Your Turn: How vital is vintage in today’s hobby?
By Chris Olds | Beckett Sports Card Monthly Editor
As we prepare the latest Vintage Issue of Beckett Sports Card Monthly, there’s simply one thing we want to hear from collectors.
How important is vintage in today’s hobby?
We’re curious about what you think because we know that there’s one part of the hobby where vintage is king and then another where it might not be — and that’s perfectly fine. They often exist independently from one another, but you can see this divide well if you visit a major show like the National Sports Collectors Convention. There, you’ll find countless pre-1980 treasures lining many a table with impressive price tags right alongside the newest cardboard creations.
Tell us where you stand on vintage and what you think in the comments below.
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
It’s a shame, but I don’t see vintage getting much respect any more. I don’t get the feeling there are many new vintage collectors popping up from year to year. It probably doesn’t help that the vintage players don’t show up nightly on ESPN or Twitter, either. There are generations of collectors who just have no connection to those players since they didn’t grow up watching them.
With all the game-used, autographs, and parallel cards, the modern hobby is much different from vintage, and I could see where there really isn’t that much overlap.
Simple: Without the ability to show a card that cost 1 cent is now worth thousands, it would be hard
to get people to dream that their cards would actually grow in value, and actually justify paying for packs.
The sad reality is, most cards eventually become relatively worthless.
The speculation has grown so high on some players that even if they have a HOF worthy career, the cards
will still sell for less than they did in their rookie year, or right after their jumping point once they got popular.
I remember the RC cards of Shaq selling for a ton when he came out, now they just don’t.
Randy Moss Bowman Chrome RC sold for $120 ungraded, now you can a PSA 10 of it for under $25.
Even if its not growing in price at the same rate as they used to, cards of players considered true legends
at least are not dropping that often in price.
Remember back when they issued those insurance policies to send in a complete set of Bowman and they would pay you $125. You are not likely to see that ever happen again.
There are several segments in our hobby. New Cards, Vintage, Autographs, Memorabilia. I have observed that most often, collectors in one segment rarely cross over into one of the other segments.
Vintage cards is the “Blue Chip Stock” portion of our hobby. Their value changes slowly (almost always in a upward direction). The only aspect of speculation in buying vintage is in the final determination of the grade of the card. That may be the reason that most collectors find new cards more appealing. The speculation aspect in guessing who will become a big star seems to be more appealing to most of my customers.
Even within the New Cards segment of our hobby, there are sub-segments: Rookie Cards Collectors, Set Builders (yes, they do exist), Team Collectors, Autographed Card Collectors, Star Collectors, etc. As I like to say, this hobby has something for everyone. While relatively few sports card enthusiasts collect vintage, there is a limited supply of vintage cards, especially in high grade condition. As a result, there will always be more demand than supply in the case of vintage cards.
Being a vintage card collector, I may be bias. I see vintage cards as the cornerstone of our hobby. In a hobby whose existence is closely tied to nostalgia, vintage cards are a visual representation of where it at started and why our fathers collected.
If it’s not vintage, it’s not for me.
When a player has over 100 cards come out in one brand in a single year, it’s hard to even pretend to care. Years ago, a kid could say, “I’m going to collect every Mickey Mantle card,” and he could. What kid can honestly say today , “I’m going to collect every card of a reasonably good player”? Vintage is here, and it’s not going anywhere. I still collect new cards because the hobby is so saturated with them they’re everywhere, but finding a quality card 30+ years old is an actual challenge that goes beyond the pocketbook. I just cannot see paying hundreds of dollars for a brand new card just because the company only made one with this certain color background. However, I can see paying hundreds of dollars for a card because it’s so old there are hardly any left in the condition I’m looking for.
Vintage is still important and isn’t going away. Some people say that since there is no direct tie to some players that people don’t collect them. Well, that’s simply not true as there are very few people still alive today that remember watching players that are on Tobacco cards, yet Tobacco cards have been gaining in value over the years. As more issues come up with fake memorabilia in today’s cards, some people will turn towards vintage as an alternative. What I have seen is that most young collectors want the latest and greatest cards, but as collectors get older they want cards from the past and that’s where vintage really kicks in.
