It happens every year about this time–the sports card market takes a little dip, for no great reason. Vintage is not immune. Baseball is ending. Football is starting. People start to think about holiday shopping and travel, and tighten the budgets a bit.
If you’re shopping for a grail, this might be the time to buy.
I watch several indexes on Market Movers, including a Cardhound 100 Vintage index that Sports Card Investor was kind enough to build for my site. I don’t think any one index or result means all that much, but when multiple vintage indexes are following the same basic path, it indicates an overall market trend. And the dip is undeniable:
Here’s a key to decipher each line:
On the Cardhound index, some of the alleged “down” cards are as follows:
And here are some of the alleged “hot” cards:
Take it all with a grain of salt–especially in terms of individual cards (whether “cold” or “hot”). There is often so little data that one or two outlier sales can look really significant. An over-graded card can sell “low,” or one fool can overpay for an eBay Buy it Now. But I do pay attention to the “big picture” and the trend this fall is about like most others.
If you’re shopping for a personal collection card, it’s a good time to watch some auctions. You might find a bargain! Happy hunting.
