If you had $5-10k to invest...The Mick or Stocks?

[sickmantz]

I started thinking about this recently. With the current economic and governmental climate, the stock market does not seem like the same safe mid-to-long-term investment that it used to be. I don't really understand why it's going up and that makes me nervous. Maybe it's still safe in the long-term (20+ years), but that's what a 401k is for...

So, if you had $5-10k to invest, would you rather put it into stocks or high end vintage? If vintage, what would you buy? It doesn't have to be Mickey Mantle. It could be a Clemente RC, perhaps? Anyway, have at it.

[nera20]

another 401k or stocks would be my choice

[titletowncards]

It's been proven even in down times like the most recent recession that High Graded vintage is still a nice investment. The collectability factor weights heavily. Guys like Mantle will always be in demand. I'm looking even towards some high grade sure-fire HOF RC's as well myself (Ichiro, Crosby, Kobe as examples). Getting away from the newer stuff to focus on those. Market makes me a little nervous as well. If Gold hits the mark I'm looking for I may go after some of that.

[S2H904]

Buy shares of Ford, no brainer

[rcgdodge]

If someone handed me 5k-10k to do whatever I wanted with, I'd buy a Mantle.

If its my own money that I earned, I'd put it in a 401k.

[Gustomania]

This right here

Originally Posted by rcgdodge

If someone handed me 5k-10k to do whatever I wanted with, I'd buy a Mantle.

If its my own money that I earned, I'd put it in a 401k.

[hatchd]

An investment is no good if you never want to sell it. If I had a 51 bowman mantle sitting here I'd have a hard time ever parting with it. I don't give a damn about any stock out there and would sell them in a second. They are meant to be sold, not collected. I'd take the $10k and throw it into a Roth for me and my wife if it was money meant to be invested.

[MJGOAT23]

Originally Posted by hatchd

An investment is no good if you never want to sell it. If I had a 51 bowman mantle sitting here I'd have a hard time ever parting with it. I don't give a damn about any stock out there and would sell them in a second. They are meant to be sold, not collected. I'd take the $10k and throw it into a Roth for me and my wife if it was money meant to be invested.

agree here! I'd buy 2 wax boxes of vintage something @ 5K each. One to keep, one to open... er, "sell"

[TheHeel]

RTN
LLL

Just dumped some money in Exxon and Fitbit

[rats60]

T206 Green Cobb or Goudey Ruth would be my picks. If you wanted to buy a Mantle, I would get a PSA 8 52B, 53B or 56T instead of a lower grade 51B or 52T.

As far as selling, if you really needed the money, who wouldn't sell? If not, why sell a card that keeps going up in value?

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by rats60

T206 Green Cobb or Goudey Ruth would be my picks. If you wanted to buy a Mantle, I would get a PSA 8 52B, 53B or 56T instead of a lower grade 51B or 52T.

^^ Right here what this guy said.

But I want to add in a few "peripherals".
Any Ruth, Cobb, Mantle are strong bets, though we may have missed the Mickey Mantle train 10-12 years ago.

On Mantle- I saw a guy talk about this a while back somewhere, and he essentially said " I think now is the time to buy mid grade '53 Topps Mantles....before they go batshit crazy like the '52 Topps."
I agree with this thought train, though for obvious reasons it will never be over the moon like the '52s. Those cards are really starting to rise.
Note it took a while, but the '51 Bowman Mantles finally are getting out of reach for the run-of-the mill collector.

I believe Clemente to be a tiny bit under valued, specifically the PSA 7s.
I think his rookie card in a "mid grade" and above is a fine investment also, but as others state, get strong eye appeal examples.

That 10k investment for ME if I had it, would likely be a Clemente rookie, and a Mantle (early card) of choice in the mid grades might be where I hang my hat.

If I truly had 10k to just buy a big card and forget as PURE INVESTMENT, it would likely be a Mantle in some early form.
Second would be a top end Clemente rookie, but thats a personal choice and I'm biased.

[REGGIE206]

Originally Posted by rcgdodge

If someone handed me 5k-10k to do whatever I wanted with, I'd buy a Mantle.

If its my own money that I earned, I'd put it in a 401k.

This

[rats60]

Originally Posted by DJCollector1

^^ Right here what this guy said.

But I want to add in a few "peripherals".
Any Ruth, Cobb, Mantle are strong bets, though we may have missed the Mickey Mantle train 10-12 years ago.

On Mantle- I saw a guy talk about this a while back somewhere, and he essentially said " I think now is the time to buy mid grade '53 Topps Mantles....before they go batshit crazy like the '52 Topps."
I agree with this thought train, though for obvious reasons it will never be over the moon like the '52s. Those cards are really starting to rise.
Note it took a while, but the '51 Bowman Mantles finally are getting out of reach for the run-of-the mill collector.

