2,000 Sub Q & A: Part 2: Baseball Card Bubble? 'Secret' Auction Houses for Deals? 1st Edition Books?

This is part two of my 2,000 subscriber Q & A. I answer your questions....

[@KevinCarlino]

Hey, I asked that last question regarding consulting, thanks for answering! Looking forward to the dedicated video on it, :-).

[@ReservedInvestments]

Thanks for watching the video to the full end! I put that question close to last for that very reason! 😉

[@KevinCarlino]

@@ReservedInvestments haha, of course. I've been enjoying your content for a while now, keep putting it out there!

[@CatsGamesWhatever]

Great series of videos. I hope you have time to answer my question. I've asked it for several series now!

[@ReservedInvestments]

What’s the question?

[@CatsGamesWhatever]

@@ReservedInvestments I wanted you to talk about mistakes you've made collecting and some of the things you've learned from that.

[@TomSchmitzLP]

Your channel is great! I'd love to hear your thoughts on World's Fair collectibles, especially 1893 Chicago and 1904 St. Louis, and particularly Ferris Wheel items. Also antique kugel ornaments. And finally, Royal Doulton, particularly character jugs (prices seem to have collapsed completely in the past ten years) You're really persuading me on the long term viability of coin collecting. Thank you for your expertise and content!

[@ReservedInvestments]

Hi Tom, Thank you for your questions! I have always been split on World's Fair collectibles, regardless of the year. I think the World's Fair in and of itself can be considered historic, but the question is will future generations care? So in that case, it really is a toss up at present time and it depends a lot on the collectible/antique in question. Ferris Wheel items from that era seem to be in some demand at present time, but a lot of younger collectors aren't going to associate with the World's Fair, which means the market could be headed to being considered a curiosity in the trade. Not good news for long term growth... Royal Doulton appears to be going the way of Hummels with few exceptions. As for antique kugel ornaments, there is demand in that market, but it is not on par with say (and this is bad example I realize, but still valid) Tiffany Glass. I hope that helps. In other words, I don't consider any of those items to be equivalent to 'blue chip' antique markets. Just my assessment as to how I see those markets going...

[@TomSchmitzLP]

@@ReservedInvestments Thank you for the reply! I think you hit the nail on the head with your analysis of these markets. My father has been involved with World's fair/Ferris Wheel collectibles for decades and kugel ornaments in the past decade or so. The antique kugel ornaments are gorgeous and I think that market may have legs in the future. World's Fair is definitely a wild card imo, more of a niche, but my father has always just loved the items and the history. I've always been fascinated with Royal Doulton character jugs, but the interest from our generation seems to be nearly zilch. It will be interesting to see how these markets develop!

[@georgedorn9394]

Wow, nice price on the Alpha set at Weiss auctions. Thanks for pointing that out

[@BasTHoorn]

Thank you

[@charleybrown373]

Thanks, for answering my question on books! I picked up a first edition Crime and Punishment(Good), Brave New World(Near Fine), and I, Robot (Near Fine) in the last week. Paid around 20k for the three books.

[@ReservedInvestments]

Do you normally collect first edition books?

[@charleybrown373]

@@ReservedInvestments Started collecting first edition books this year. I have a collection that includes star wars items, magic cards, tmnt, and now first edition books. Cant get into video games even though I was a kid when nintendo came out. Your videos actually reframed the way I look at collectibles and I sold off some of my star wars collection and moved it into sealed magic product (unlimited and beta starter decks, legends box, arabian set in NM). For star wars I have an afa 85 Rocket Fett prototype, several carded uzays, some early store displays, a set of double telescoping figures and then some 3 packs and other miscellaneous items. The TMNT is negligible in terms of value. I enjoy collecting and being involved in different hobbies and markets and I have an attachment to a lot of the stuff since I grew up with it. Love your content and I routinely share it with other hobbyists even though it may scare the shit out of them!

[@charleybrown373]

Ive also asked about consulting before but never got an answer.

[@ReservedInvestments]

@@charleybrown373 There is going to be a whole video devoted to that...more details are coming soon.

[@rainbowmusic274]

Check out Rock Island Auctions...It's the Bomb ( or has the bomb if you know what I mean)!

[@joshroderer7394]

GREAT Channel! Do you consider sports cards to be an established market? OR Speculative?

[@ReservedInvestments]

The vintage market is established. For anything 80’s or later, it’s speculative.

[@markanderson1566]

Shawn thanks for answering my questions, my factory sealed rule of rose came back from wata in 9.4 condition, so I guess I barely missed investment grade? Can you elaborate more on wata video game grading or is it the same is comic books grading? Thanks

[@reniehandler2595]

Check out the WATA grading scale on line. It explains all grades from a .5 to a 10 plus a seal rating on factory sealed games from a C to an A++

[@ReservedInvestments]

9.4 is fairly high for that, so I’d say you are doing okay! One of the first videos I did was on the WATA grading scale.

[@markanderson1566]

Reserved Investments the only reason I was thinking wata 8.0 or higher is because some sealed nes games in 8.0 or lower condition are going for absurds amount of money right now on eBay in this speculative bubble. When this market matures don’t you think this prices will drop off a cliff for snes and nes sealed games in non investment grade?

