Excerpt #1

#2 of Top 20 List of Most Under-priced cards in Today's Marketplace:

1971 Topps Game #43 - Terry Bradshaw ($8)
Todays collectors do not think twice about shelling out hundreds of dollars for modern-day rookie year insert cards of quarterbacks who have never won a single Super Bowl.

What would they pay if they won four Super Bowls, like Bradshaw? Yet, these same collectors turn into penny-pinchers when they consider buying the only rookie year insert card of a four-time Super Bowl winning quarterback.

Excerpt #2

Over-priced cards (category #6 of 24)

Ungraded Modern-Day Cards: Non-rookie cards of modern-day superstars
There are certainly many people who collect Ichiro Suzuki cards. Future generations of collectors may collect one of Ichiros many different rookie cards. They will not have the time, knowledge or resources to intelligently choose between all the choices of Ichiro Suzuki 2nd year, 3rd year, 4th year or 5th year cards. To illustrate this point, here is a list of 66 different 2002 (2nd year) cards of Ichiro Suzuki.

1) Bowman, 2) Bowman Gold, 3) Donruss, 4) Donruss Best of Fan Club, 5) Donruss Best of Fan Club Craftsmen, 6) Donruss Diamond Kings, 7) Diamond King Originals, 8) Donruss Fan Club, 9) E-X, 10) E-Topps, 11) E-X Hit and Run, 12) Finest, 13) Flair, 14) Fleer, 15) Fleer Gold Backs, 16) Fleer Tiffany, 17) Fleer Diamond Standouts, 18) Fleer Rookie Sensations, 19) Fleer Golden Memories, 20) Fleer Genuine, 21) Fleer Maximum, 22) Fleer Premium, 23) Fleer Tradition, 24) Fleer Triple Crown Immortality, 25) Leaf, 26) Leaf Lineage, 27) Leaf League of Nations, 28) MLB Showdown, 29) SPx, 30) SPx Superstar Swatch Silver, 31) SPx Superstar Swatch Gold, 32) Stadium Club, 33) Stadium Club Reel Time, 34) Topps, 35) Topps Gold, 36) Topps All-World Team, 37) Topps Hobby Masters, 38) Topps Own the Game, 39) Topps 206, 40) Topps 206 Team 206, 41) Topps Chrome, 42) Topps Gold Label, 43) Topps Gold Label Platinum, 44) Topps Gold Label Titanium, 45) Topps Heritage, 46) Topps Heritage New Age Performers, 47) Topps Opening Day, 48) Topps Ten, 49) Topps Total, 50) Topps Total Award Winners, 51) Topps Total Production, 52) Topps Total Team Checklists, 53) Topps Total Topps, 54) UD Authentics, 55) UD Authentics Reverse Negative, 56) Ultra, 57) Ultra Gold Medallion, 58) Ultra Hitting Machines, 59) Upper Deck, 60) Upper Deck Greatest Hits, 61) Upper Deck Breakout Performers, 62) Upper Deck Summit Superstar II, 63) Upper Deck UD Plus, 64) Upper Deck Honor Roll, 65) Upper Deck Honor Roll Gold and 66) Upper Deck Honor Roll Silver.

Believe it or not, this list does not include any of Ichiros autograph, jersey, glove, hat or bat cards. Why should it matter what a price guide says these second-year cards are worth? How could anybody intelligently filter through the list above and figure out which Ichiro 2nd year cards are worth owning? There are just too many second year Ichiro cards. There are too many Ichiro third year cards. There are too many Ichiro fourth year cards, and so on.

Excerpt #3

CHAPTER #6: Before buying any card, predict if the price should increase

Which of the following would you rather do?
1) Pay full price for an item that doubles in value in the next five years
2) Pay half price for an item that halves in value in the next five years

Even the characters in the Dumb and Dumber movie would pick option #1. Yet, there are thousands of collectors who buy a card for the wrong reason. They buy a card with little or no consideration given to the likelihood of a long-term price increase. Instead, after looking at a price guide, they buy a card because the price is just a fraction of the list price. Their hope is to find someone to pay more than the price they just paid.

By buying a card at a fraction of the list price, does it mean that the price will increase? No! A cards current price is not related to future price changes. People who try to profit by buying a card at a fraction of the list price are subscribing to the bigger idiot theory. They hope to buy a card at a certain price, and even if the card has little prospects of a long-term price increase, they then try to find a bigger idiot to pay more.

The biggest problem with this type of approach is that your odds of making money are not maximized. Stack the odds in your favor by paying a fair price AND by picking a card that will increase in value!

Excerpt #4

Anyone can go through the population reports and create a chart showing the total number of mint graded cards from the major sets in a given year. In the 1972 sports card sets, there are:

Chart #6.1 The total number of mint graded card from 1972 for the four major team sports.

It is much easier to find a 1972 baseball card in mint condition than it is to find a 1972 football or basketball card in mint condition. In todays sports world, basketball and football have similar levels of popularity as baseball. Basketball or football cards from this era are priced less than or equal to baseball cards from this era.

It is reasonable to predict that a future price increase for basketball and football cards is more likely than baseball cards from this era

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