn't what I am getting at at all.Let me give an example :

Say I went to Target or Walmart and they had a really cool deal one day.Say they had blasters for sale but in these particular blasters each one had 150 different Bagwells and included at least one GU or auto and at least 3 numbered cards for $29.95.To me...this would be a hell of a deal.I would be excited and honestly...its not too far fetched.In fact I have often wondered if we would ever see something like this with respective locations selling blasters full of star players from one of the local teams.It would make a great gift idea and considering this is Houston...they would sell.

But imagine I live in an area that is a little sparse so there aren't too many collectors scooping them up, if any at all.So I buy one and there are still several on the shelf.So I open it and am really pleased.So I call a few buddies up who happen to collect astros but don't necessarily collect Bagwell.I also tell a few people at the card shop.So I go back a week later and all the blasters are completely gone.I get curious so I ask the people I told and they say they purchased everything on the shelf.

So in essence I have created a monster and shot myself in the foot as well.In any case...it didn't help me at all.I took what I collect and made it popular enough to give me unwanted competition that isn't normally even present.And now instead of being able to purchase any of them...I have to fend off several more people who really never were a factor and only are because I opened my mouth.

This is how I feel about the Crusades and 90's stuff in general.None of us can be mad at people for seeing something and liking it enough to purchase it.And by "us" I mean people who actually normally collect the 90's stuff whether there was ever any hype on the boards or not.But we have certainly created competition for ourselves and I don't know about all of you but I certainly don't need the competition.

Its why I said I do agree that these were popular before but what is going on is like taking everyone here and all of a sudden turning them on to the prospects that every prospector here is trying to stash.And in some cases...these johnny come lately's turn around and offer the prospect cards they buy to the prospectors for a nice markup(well over what the prospector was paying beforehand).That is why a lot of people who are prospectors choose to keep quiet.[/quote:8mgwm4mf]

Well said. I'm even going so far as to create a site about these cards. Will it affect prices? Doubtful, but who knows.

 

[onionring9]

[quote="Russ S.":jnpcqqu7]

[quote="Codasco07":jnpcqqu7]Is it possible that 90s inserts have been doing so well lately because everything released has been crap? Let's be honest, if you're not a prospector or have a fat wallet to spend on high end products, there's not much value out there.

No...trust me..this board generates quite a bit of hype.

Pretty sure this set and the '93 Finest Refractors are the few sets that don't need any hype.
Many player collectors accomplished a feat they have been trying to accomplish for 10+ years in the last 2 weeks.

If bandwagon collectors or shiny chrome heads helped with it, so be it, but this is definitely one set that didn't need hyped.

Normally I'd agree with you but I think this entire board has been focusing on 90's stuff as a whole, quite a lot lately.Not just the Crusades either.The fact that we had a jazillion threads on it(the Crusades) certainly didn't help either.But hey...some people like the competition.

I'm actually going to agree with pret.

There's a very large bandwagon in this hobby, especially on these boards. These crusades are a perfect example of the "I want" virus that spread here really fast.

Every time the cards are talked about on FCB (and previously it was on Beckett), its always a few members raving about them and the prices skyrocket right away. Next thing you know, people all over come out of the woodwork saying how beautiful they are and how they want one too, etc. I don't blame them, they really are some of the nicest cards out there, but prices now are ridiculous because they are being hyped up.

McGwire Purple crusade was a perfect example.

Pre thread: $78
Pre thread: $54
Post thread: $122
Post thread: $150

This curve hasn't changed. It was the same way on Beckett message boards as well. Give them time and they'll come back down, start up another thread, get a few responses and they'll start going back up again.

The reds though, are exempt from this because there are so few of them and so many of us fighting over them so they're prices will dip, but not much. It's nothing like the green/purple pendulum

Little bit of a long read so bare with me here...


Thought somebody would notice.I think a few others do as well.I was watching the Bags just out of curiosity.It think it went about #4 or more dollars than the last one I saw.I purchased one for a little less than $23 if I remember correctly.

Now I do agree all out on the Reds.There is no stopping that monster.

I don't get angry that anyone wants to collect 90's stuff.That would be dumb.I mean...that would be like one of ya'll getting mad at me for collecting Bags.I'd tell you to shove it.So that isn't what I am getting at at all.Let me give an example :

Say I went to Target or Walmart and they had a really cool deal one day.Say they had blasters for sale but in these particular blasters each one had 150 different Bagwells and included at least one GU or auto and at least 3 numbered cards for $29.95.To me...this would be a hell of a deal.I would be excited and honestly...its not too far fetched.In fact I have often wondered if we would ever see something like this with respective locations selling blasters full of star players from one of the local teams.It would make a great gift idea and considering this is Houston...they would sell.

