As someone has stated in this thread,I also believe basketball cards are,if not dead,on extremely slow. From my experience working at a card shop+at card shows,basketball sales lag far behind baseball+football,even hockey sometimes. As to my collection,I probably have 30,000-40,000 basketball cards.I have a pretty nice collection of Charles Barkley cards[probably about 500 different,including a GameJersey+RC]and SLU's. I'm also putting together the 86-87 through 88-89 Fleer Basketball sets.
I own a lot of basketball cards dating back to 1985. My mom got me started and I've never looked back. The current slow down is great for collectors. The less people buy the more value the cards will have later on. I don't own many autographed basketball cards, but I will probably buy an autographed Kobe game used card. I was lucky my mom got me going at the right time. She bought the cards just because she knew I liked basketball. Who knew they would be so valuable. I've got olajuwon rookies, Barkley rookies, and Jordan rookies where they all had hair. Crazy. Love basketball. I even buy WNBA cards. They will one take on a value as well. I did buy my Olajuwon Star rookie card for 9$. I thought it was over priced at the time...., but Got Ehlo in the group as well
There are only 3 Mobley rookies if you consider only the cards from the basic series one set...which mens no rubies..recips...etc.<BR><BR>I have all three, also.
Do you think it has anything to do with the ridiculous trend of having cards graded? I'm asking because there seem to be new grading "companies" showing up every day. Beckett, who I actually respected along with PSA and SGC decided to make a vintage service for older cards which I understand, but this new BCCG service is just plain stupid IMO.
I think grading cards is a great idea, but, just like everything else in this industry, it's been taken too far. Some new grading company, in a move to trump others, just announced they'll use a grade of 11 if they have an absolutely never-been-touched mint card. Now, all other companies use a grading system up to 10. It's a universally accepted number scheme. How can you have 11? Is this perfect card not subject to the grading rules accepted as law in the industry? Does this card not exist in our dimensional realm or something? This scenario reminds me of the amp loudness scene in This Is Spinal Tap: Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and - Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten? Nigel Tufnel: Exactly. Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder? Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where? Marty DiBergi: I don't know. Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven. Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder. Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder? Nigel Tufnel: [Pause] These go to eleven.
My sons collect them. They have a lot of nice inserts and game used stuff of their favorites. Most of it I've bought for them on ebay - cheaper than buying a box and looking for what you want - though I have bought a few boxes to bust open on trips. I used to collect and I tell my sons that someday mine will be theirs. Mainly baseball from 70-72. Ryan, Jackson, Aaron, Mays, Clemente and many others. I had Mays sign his card at a show in the late 80s - wished I had him sign a ball since it looks like he scribbled on my card.
Remember the Shaq Beam Team card? That's when I quit collecting... things just got insane. Four million inserts, variations, etc. People were just getting screwed.
Whether we want to accept it or not, the entire card collecting industry revolves around money, hence the creation of graded cards. Graded cards, IMO, push kids and the average collecter out of the market. There are simply too many variables involved for Joe Cardcollector to actively get into the graded card market. The prices are inflated, the card quality is the same as ungraded cards and the grade is simply one man's opinion made "official" by a slab of plastic and a label. The only industries graded card helps are the services that provide them and the online auctioning community(the one serious argument for grading IMO). Personally I'd rather have the days of going to shows and bartering over the condition of a card and the price you want to pay.
Beckett now has a monopoly on graded pricing because they are the authority on pricing cards. thepit.com and topps ecards have really taken investing in cards a step further. Damn, I knew I shouldn't have sold my SP Authentic Ander Miller rookie.
