On Saturday I went over to the Long Island National Card show held at Hofstra University in New York. I picked up some nice ARod rookies and an Albert Pujols rookie as well. I got a ‘94 Collector’s Choice White Letter Variation and a ‘94 Fleer Update of Arod’s, and a Fleer Tradition of Pujols.

After I was done buying cards for myself I just walked around with my friend and began to notice that the place was pretty empty. There couldn’t have been more than 100-150 people in the huge gymnasium at any one time over the course of the three hours that we were there. In fact, many people were just coming to submit cards to BGS for grading and then leaving. It was a sad day for the hobby most likely due to the combination of eBay and the poor economy leaving people with less disposable income for hobbies such as sportscard collecting.

As far as collecting trends goes, I did see a lot of signs at the seller’s tables saying that they wanted to buy game used cards. This could indicate that the game-used market is going to rise even more than where it already is.

Happy Collecting

Joe (joe@joeknowscards.com)

The classic car marketplace is undoubtedly an absolute marvel. Every year the Speed Channel covers the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Arizona where the most unbelievably rare cars in the world are all in one place. I sit in front of the TV in awe of the prices that people pay for these cars that sell for hundredes of thousands of dollars and in some cases, millions of dollars.

As I was watching the auction, I came to realize that the value of vintage sportscards is far more impressive than that of classic cars. In September of 2007 a little piece of cardboard sold for $2.8 million. That was of course the T206 Honus Wagner PSA NM-MT 8 card that the hockey legend Wayne Gretzky once owned. In other words, this piece of cardboard could buy you about three numbers-matching, all-original 1969 ZL1 Camaros (if 3 even exist). One of these beauties sold for $880,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction. The examples don’t even need to be this extreme. Sportscards that sell for say $75,000 could get you a beautiful classic car as well. Way less of these cars were produced in comparison to the production of sportscards, yet sportscards rival the value of rare classic cars. In addition, these cars can be restored, you cannot restore a sportscard.

So tell me what do you think is more impressive?

Happy Collecting

Joe (joe@joeknowscards.com)