I think vintage, like others above have stated, is still relative and an integral part of the hobby. Problem is, most folks are priced out “vintage” market or can’t justify to themselves paying a large amount for one card.. Myself, I’d love a 1958 Sandy Koufax….however, for the price of one in decent shape, I can get a whole case (depending on brand…than maybe a couple of boxes) of cards that overall will give me more pleasure organizing, selling some, and trading than that one card.
Question….there is a fresh thread in baseball on the “vintage” subject and I am not asking to cause a ruckus….but what is the main reason that the hobby generally gives only cards produced 1980 and before the “vintage” designation? (at least in baseball) My thinking is it has more to do with production quality (poor and very uneven pre-1981) than quantity. Thanks
With a handful of exceptions, I wont collect anything newer than 1983. Vintage is great because of the simplicity of the sets. You had a base set of 600-700 cards that contained rookie cards scattered throughout the set along with cool cards like World Series Highlights or something similar. The cards became valuable due to a reasonable scarcity, especially of Near Mint/Mint condition specimens. Now a days, one has to pay $5 to what amounts to playing the lottery and hoping you land a cool autograph or relic insert. The base cards just get pushed off to the side. I now have school aged kids collecting this era of cards, but vintage is definitely for me.
In fact, just yesterday, I was given a box of old baseball, football, and basketball cards from 1969-1974. The cards smelled musty and many were very worn and damaged, but it is still a thrill to find a gem like a Roger Staubach rookie card even if it has pin holes in a few spots as well as rounded corners.
Beckett should be inclusive of vintage “type card” collecting. Constructed one by one, this provides the “history of the baseball card” for a collector. In my case it also provides a “history of my team” because I limit my “type cards” to my team alone.
To respond to Phillies_Joe,
Vintage should defined as card sets for which hand collation was required and/or series issuance existed. I believe that puts “vintage” at about 1973 and prior although I would have to research when the first factory set came out and/or series issuances stopped.
Thanks Tom…I appreciate your response. Is that your take on the “vintage” question? Interesting. Now i’m really confused. I guess it’s all up to our own interperation. (maybe Chris will chime in!!!!!) I think the 1st factory set was a JC Penny Topps set – 1975 (could be 1973 though). Awesome…thanks again!
Vintage cards are very important to the hobby as fathers and sons talk through the hobby and the sport, the kids can relate back to the players they can only now see on video. I’m 42 and still talk to my father about his beloved 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers. He telsl me (nightmare) stories about trading away Mickey Mantle and other Yankees cards for Duke Snider and other Dodgers cards. He’s been telling me stories since the early 80’s. If I want, I can go on YouTube and find videos of older players and I know from experience as a dealer that the young kids watching shows like “Yankeeography” on the YES network come looking for cards of those old-time players. When a 10-year old kid asks me for an Allie Reynolds card, you know these types of shows are making an impact.
Regarding the question about when “Vintage” refers to – after 1980, card production spirals upwards until it reaches it’s pinnacle in the late 80’s where the card companies printed millions of each card. Most people think of Vintage as previous to 1980 but I use 1973 as that is the last set issued in multiple series. Set construction becomes much different after that as does card scarcity (no high numbers to worry about after 1973).
I believe vintage cards are appreciated by few and under-appreciated by most. They epitimize the one thing that a lot of modern sets/cards fail at, simple beauty and a sense of history. To hold a ’54 Bowman George Blanda rookie or a ’65 Topps Joe Namath is quite a sensation. The cardboard radiates “cool” and you know the scarcity alone makes them “awesome”. Sure there are lots of 1 of 1 cards issued today, but they are encapsulated faster than a Wayne Gretzky slap shot. The 1970 Topps football set I collected as a kid has pin holes in Len Dawson’s head and the O.J. rookie is bent from being in my bike spokes. My point is that for the vintage collector, the cards are a wayback machine to nostalgia and simpler times. I have nothing against newer product (I have lots!!) but they just don’t measure up to those rounded corner Mike Ditka rookies I have.