I believe Clemente to be a tiny bit under valued, specifically the PSA 7s.
I think his rookie card in a "mid grade" and above is a fine investment also, but as others state, get strong eye appeal examples.

That 10k investment for ME if I had it, would likely be a Clemente rookie, and a Mantle (early card) of choice in the mid grades might be where I hang my hat.

If I truly had 10k to just buy a big card and forget as PURE INVESTMENT, it would likely be a Mantle in some early form.
Second would be a top end Clemente rookie, but thats a personal choice and I'm biased.

Clemente rookie centered would be a very good investment too. So many are off centered even in 7 or 8.

[tubby]

Nothing in sports cards is a good investment if you just hop on eBay and purchase the lowest BIN 5 minutes later. Everything in life can be a good investment depending on what you can buy it at

There was a 52 mantle that sold for $2500 in a PRO holder on eBay several months ago. I was bidding on it but at the time just assumed all pro cards were fake. Would have graded a PSA auth or 1

But if you just went on eBay now and bought a 1 for 11k or whatever, that's not a good investment. In fact it's the exact opposite of a good investment considering you could put that money in a standard etf

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by rats60

Clemente rookie centered would be a very good investment too. So many are off centered even in 7 or 8.

Yeah, thats what I was alluding to but I didn't necessarily say centered.

In fact I try and buy the best examples of any card when I can.
I myself like strong centered cards, but I am not *quite* as stringent on centering as a few other collectors are. I'm more interested in cards that have a better conditioned + a decently centered look.
In other words.............
I like cards that tend to have better overall look and appeal.

I personally would rather have a nice 8, with a slight centering issue, than a 6 with perfect centering and nicked corners etc. etc. I like for the overall look of the card to be good generally.

I know 2-3 guys that are overly obsessive about centering, as to the point where they will go with a FAR lesser grade to get that perfect centering. I'm not quite that bad.


Rats - you are correct on the Clementes , they tend to have some type of a centering issue, on almost each and every one.
There are a couple other years that have a bit of an issue with centering, but its not as bad as the '55s.
High grade Clemente '58s seem to be tough to find as well. I haven't found very many 7s and 8s recently that I would be happy to own.

[Daddymc]

Originally Posted by rcgdodge

If someone handed me 5k-10k to do whatever I wanted with, I'd buy a Mantle.

If its my own money that I earned, I'd put it in a 401k.

This all the way.

[Doctor Claw]

A centered 52T or 51B Mantle with eye appeal.

Finding either card centered is very difficult, though.

The 1914 CJ Cobb and the 1915 CJ Shoeless Joe can also be found for about 10K in 1-grade, the challenge is locating a 1 with eye appeal.

As a side note, I concur regarding the difficulty of finding the 1955 Clemente in a centered state; I passed on poorly centered 6s and 7s as I preferred the eye appeal of this specimen:

[DJCollector1]

Originally Posted by Doctor Claw

As a side note, I concur regarding the difficulty of finding the 1955 Clemente in a centered state; I passed on poorly centered 6s and 7s as I preferred the eye appeal of this specimen:

BOOM!
Now thats what I'm talking about.

I must ask though, what is the hidden issue with that card?
It looks far better than the grade. I can see a few corner issues, but none that would drag it down that far to a 2.5. Normally if a card shows a 2.5 grade, there are more noticeable MAJOR flaws. Usually its a massive crease somewhere.
I see the lower right corner issue, but I don't think thats anywhere near enough to bring it down to the 2.5 range! Normally a 2.5 would have a big time issue somewhere, or a massive crease or something. I don't see any of that on your card. Well done!
Now, if there are no big issues with it, then I assume you are considering sending it in for a bump, right?

You know Dr. Claw, I would have thought you would have bought a bit higher end Clemente rookie (not that I am slighting it) I just judge from your spectacular Mantle collection, which truly is one for the ages.
Maybe acquiring Mantle was your true passion, and you were more concerned about getting higher end examples of him, and not so much the other players I guess.

On that note- There was an amazing Clemente rookie on Ebay just recently, that looked every bit the part of a 8 or better, yet it had one crease vertically along the right 1/3rd of the card. Kind of sad really, the card was amazing, OTHER than a massive crease.
I think it was listed somewhere in the $999 range, but I passed.

I will try and sniff out a nice crisp copy when the time comes, of the PSA 5-6 variety.
You can find a beauty here and there, but its not easy.
The nice ones bring a real premium on Ebay generally.
To be perfectly honest, I am not looking forward to that Clemente rookie purchase when the time comes. It will be hard to find a nice Clemente in the 5-6 range like I am desiring, in the price range I will be tinkering with.
I have been biding my time, saving....getting ready to pull the trigger on a couple nice Clemente cards, which I will undoubtedly post soon.

