Auston Matthews ROOKIE RC #201 BGS 10

[LOTSOS]

@creasecollector if I had unlimited cash, I can literally think of 50 things I would do with that money before I spend it on cards. After I do those 50 things, heck yeah I'd blow money on cards LOL. I still would not be able to justify spending four or five figures on a piece of cardboard though

Very well put @creasecollector.


@Leafsman People who are fortunate enough to be able to spend 4 or 5 figures on cards probably don't need to justify it. Just like we probably don't need to justify buying a $10 card. To those who can't or won't spend that much there is still a lot of collecting that can be done!

I have friends that have classic cars and Harley's or a hunting cabin. Would I ever spend money on any of those? Not likely but if the opportunity came up to buy a PSA 9 79 OPC Gretzky for the price of a Harley hmmmmmm...... that would be a tough one. (Not really)

Kevin

[Leafsman]

Very well put @creasecollector.


@Leafsman People who are fortunate enough to be able to spend 4 or 5 figures on cards probably don't need to justify it. Just like we probably don't need to justify buying a $10 card. To those who can't or won't spend that much there is still a lot of collecting that can be done!

I have friends that have classic cars and Harley's or a hunting cabin. Would I ever spend money on any of those? Not likely but if the opportunity came up to buy a PSA 9 79 OPC Gretzky for the price of a Harley hmmmmmm...... that would be a tough one. (Not really)

Kevin

I don't like PSA cards, and I certainly wouldn't spend the amount equal to the cost of a Harley on a piece of cardboard. YIKES. It would be nice to have a peaceful cabin hideaway though.

[subban7677]

Can you justify spending $90K on a Mercedes when you can get a Hyundai for $20K? Not really, other than saying "it's my money, I can afford it, and I want it." I would never spend that kind of money on a card, or a Mercedes, but it's an easy decision, because I can't. I do not live in the same world as these people. It's just not something I can logically wrap my head around. But, they can.

[creasecollector]

Agreed, I can't justify spending that amount of money on cardboard today. I just don't have the means, personally.

That's why I collect Jhonas Enroth... haha! But seriously though..

If I won the lottery tomorrow... then my perspective will probably change. Truth is, we don't really know what we'd do with that kind of cash until we had it. Same with these collectors and sports fans. Do you think they grew up thinking "Man, one day I'm going to earn and spend 10k+ on a hockey card" ? No, of course not. Timing + A fantastic financial situation provided them with the financial means to buy these kinds of cards. And you know what? Good for them. That's awesome.

In turn, it keeps this hobby exciting on what the next 'big pull' might be & provides us with sweet discussion topics in the mean time. Also, it might say to the outside world "Hey, hockey cards are still a thing and are alive & well. Look how much this guy/girl spent on this one hockey card! Unreal!"


I just don't like when people think the buyers are stupid or have no brains. That's just short-sighted comments fuelled by a quick judgement call. If you think about it, if you earn enough money to buy a hockey card for 18k and not have to worry about it, you are really doing well for yourself and aren't stupid at all. Quite the opposite, potentially.

And none of this was in reply to anyone in specific, just sharing my 2 cents. Trying to see it from the buyers perspective.

I really like topics like this. Good stuff I'm tellin' ya. It's interesting.

[LOTSOS]

Where the conversation gets interesting for me is with the whole black label thing.

I'm a big fan of graded cards. Is it a perfect science? Absolutely not. But I know that I have the ability to sell graded cards much more quickly and easily then raw. Also I can look at past sales and be able to quickly and easily sort out cards that I'm looking to buy. I ALWAYS buy the card not the holder which is why I pass on any card that doesn't have a high quality scan or photo.

I prefer PSA because the majority of my collection is vintage and a simple look at past sales shows that they command the highest prices on vintage. So if I'm going to sub a vintage card it's definitely going to PSA.

I like the concept of the sub grades that BGS uses for modern but I don't like the splitting of hairs for gems. I think a 9.5 is useful but having two different levels of "10" is off putting. If it's a 10 then it's a 10. I guess I feel that if you want to have a card that you deem "pristine" or a "10" then it should be flawless. Now I'm certain that there are both PSA 10s and BGS 10s that probably don't deserve that designation. But I'm also certain that there are cards that are under graded as well. A third category that you could and I do search out are cards that present better than they grade for a variety of reasons.

But back to my black label distain. Now as Ive said before it's your money spend it as you like. But I can't understand the additional value placed by some on black labels. I'll use the McDavids as an easy example. Between PSA and BGS there are over 6k graded McDavid rookies. While I have zero idea on the exact production run if you conservatively (very conservatively) say that it is one of the most graded modern cards, maybe 50% of the copies are graded. So that would mean there were over 12k copies made. More likely the percentage graded would be closer to 25% so that would put the number at almost 25k cards produced!

If I recall correctly there are 12 black label 10s. The last two sold for $18k a gold label sells for $1k. A PSA 10 for about $350. Now I can see how a 79 OPC Gretzky in PSA 10 as a pop 1 can command a premium. Or any vintage low pop card for that matter. But with modern cards that have much better quality control and much larger production runs I don't get it. Also toss in the fact that it looks like one person alone may have scored as many as 4 of the black labels in one sub and it's a bit concerning.

Now if if I put on my tin foil hat I could see how a big company could push a few black labels out there and artificially inflate their price in order to drive business their way. Sure maybe Roswell was really aliens and perhaps a second shooter was behind the grassy knoll. But one thing for certain is the hobby definitely has its shady characters and past. And humans are inherently self serving.

Off soap box.
Kevin