I must have gotten out before those were made. I bailed in the early 90's and unfortunately sold most of my collection. That collection would probably be worth between 15-25K if I still had it. At one time I had 5 or 6 Upper Deck Griffey rookies. I had a system where I could pick them out of a new 89 UD box by opening only 2 other packs. Oh well, at least I kept some of the good ones like these... 86 Fleer MJ 86 Fleer Hakeem 84 Fleer-ud Clemens 83 Topps Gwynn
wow, did YOU just take me back to the past! I wanted that card so badly... I remember it was priced at $325 at one point... when I was a young teen, I used to buy tons of Topps Stadium Club packs just to try and get one of those... I stopped collecting by the early to mid-90s... ended up with about 10,000 football and basketball cards... my parents always said i was wasting my money, but i insisted it was fun as well as an investment! boy was i a dope! 99% of those cards are just sitting in boxes and wasting space (alphabetized of course!) sometimes i wonder if there's a hidden gem in there somewhere! my crown jewel? warren moon's 1985 Topps rookie card (i was and still am the biggest Houston Oilers fan in the world, and warren moon was and still will always be my favorite athlete of all time... with hakeem a close 2nd!) i also had david robinson's rookie card (hoops 89)
I have an Oscar Torres rookie serial numbered to 1000. Basketball Jonathan Bender 2000-01 Topps Gold Label TT22 $10.00 $20.00 Jersey Basketball Jerry Stackhouse 2001-02 Topps Gold Label TRJS $10.00 $20.00 Jersey Basketball Michael Jordan 1998-99 UD Ionix R1 $15.00 $40.00 254/750 Basketball Michael Jordan 2001-02 UD Ovation MJF5 $25.00 $50.00 Floor Basketball Kobe Bryant 2001-02 UD MVP KBF4 $25.00 $50.00 Floor Basketball Eddie Griffin 2001-02 Ultra 152 $5.00 $12.00 1572/2222 Basketball Kobe Bryant 1996-97 Collector's Choice 267 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Dermarr Johnson 2000-01 Fleer Tradition 231 $2.00 $5.00 842/1500 Basketball Jamaal Magloire 2000-01 UD Encore 150 $1.50 $4.00 1403/1600 Basketball Kerry Kittles 1996-97 Topps 8 $5.00 $12.00 Rookie Basketball Nazr Mohammed 1998-99 Topps 29 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Eddy Curry 2001-02 Upper Deck 222 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Eddie Griffin 2001-02 Topps Xpectations 107 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Eddie Griffin 2001-02 Topps 227 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Shane Battier 2001-02 Topps 226 $6.00 $15.00 Rookie Basketball Tyson Chandler 2001-02 Topps 222 $3.00 $8.00 Rookie Basketball Pau Gasol 2001-02 Topps 198 $5.00 $12.00 Rookie Basketball Jamaal Tinsley 2001-02 UD Ovation 96A $15.00 $30.00 007/625 Basketball Baron Davis 1999-00 Topps 116 $1.00 $2.50 Rookie Basketball Lamar Odom 1999-00 Upper Deck 159 $4.00 $10.00 Rookie Basketball Elton Brand 1999-00 Upper Deck 156 $4.00 $10.00 Rookie Basketball Jason Terry 1999-00 Upper Deck 165 $1.50 $4.00 Rookie Basketball Jason Terry 1999-00 Ultra 142 $1.50 $4.00 Rookie Basketball Shawn Marion 1999-00 Topps 120 $2.00 $5.00 Rookie Basketball Jamaal Magloire 2000-01 Topps Gold Label 98 $3.25 $7.50 157/499 Basketball Tracy McGrady 1997-98 NBA Hoops 169 $1.50 $3.00 Rookie Basketball Kobe Bryant 1996-97 Topps 138 $5.00 $12.00 Rookie Basketball Allen Iverson 1996-97 Topps 171 $1.50 $4.00 Rookie Basketball Chris Webber 1993-94 Upper Deck 311 $2.00 $5.00 Rookie Basketball Kevin Garnett 1995-96 Upper Deck 273 $3.00 $6.00 Rookie Basketball Stephen Jackson 2000-01 Fleer Authority 129 $15.00 $36.00 BGS 9.5 Basketball Steve Francis 1999-00 Upper Deck 157 $7.00 $15.00 PSA 8 Basketball Michael Jordan 2001-02 UD Ovation 90 $6.00 $15.00 Basketball Michael Jordan 2001-02 Upper Deck 178 $4.00 $10.00 Basketball Vince Carter 2000-01 Ultra 1G $3.00 $6.00 Parallel Basketball Kobe Bryant 2001-02 Topps MG6 $4.00 $10.00 Basketball Vince Carter 1999-00 Fleer RS2 $3.00 $8.00 Basketball Antonio Davis 1999-00 Sp Authentic AD $4.00 $10.00 Autograph Basketball Vince Carter 2000-01 SLAM PW6 $3.00 $8.00 Basketball Mamadou N'diaye 2000-01 Ulitmate Victory 114 $3.00 $8.00 46/100 Basketball Morris Peterson 2000-01 Ultra 222G $3.20 $6.40 Parallel Basketball Wally Szczerbiak 2000-01 UD Encore WS-W $5.00 $12.00 Warm Up Basketball Hanno Mottola 2001-02 UD Ovation HM $5.00 $12.00 Warm Up Basketball Dermarr Johnson 2000-01 Topps Gold Label 86 $4.00 $8.00 172/499 Basketball Etan Thomas 2000-01 UD Harcourt 85 $2.50 $6.00 Rookie Basketball Pau Gasol 2001-02 Fleer Force Jersey Ed. 113 $8.00 $20.00 608/1000 Basketball DeSagana Diop 2001-02 Fleer EX 107 $5.00 $12.00 0257/1750 Basketball Oscar Torres 2001-02 Fleer Maximum 187 $2.50 $6.00 0834/100