Good stuff.

[Doctor Claw]

There is a long yet ultra-thin crease running along the top back edge; what some call a "wire" or "factory" crease. Noticeable at an angle, yet not something an owner finds himself seeing really. So it made it quite a deal.

In terms of why not select a higher grade, I just buy cards that hit my eye the right way, whatever their grade. If I can find high end centering and high end image quality without having to pay for corners, awesome. In fact, if possible I prefer the lowest grade, since why not satisfy the eye for the least money? Of course finding a technical 1 or 2 with a very pleasing front is incredibly tough. Still, such anomalous freak specimens do pop up every now and then. Love those cards that just look way, way better than the technical grade; they provide such an enormous value, looking at a great front that you know cost a mere fraction of what you were prepared to pay. The hunt for such cards is also fun in itself.

Here are some examples akin to the Clemente. In hand, each of these cards effectively blew away and "upgraded" a higher graded card. In the end, it all comes back to the card being more important than the holder, which circles back to your question about a bump; these days I don't see any point giving a TPG my money for a review or a crack-resub to tell me what I have; all that matters is that I have a card I love to look at.

Many of these below were very hard to find centered, such as the 69 Mick and 41 Williams (in fact I never saw a 69 Mick that centered, until that one). The 1914 Cobb actually has its lower right corner, it is just unfortunately bent back in the holder.

Other times a card routinely has tragic registration, take the 41 Joe D or the 51B Mick as prime examples; the image on both is usually far from perfect focus in the facial area, hence what struck me as a rare attribute in the two pictured below— great image clarity in addition to centering.

One final point worth noting is that in this age of scans, a scan often does not represent what a card looks like in hand. In person, especially at a normal viewing distance, I'm often amazed at how what was a glaring flaw in a scan doesn't bother the eye at all. This leads to some great values and savings for the collector, if we hunt for and can find those special cards. For example, I had a 10 of the MJ. When I put the PSA 1 beside it and took a step back, for the life of me I couldn't pick the two cards apart, in fact the centering on the 1 was a hair better. Sold the 10 and was able to buy more cards LOL.

[sickmantz]

My wife would never allow it, but it would be so tempting if we had the opportunity to buy one or several of the cards people have talked about so far.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Doctor Claw

There is a long yet ultra-thin crease running along the top back edge; what some call a "wire" or "factory" crease. Noticeable at an angle, yet not something an owner finds himself seeing really. So it made it quite a deal.

In terms of why not select a higher grade, I just buy cards that hit my eye the right way, whatever their grade. If I can find high end centering and high end image quality without having to pay for corners, awesome. In fact, if possible I prefer the lowest grade, since why not satisfy the eye for the least money? Of course finding a technical 1 or 2 with a very pleasing front is incredibly tough. Still, such anomalous freak specimens do pop up every now and then. Love those cards that just look way, way better than the technical grade; they provide such an enormous value, looking at a great front that you know cost a mere fraction of what you were prepared to pay. The hunt for such cards is also fun in itself.

Here are some examples akin to the Clemente. In hand, each of these cards effectively blew away and "upgraded" a higher graded card. In the end, it all comes back to the card being more important than the holder, which circles back to your question about a bump; these days I don't see any point giving a TPG my money for a review or a crack-resub to tell me what I have; all that matters is that I have a card I love to look at.

Many of these below were very hard to find centered, such as the 69 Mick and 41 Williams (in fact I never saw a 69 Mick that centered, until that one). The 1914 Cobb actually has its lower right corner, it is just unfortunately bent back in the holder.

Other times a card routinely has tragic registration, take the 41 Joe D or the 51B Mick as prime examples; the image on both is usually far from perfect focus in the facial area, hence what struck me as a rare attribute in the two pictured below— great image clarity in addition to centering.

One final point worth noting is that in this age of scans, a scan often does not represent what a card looks like in hand. In person, especially at a normal viewing distance, I'm often amazed at how what was a glaring flaw in a scan doesn't bother the eye at all. This leads to some great values and savings for the collector, if we hunt for and can find those special cards. For example, I had a 10 of the MJ. When I put the PSA 1 beside it and took a step back, for the life of me I couldn't pick the two cards apart, in fact the centering on the 1 was a hair better. Sold the 10 and was able to buy more cards LOL.

Good points. My Plank is graded a 3 because it has a white print mark in the blue background. It blows away any 3 or 4 that I have seen. It would be a solid 5/5.5 if not for that print defect. I would rather have a card with strong corners and a minor printing flaw than a card that has been abused and has worn corners.