Have jersey cards sunk this low?

[Drewk86a]

Ovechkin has been in the league for 6 seasons, and he already has about 1000 DIFFERENT non-1/1 memorabilia cards on the market,

I would assume Lemieux is probably much higher than that. When you have 1500 choices for a memorabilia card, demand will go down.

Derek

According to the inventory, Mario Lemieux has 2,473 different jersey / patch cards. The 2010 - 11 sets added 260 memorabilia cards to the Lemieux list.

When you consider the print run of each card it really adds up.
For example:
If you buy 1999-00 UD Century Legends, there is only one Lemieux Jersey card with a print run of 25.
If you buy 2010-11 Dominion which has 19 different memorabilia cards for Lemieux there are a total of 467 Lemieux jersey cards.

Much easier to get a piece of Mario today.

[andrewconnors9]

like someone said above, id say within a few years alot sets will just have jerseys as the base cards. Before I sold off everything before xmas i collected all Leafs GU, but now I dont even want them besides the couple players I collect. Patches are the only worthwhile thing pulling now which sucks really considering you a buy a box of says UD Series 1 and yeah its guaranteed two Game Jerseys per box, but I mean even if you somehow pulled two Crosbys in one box, u still can only cash those in for 20$. Most of them are going to bring in 2 - 3$ for the pair, so yeah two jersey cards per box isnt as intriuging as it used to be a few years ago. At least panini came out with their parallels as prime jerseys which are nice 2 clrs with a big seam, now those ill still go after as they are nice, but having like triple player game used cards /5 that are all solid jerseys hardly surpass the 20$ mark now, I didnt even bid on this years Leafs artifacts one and it sold for 15$ + ship.

Anyways im ranting away, thats my 2 cents

[centrehice]

Imagine if there is EVER another Hockey Card Craze.

There are fools now paying $5K and up for 1 of 1 Cup Cards and SP's numbered to less than #/25, imagine the halfwits that would pay me $30.00 again for a 90-91 OPC Premier Jarmo Myllys Rookie Card.

[andrewconnors9]

We can only wish haha

[portlandmebruin]

I guess my two cents about this subject is why should it bother us? I love that I can get jersey cards for less than a dollar a piece, it keeps this hobby a little more affordable (for me anyways). Just because they (jersey cards) are cheap now that doesn't mean that it makes them any less special, well to me anyways....

[MacInnisCollector]

I guess my two cents about this subject is why should it bother us? I love that I can get jersey cards for less than a dollar a piece, it keeps this hobby a little more affordable (for me anyways). Just because they (jersey cards) are cheap now that doesn't mean that it makes them any less special, well to me anyways....

That's exactly how I feel as well. Even as a collector who only chases one player, I would rather spend $1000 and get all of his game used cards then spend $1000 and get only one.

[RGM81]

I guess my two cents about this subject is why should it bother us? I love that I can get jersey cards for less than a dollar a piece, it keeps this hobby a little more affordable (for me anyways). Just because they (jersey cards) are cheap now that doesn't mean that it makes them any less special, well to me anyways....

Well, here's the rub on that - say you're a guy that breaks a case of a very memorabilia-heavy product like Luxury Suite. You drop your $2400 on the case, and say that 90 of the 120 memorabilia cards you pull are the regular base jersey /599. If you can't get more than $5 for those jersey cards, you're only recouping a maximum of $450 and hoping like crazy that the other half of the total 180 cards in the box feature some Price, Subban, Crosby, Ovechkin, Hall, etc. to even make it close to breaking even.
Now, chances are if you've got enough disposable income to drop $2500 on cardboard hockey mans, you can afford the occasional kick to the groin dud box/case. But if it becomes a pattern that you're stuck with a lot of GU cards and autos, and even the good cards are only fetching a few bucks, chances are that eventually you're going to explore better avenues for your hobby. Millionaires don't become & stay millionaires by flushing money down a hobby black hole, after all.

So yeah it is really nice to be able to pick up jerseys and autos for lower prices than in recent years. But there is a darker side to that of which we must be mindful.

[Wickabee]

That all depends on how one collects though. Personally, I open a few retail boxes here and there and use, even the low-end jerseys as tradebait. Sure, I don't have anywhere near the collection that some do, but I like my collection.
If you're one of those who opens boxes and cases of high-end stuff, then yes, this does present a problem. But is the problem with the manufacturers or the collectors? I'd say this problem leads directly to the insatiable lust high-end collector's have combined with the companies' wishes to not lose the low-end market either.