But imagine I live in an area that is a little sparse so there aren't too many collectors scooping them up, if any at all.So I buy one and there are still several on the shelf.So I open it and am really pleased.So I call a few buddies up who happen to collect astros but don't necessarily collect Bagwell.I also tell a few people at the card shop.So I go back a week later and all the blasters are completely gone.I get curious so I ask the people I told and they say they purchased everything on the shelf.

So in essence I have created a monster and shot myself in the foot as well.In any case...it didn't help me at all.I took what I collect and made it popular enough to give me unwanted competition that isn't normally even present.And now instead of being able to purchase any of them...I have to fend off several more people who really never were a factor and only are because I opened my mouth.

This is how I feel about the Crusades and 90's stuff in general.None of us can be mad at people for seeing something and liking it enough to purchase it.And by "us" I mean people who actually normally collect the 90's stuff whether there was ever any hype on the boards or not.But we have certainly created competition for ourselves and I don't know about all of you but I certainly don't need the competition.

Its why I said I do agree that these were popular before but what is going on is like taking everyone here and all of a sudden turning them on to the prospects that every prospector here is trying to stash.And in some cases...these johnny come lately's turn around and offer the prospect cards they buy to the prospectors for a nice markup(well over what the prospector was paying beforehand).That is why a lot of people who are prospectors choose to keep quiet.[/quote:jnpcqqu7]

Well said. I'm even going so far as to create a site about these cards. Will it affect prices? Doubtful, but who knows.[/quote:jnpcqqu7]

Good luck with that. Looking forward to seeing it!

 

[predatorkj]

Well said. I'm even going so far as to create a site about these cards. Will it affect prices? Doubtful, but who knows.

Honestly, probably not.I think it will be a good resource but these things have been out there for a while.People know about them.The attention a thread or several, creates is what can affect prices.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Pricing doesn't matter unless you're selling. The question should be, will a website make them more popular??

Well said. I'm even going so far as to create a site about these cards. Will it affect prices? Doubtful, but who knows.

Honestly, probably not.I think it will be a good resource but these things have been out there for a while.People know about them.The attention a thread or several, creates is what can affect prices.

 

[predatorkj]

Pricing doesn't matter unless you're selling. The question should be, will a website make them more popular??

Well said. I'm even going so far as to create a site about these cards. Will it affect prices? Doubtful, but who knows.

Honestly, probably not.I think it will be a good resource but these things have been out there for a while.People know about them.The attention a thread or several, creates is what can affect prices.

Probably not.But the threads here did affect pricing because someone was selling eh?

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

My understanding is that most sold for under book, but I haven't checked. Either way, does the pricing matter if you're keeping them?

Probably not.But the threads here did affect pricing because someone was selling eh?

 

[donrusscrusademan]

My understanding is that most sold for under book, but I haven't checked. Either way, does the pricing matter if you're keeping them?

Probably not.But the threads here did affect pricing because someone was selling eh?

yeah after there was tons of hype about the greens all landing on ebay I didnt even check in a few days but when I came back for the final day I scored deal after deal..

 

[predatorkj]

My understanding is that most sold for under book, but I haven't checked. Either way, does the pricing matter if you're keeping them?

Probably not.But the threads here did affect pricing because someone was selling eh?

I am not sure what you are getting at.Book value means little on ebay.I overpay for things all the time that are not considered "hot" but its because somebody wants them as much as I do.But the card itself may not be super popular.

The pricing matters, in context to what I said, because they were higher than they normally seem to be for the collectors who actually normally go after them.I am not trying to whine or complain about it.I am just stating a point.Keeping them has nothing to do with what I am talking about.At all.

 

[predatorkj]

My understanding is that most sold for under book, but I haven't checked. Either way, does the pricing matter if you're keeping them?

Probably not.But the threads here did affect pricing because someone was selling eh?

yeah after there was tons of hype about the greens all landing on ebay I didnt even check in a few days but when I came back for the final day I scored deal after deal..

Compared to what?You got cards you were looking for.Now whether or not you got "actual deals" on them is hard to say depending on who you talk to.If you ever spot another batch like this...keep quiet and see what kind of deal you get.Then compare what you paid now to what you pay in the future.I am very sure there will be a difference.

 

[donrusscrusademan]

oh yeah I forgot to say compared to before which I payed slightly more for worse guys.
ok I will keep quiet for a while and see what happens. Im expecting when this bigger sellers stuff all dies down the prices will drop far due to the fact that some newer buyers will think these reds are actually easy to get.

 

[Fandruw25]

oh yeah I forgot to say compared to before which I payed slightly more for worse guys.
ok I will keep quiet for a while and see what happens. Im expecting when this bigger sellers stuff all dies down the prices will drop far due to the fact that some newer buyers will think these reds are actually easy to get.

I agree with you, but not for the same reason. I think it will drop because almost every collector on the boards looking for these issues was able to grab them. They are no longer willing to drop as much on one since they already have a copy in their collection. Yea, I'd love another set, but I will not pay anywhere near what I was once willing to.