I started collecting hockey cards in 1990-1991, being a fan of hockey/Wayne Gretzky, and because cards from my dad's childhood were worth so much.
This led to such an over-printing of sports cards [and comic books] that they aren't worth the binders and plastic sleeves they are stored in.
What's happening now is probably a bubble, as said - a bubble because COVID is taking things up to SEVEN WEEKS to ship domestically here in Socialist Canada. So I'm guessing this delivery trend is impacting prices. Also...casinos are closed here, so maybe other things being closed is causing growth in markets we can still access. Otherwise, I'm not sure why sports cards would be on the rise.
FYI, eBay made the price of comics decrease substantially. I would think, cards too.
Oh...and epic mentioned the Wade Boggs rookie card: I think in 1985, it came out that it was worth $1 million, with maybe 1-3 in total, found [possibly only one]. This led to people searching their closets for the card, and the price dropped to $25,000, LMAO.
As time goes on, and collectors die, and heirs who don't much care leave giant collections sitting in closets as a backup plan, or lost in bankruptcy estate sales, etc, cards will either get lost or disappear completely, and the price will rise.
I guess...buy stuff no one is collecting, and it may have value in the future? Buy the cards NOT hot right NOW, if you want to play the long game here.
No idea how these bubbles work. My friend who worked at one of the comic stores in town said there are these little bubbles you can make money off.
I'm going to plug Robert Stack Unsolved Mysteries from time to time...just so everyone knows. I'll try to keep it as on-topic as possible. Let me know if I get out of line, spamming videos or links.
This episode features a missing baseball memorabilia episode, and the rotund baseball memorabilia mogul who skipped town with the collection: