Post#2 » by ImNotMcDiSwear » Wed Jun 24, 2020 2:30 pm
TL;DR: I collect too, and congrats on the hot Ja!
I got into collecting in the fall of 2018. I had collected as a kid but quit after all my cards were stolen. I was pretty shocked that by the time I re-entered, the hobby was suddenly becoming popular again. It made sense to me when it had gone out of style the first time: we're talking about cardboard, after all. But if you were buying packs in 2013 when no one gave a ****, you'd be rich from all your Giannis rookies. Low demand meant low supply back then. Now that demand has increased, there are way too few Giannis rookies to go around. No box of cards from 2013 cost more than any one of the base Giannis RCs you were sure to find inside.
If you want rookie cards of all your favorite Suns, the hardest (modern) one to get your hands on will be Dragic's. Why Dragic? He came into the league while the hobby was dead, dead, dead. Very few cards were printed his rookie year, so they're all expensive, despite being nothing but base cards. Pretty strange that you can get shiny, signed Amare and Marion rookies for lower prices than base Dragic rookies.
$650 for a box?!? Yeesh I'm priced out my man. I was still making money last year so I bought a box of Prizm for $125 IIRC. Didn't get any big hits - and yet, just the base rookies I pulled more than paid for the box (sadly, no Doncic, but Trae's base Prizm goes for $80). In fact, almost every pack I bought in 2018 yielded cards with value in excess of what I paid. Quite different from what was going on in the 90s, where you simply never made your money back. Now, of course, those old cards ARE worth something, but on one condition: they're graded, and they're PSA 9 or higher. The difference in value between graded and ungraded 90s cards is simply staggering.
As far as hot tips... a lot of hobby enthusiasts are talking Kevin Porter Jr. these days. Some other young players (other than Zion/Doncic/Morant) drawing interest from collectors are Reddish, Coby White, Michael Porter Jr. and Thybulle. It's interesting how players' values are usually related to, but not dependent upon, the quality of the player, e.g., Stockton and Malone were never valuable, despite being all-time greats. Barkley's cards have increased in value due to his media presence (so I may never be able to afford a signed Barkley). Penny Hardaway is still far more valuable to collectors than his place in basketball history merits - prices are sticky that way.
Personally, I only collect the Suns. I plan on starting to sell some of my non-Suns cards to finance my Suns acquisitions. My holy grails are the Steve Nash rookie Autographics and rookie Bowman's Best atomic refractor: the latter I may be able to snag one of these days. The former? Unlikely. Currently, I also have very little hope of ever getting my hands on a Devin Booker rookie Prizm, as it's just too expensive considering my lukewarm Booker fandom. Surely I'll never own his silver Prizm RC.
I may post some pics of what I've got on here one of these days... You know, Mikal Bridges cards are significantly less expensive than Cam Johnson cards ATM. You could build a substantial RC signatures collection of Bridges without spending a lot of cash. Ayton's pretty expensive (rightly so). Ty Jerome is cheap, but if the history of PG's drafted by the Suns is any indication, his cards will only continue to decrease in value (Tyler Ennis, Tyler Ulis... what is with us drafting all the Ty's? Will it be Maxey or Haliburton this year??).
FWIW, all the SSOL rookie cards are also fairly inexpensive: Amare, Shawn and Leandro are all very cheap to collect. And yet, you want Penny or Shaq in Suns unis, you'll have to pay for it.
Sadly... and I know I'm ranting here... I was looking to pick up some old Cliff Robinson inserts, as I think he's got a real good case for being one of the most underrated Suns of all time. But there just aren't a whole lot of quality Cliff cards. I'm not a huge fan of the Ultra platinum medallion cards despite their rarity. I'm on the lookout for an old finest gold #/100 for both Cliff and Rex. Maybe Rodney Rogers as well. Honestly, it's pretty nice being just a Suns collector, because our players aren't as expensive as others, so I can afford the more beautiful cards. If Ayton was priced like Doncic or Zion, I wouldn't be able to afford him. I'd have to buy packs just to grab his cards.
Finally, as far as current products go, I don't know if there's any way to get bang for your buck unless you're willing to invest thousands of dollars (to ensure you pull the big Zion or Morant). Prices have increased, like - IDK, at least double, but maybe triple or more - just this year alone. We're obviously in a bubble, which is why I'm inclined to buy as much as I sell. For long-term value, you'll want to stick with Prizm and Optic. This year's Mosaic will probably maintain value as well. I think Select is just as nice as Prizm but the cards go for a lot less for whatever reason.
Edit: Anyways, I'm no expert! Just a fellow collector. I'm buying singles this year, but man, ripping packs is just so much fun. Congrats on the big pull, m8!