Beckett is the standard, but there are other pricing services/magazines. Don't forget about Tuff Stuff. As for graded cards, yes, it's definitely a monetary thing. However, that's what the market has become. Many people don't collect for the sake of collecting anymore. As someone said before, it's all about autographs and relic cards now. In one sense, autographs and relics are great to pull from a set and are worth more (you should see my collection...). They make opening packs fun. However, in the long run, collectors now want and expect autographs from every set, box, and pack. This ruins collecting. Kids worry more about what the card is worth, rather than collecting for pure fun. It's nice to see people collecting for the love of players and teams. It makes my job seem more worthwhile.
Unless you "collect" topps the average collecter already out of the market. This is for 4 cards in 4 packs...16 cards folks! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1826641194
C'mon, No one buys Tuff Stuff (well I guess they are still in business) You are exactly right, Insert cards used to be the Extra Frosting on the cake. Personally I love collecting My favorite players like Francis and others, and Rookie cards are nice to get. Inserts have been way overblown. At my local card shop, The owner only buys boxes of stuff where a auto/jersey is one per box. When I started collecting about 9 years, cards were really worth nothing, I had basically the whole set of 93-94 Upper Deck, Penny Hardway rookies were my prized possesions. Then 94-95 Fleer comes along with about 10 insert sets, and the hot pack where one out of every 72 packs is nothing but inserts. Sometimes I wish they would get back to the basics where Rookies didn't have autographed serial numbered jersey patches on them.
I hate the fact that all major companies (Topps, UD, Fleer) now have many many different brands coming out every year. This is way too freakin confusing for even an avid collecter like me. Does anyone even care about inserts anymore if they dont have a jersey patch or an autograph?
I'd love for us to go back to the basics (less work for me), but it's near impossible now. The hobby shops and collectors expect more than just flashy cards now. Every set we make generates profit. With each new set we pile on, the Law of Diminishing Returns comes into play and we make less profit on each set. Yet, because we do make a profit (even if it's paltry), we'll still put it on the market. We make our money on volume. The more we make, we more money we rake (in). Hence, there are billions of different sets. So, you have no choice but to live with all the new brand positioning (and subsequent 400,000 different Jeff Bagwell cards on the market). Resistance is futile.
I remember when inserts were crap tossed into sets as filler. Obviously money has taken over one of the old rules the major sports had that only a limited number of card companies could use their players, logos, etc every year. I'm curious VesceySux, what producer do you work for?
Vecsey - Sorry, but have you revealed where you work?... As for me, Rockets03 knows I don't have anything huge. My prized possessions, if you want to call them that, are a signed Hakeem card (in person, not bought, so no certificate of authenticity), a signed Horry card (from when Rockets03 and I went to a game waaaaay back in the day, haha), and a signed Warren Moon card (sent in to Giff Nielsen at Channel 11 when he used to host the weekly QB show with Warren... I got Giff to sign his rookie card, too. Super neat.). I also have a 92 Rockets yearbook signed by a couple of players (Larry Smith, Dave Jamison). It's from the Rockets Draft Party that year where Horry was drafted (still remember the boos for passing over Harold Miner. ;o)). Wow, it's great reminiscing. Life moves way too fast.
