Words of Advice for a New Collector...

[unclereggie]

Hey all,

Well, the Wax Museum Podcast sent me here.

I've been back in the hobby for a couple of years. Collected for awhile as a kid, then did not buy a card from 1998-2019. I found the Wax Museum Podcast randomly in late 2019 and found it really helpful in orienting me back to the hobby. Didn't hurt that the host was also a Pacers fan and a Pacers collector, was roughly my age, and grew up in Indiana and moved elsewhere as an adult. Basically my life story.

My entry back into the hobby was kind of weird. At first I wanted to buy any card of a current or former Pacer, that was a big mistake and not focused enough. Then, COVID happened and prices got so crazy I felt completely priced out. I have only recently started buying things regularly and my priorities/pyramid is roughly this:

- jersey match or low print/crazy looking Pacers Select cards i.e. Zebra, Elephant, Tie Die, blue, and gold; to avoid accumulating too much forgettable stuff I usually only go for rookies or the first year a certain player started playing for the Pacers

-outer space aesthetic Pacers stuff (there is really no shortage of these kinds of cards these days, Panini seems obsessed with this kind of design)

- 90's sets or insert nostalgia sets i.e. 96-97 Finest (especially Pacers), 92-93 Stadium Club Beam Team, 94-95 Stadium Club Rising Stars, 96-97 EX

- '92 and '93 draft class rookies

Just curious if anyone has any advice for someone who is still fairly new to the game. Also thanks to Wax Museum/deadshot for directing me here and helping me get back into the hobby. My wallet and my wife may not thank you but I am grateful.

[Deadshot]

Welcome! Glad you made it!

[siuwongkee]

I am fairly new also. I came back even later than you and I only interest in 90s players and their parallels from 97-99.) I hope my research might help you somehow.

Generally speaking. For instance, using Tim Duncan as an example, assuming you have $X, you might purchase between:

1: A top 10 parallel sets from the 97-99.
2: An 1/1 from modern era.
3: A 1/5-1/10 relics card from modern era.

Using Tim Duncan to illustrate. A 22-23 Black Prism was sold at $4k for fixed price when at the same time you can buy a 1998 Fleer Playmarker, 1997 Team skybox Star Rubies from the 90s. I do not have a DIRECT reference for relics but a 2009/10 National Treasure 3/5 logoman was sold for 8k. (And we have more reference for relics for lesser years at 2-3k)

And for rookie, my point of view is if you can buy it at a reasonable price then it is great. But my belief regarding the rookie market, people have been selling cards at a premium that already "actualized" the potential of the player. What do I mean. When a Shaq green PMG was sold ONLY at 170k, how much BETTER a certain player and the set has to perform in order to make it sell higher than that?

Nevertheless, I believe the market is not completely rational nor inductive. Since I just started, if you like Pacer and want to collect their rookies because you LIKE that then by all means, do it. It is like I spent a lot of money on apps and their value always drop to zero. The dilemma is always we want the money well spent but are you taking this as a hobby or an investment. (My RM always urges me to think very clearly)

ACheers

[jgp3-cards]

It is very easy to get caught up in how much a card is worth, or how much it could be worth down the road so my word of advice is... collect what you like! If you think the card is cool... buy it! If you like a certain player... buy it! Personally I have got more enjoyment out of buying Star Wars cards, wrestling cards, superhero cards, former UNC Tar Heels autos, etc. then I have with anything else! The big reason being they remind of things I loved from my past! They might not be worth much but... they are fun! My two cents! Happy collecting!

[AbraCalabro]

Welcome.

- I recommend avoiding super collecting entirely. You're going to end up with a bunch of stuff that you basically never look at, or think about. Keep it as simple as you can. The era of the super collector is essentially over, it's also very expensive and when sellers know you collect 'x' the price goes up. The era of the super collector was one of the best times and it was great when people were genuinely helping each other out as the norm and not as a PR stunt and the prices were reasonable.

- Avoid set-building, in particular, base sets and low end inserts. Same thing here. Set building is largely dead, you can't trade with any one because A) it's cheaper to buy missing cards in bulk from COMC, or elsewhere and B) the likelihood that someone else is building the same exact set you're building and has the cards you want is slim to none these days. Just get the cards of star players that you like if you really enjoy the design and keep it simple. Even with high end inserts / parallels, stay away from non-star players that you don't follow, or care about.

- Avoid larger items, 8x10, larger memorabilia items, etc. Avoid oddballs. They're going to take up space and they're a pain to store.

-------------------

- Go for quality over quantity.
- If you miss out on a card, or lose an auction, don't spend money buying yourself a consolation prize.
- If I could go back and give myself advice, I'd also add: figure out a set number of cards you want to own for your goals and don't exceed those numbers and figure out how you want to store your cards. There are a lot more options today than years back when I was trying everything out.

[Gemmintpop1]

It sounds like you have a good baseline of things you like from each era. I would do some more exploring and start making lists of specific sets and cards you want to pursue.

For the select stuff, you will accumulate a ton of cards pursuing the animal print stuff for pacers. If you do this, I would consider building a binder to do pacers team sets. I would also consider paring down to a few of the parallels or just a few pacers players.

For the outer space cards, I would try to pare down to a top 10 favorite cards so you can get some sense of completeness. Try to pick a few that are hard to find, like a case hit or a numbered parallel. When you’re done, maybe move on to something else. There’s a ton of other panini era inserts and parallels to explore that might fit your taste.

For the 90’s stuff, it can get expensive pretty quick. I would focus on the sets and cards that interest you and then choose a player in your price range, or a few pacers in your price range. Either way, you’ll get better continuity and curation, even if the star power isn’t represented.

