This is our world
I just saw one of these go for $100 on eBay:
At $30, an hour earlier, I thought, maybe this would be a good time to pick up a third. My first two averaged a little over $20 each: a bit high for the tail end of last year, but I like NM cards. With a handful of minutes to go, the auction bids up to $40. OK, I knew that Beta cards were on the rise.
$50? Not willing to go there with the black deck being my primary goal right now.
$80? $90? $97? Wow, didn't realize we'd come so far, so fast. This is our world.
This auction was a microcosm of the price trends I've seen lately across sought-after Beta (and especially Alpha) cards. Auctions bidding up through the ceiling. Stores' replenished stock gone within hours. Players and collectors who buy into high-end old school staples rarely give them up. Demand is outpacing supply at such a rate that it almost feels like Bitcoin.
I generally don't believe that vintage Magic cards are a bubble. But it's hard to deny that there's a touch of bubble-like behavior going on here of late. I say this only because play demand for 93/94 continues to hit the worldwide Alpha/Beta inventory so hard. It could taper off, along with some of the card prices. A person here or there (not me) may decide to cash in at $100 for their NM Beta Balloon Brigade.
Even if some of this does recede back a bit, these cards are still where I want to be long-term. And many of the prices will definitely stick. NM Juzam is upwards of $1,000. Do I sell?
No way. Double-sleeve? May consider.
At $30, an hour earlier, I thought, maybe this would be a good time to pick up a third. My first two averaged a little over $20 each: a bit high for the tail end of last year, but I like NM cards. With a handful of minutes to go, the auction bids up to $40. OK, I knew that Beta cards were on the rise.
$50? Not willing to go there with the black deck being my primary goal right now.
$80? $90? $97? Wow, didn't realize we'd come so far, so fast. This is our world.
This auction was a microcosm of the price trends I've seen lately across sought-after Beta (and especially Alpha) cards. Auctions bidding up through the ceiling. Stores' replenished stock gone within hours. Players and collectors who buy into high-end old school staples rarely give them up. Demand is outpacing supply at such a rate that it almost feels like Bitcoin.
I generally don't believe that vintage Magic cards are a bubble. But it's hard to deny that there's a touch of bubble-like behavior going on here of late. I say this only because play demand for 93/94 continues to hit the worldwide Alpha/Beta inventory so hard. It could taper off, along with some of the card prices. A person here or there (not me) may decide to cash in at $100 for their NM Beta Balloon Brigade.
Even if some of this does recede back a bit, these cards are still where I want to be long-term. And many of the prices will definitely stick. NM Juzam is upwards of $1,000. Do I sell?
No way. Double-sleeve? May consider.
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