The goal here is to give an end point to each project, because you will undoubtedly find other sets that interest you. If you get 20-30% of the way through a project and decide you don’t like it, load it up and send it to COMC. You can always change directions, and COMC is great for selling $2-100 cards.

Good luck with your journey!

[Smalltown]

Something I wish I did earlier on is narrow my focus. It’s much easier to expand a collection focus than narrow it. If I had put my funds into a more narrow stream I would have had some crazier cards now. Live and learn - I got their eventually.

[SHowley2003]

My wallet and my wife may not thank you but I am grateful.

That statement makes you sound like a grizzled vet!

The one piece of advice I'll add to what others have said is being flexible and take your time to learn about new products or other aspects of the hobby. Keep an open mind. You're interests and goals will change over time and that is fine. How I collected 10 years ago is vastly different than how I collect now. Knowing what is out there and exploring aspects of the hobby that you might not find interesting now may provide a foundation for some change later down the line.

Oh yeah, and most importantly, enjoy what you collect and collect within your means.

[appfreezecards]

I personally decided to focus on mid to late 90s nostalgia. It was too hard for me personally to purchase current releases. The nostalgia feeling is my favorite part, especially cards I could only dream of as a kid.
-I like to have some expensive, but rare targets. These types of cards only surface occasionally so I have time to save up or liquidate other items.
-Then there is the slow chase. Hand collate a set slowly. This satisfies my completionist urges.
-Complete team runs of rare cards or #'d parallels. I try to target a few things at a time in order to not get overwhelmed.

Then I like to enjoy my cards. Use IG to share them. Make reels, get creative. Purchase a wall display case to enjoy. Have a binder project. Find a facebook group to share or enjoy other collections. Sometimes everything is about buying and selling, but it is fun to enjoy what you have and share with similar minded collectors.

[kukocitb]

collect what you like. Be careful to not overpay for a card especially with new products. If the card is not that rare it will pop up again and usually is cheaper the next time. Patience is key with Panini imo. A Shaq collector on IG basically said if he overpayed for a card it kind of took some of the fun out of it. Sounds like some of your interests are pre panini which is what I would suggest since there are MANY affordable cards that are awesome that are out there.

[ZOMBIExZOMBIE]

I went from being a player collector to being a set collector after remembering opening packs as a kid and marveling at the photography. This led me into the nostalgia of opening packs and putting sets together in a binder while playing NBA Live 95 on Sega.

[unclereggie]

Hey all - thanks for the great advice here. I am in the process of moving and screwed up my foot going down the steps in the process, so cards haven't been at the forefront of my mind recently. But I look forward to continuing to build out my fledgling collection as I get settled.

[bcspecialist]

Having a focus and sticking to it is the way to build a great collection. Buying is easy, selling is harder, so it helps to focus your resources on adding more and more satisfying pieces to your collection.

Edit: That said, sometimes it is also fun to venture out and pick up something completely random that brings you joy. At least, that is how I am justifying my $3 price just now of a "Dick Paradise" hockey card.

[TWOINAR]

I think it goes against the grain of some of the above advice, but I feel like I was very well served by constantly picking up scarcity at cheap prices, when available, over time. I stashed cards away and just let them sit. It's easy to do when the investment is minimal. I can't tell you the number of /99, /50 or /25 parallels that I got for less than a buck or two in the early 2000's that player and team collectors covet today. It's slow and does little in the short term, but over the course of years becomes a substantial pool to draw from. It's great to be able to talk to other collectors for the first time, ask what they collect, and then having something stored away that could help their collection. It helps them complete needs, and will help you to build relationships that benefit your own collection. When you've helped people in one way or another, opportunities come your way that you wouldn't have had otherwise. I've been amazed at some of the stuff that's come my way in the past few years because of just reaching out and letting people know what I collect, and then having something they are interested in. That being said, I do realize the 40 parallels per set that's going on today makes that advice much tougher to practice.

And maybe I'm about to be the dinosaur facing extinction, but set collecting isn't dead! It's just being strangled out and made unfeasible by certain entities that would rather have breakable sets than collectible sets. Research and find the sets that you like, and then search out the people who collect those sets. It won't always work out, but when it does, it can be great.

[darz90scardz]

Edit: That said, sometimes it is also fun to venture out and pick up something completely random that brings you joy. At least, that is how I am justifying my $3 price just now of a "Dick Paradise" hockey card.

After watching a few breaks of Bowman University, I now have 10 different “Leaky Black” autos on my watchlist.

[FrankAZHP]

My advise:

1. Avoid Breaks - They are a ripoff. For every 1 big hit, you'll have 50 that are a waste of your money.

2. Avoid cracking wax (especially if it's expensive wax). ROI is garbage. Sure you get the rush, but if you want to feel that, just buy a retail box at $30 so at least you won't lose much. I even started a video series where I crack wax, and also take the same amount of money I spent on that wax and buy singles. I'm only 3 episodes filmed and released so far, and I only choose cheap wax, but so far the singles have won 3 out of 3 times. I expect the wax to lose 29 out of every 30 times. Part of the reason why I'm doing this is because I like cracking wax, but I've been telling new collectors to do singles only for years, and only a few of them have listened, the others have come back to me later saying they know what I mean. Sometimes you gotta learn the hard way.

3. Buy singles of what you want. Self explanatory.

4. Have a long term plan to hold young players. Since the Topps Chrome days (and now expanding to Donruss Optic since I can't do Chrome), I'd complete 1 rookie base set each year and stash it away in a box. Any color of guys I'd get only if cheap as hell. Stash those in a box. Then every year or two, go thru the box and look at the stuff from years ago. You'll have paid a minimal cost, and you'll come out with some gems. Sure you'll have a lot of garbage too, but when you get at a low cost you always come out on top with a great ROI.