[@maertens29]

You have to keep in mind that not all games are created equal. When you get into DVD style cases vs cardboard, there's a huge difference between what "mint" actually stipulates. Your rule of rules got a 9.4. Does it also at least have an A cellophane rating? VGA 85 usually crosses around a 9.4 A+. And I'm sure you wouldn't call a VGA 85 "mint". When you get into cardboard grading, an 85 is a fantastic grade. When you start grading DVD cases, an 85 isn't nearly as glamourous.

[@ReservedInvestments]

@@markanderson1566 I think prices will fall for most NES and SNES games many decades out, regardless of grade. Just like younger generations don't flock to Mego action figures and Western based toy collectibles, the next generations will not gravitate towards NES and SNES games overall...

[@TQM8888]

Hey Shawn, I’ve recently found your channel and I’ve been binge watching all your videos. I wanted to ask your advice about sealed consoles as an investment, this is because I recently bought a 20th Anniversary PS4. I bought it as a collectors item first and an investment second, but I’m curious to hear your thoughts on whether it will increase or decrease in value in the future? Many Thanks

[@ReservedInvestments]

It’s mass produced scarcity, but someone will easily buy it because video games collecting is in a massive speculative market at present time. Is it something I would ‘invest’ in? No, but for short term speculation, as long as you didn’t pay a premium to get it, you should do okay. Hope that helps.

[@TQM8888]

Reserved Investments Thanks for taking the time to reply and give your advise. Much appreciated! :)

[@IllPropaganda]

First editions? I'm down! Indeed, Shawn, quality over quantity! My signed first of "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" has done nothing but go up in value from my early 90's purchase price of $7700.

[@ReservedInvestments]

You did well!

[@user-uy3eq5hg1s]

You've mentioned several times that collectibles are generational. Baseball cards seem like something from a generation past. I've never met a Millennial who collects sports cards in their 30's (maybe 20 years ago). Honestly I feel like comics are in the same boat. Most of the guys I've met who are really into comics are older, but people in their 30's don't seem nearly as interested in comics. I think the same thing is going to happen with Magic the Gathering. MTG might have long lasting staying power, but I have a feeling in 10 or 20 years new generations won't care nearly as much. It seems like collectibles have a significantly shorter investment time horizon than other investment types like stocks or real estate.

[@ReservedInvestments]

And you would be correct in that analysis.

[@banditkeithkingofduelmonsters]

I do think mtg has it's old guard keeping the prices high but I will mention that MTG is a popular game where the expensive cards are actually really good. It's not just about letting it sit in a case and bragging about your investment, it's about the play-ability of the old powerful and rare cards. I don't have any interest in investing in old reserved list mtg but I would really like to have a copy of each Power 9 card and some cool old cards from the 90s especially dual lands.

[@ReservedInvestments]

But to be fair, if you just want to play vintage or legacy, you can use, dare I say...proxies. You don’t need to buy original old cards. This is one reason why on the other end of the spectrum, when MTG enthusiasts tell me they need to ‘reprint’ the reserved list to save the vintage format, I can’t help but laugh. A player is different than a collector. No one needs to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for a MTG card just to play the game, with few exceptions.

[@user-uy3eq5hg1s]

@@ReservedInvestments I remember in one of your videos you mentioned that sealed booster boxes have a higher chance of appreciating than individual cards and I believe that's accurate. MTG cards keep getting shinier, fancier and stronger in new sets to the point where old cards will feel outdated. Indeed recently there's been a plunge in the vintage MTG card market. Keith brings up a good point that a lot of the value in the individual MTG cards is derived by people who actually play the game, but especially in the COVID-19 era it seem a lot of those players are switching to digital/Arena. As time goes on I think physical Magic cards/boxes will shift more toward investors/collectors as digital takes an increasing amount of players.

[@mikepike7139]

Hey if even only 300 of 500 are unique views, thats still a full concert hall irl, think about it this way. Achieving KZbin Superstardom is hard even if you do popular crap, its extremely oversaturated :p

[@ParallelUniversity]

Did the cartel take down your last video? It seems to have disappeared

[@ReservedInvestments]

Great question and I’ll gladly answer...I actually pulled it, truth be told. It didn’t meet my own quality standards, so I’m going to redo it and launch it again when it is ready. I actually hold back a lot of videos due to the fact that I may feel they are not up to my own standards. This was one such example. I don’t feel I did a good job presenting the material in a standard that I can be proud of.

[@mrmovieprop]

The only real issue I saw is I think you overstated De Beers current control of the diamond market. It was 85 to 90 percent or so in the 1980s. I believe its less than 60 percent today or more like less than 40 percent today depending on how you calculate it. Thats not to say that supply is not controlled a bit to keep prices high but not to the extent De Beers could do so in the past.

[@andyr.3176]

I just watched a video about raw gemstones ... is it possible that video got deleted? o.O

[@ReservedInvestments]

I took it down. It didn’t meet my strict quality standards. There is literally 8 hours of recorded videos I didn’t upload to this channel because they don’t meet my standards. The ‘gem’ video should not have been released...

[@andyr.3176]

@@ReservedInvestments Oh, sorry to hear that. I was halfway through it (when I had to restart my computer) and I found it REALLY good. I couldn't see any deviation from your regular standards ... and I am a very critical viewer.

[@ReservedInvestments]

@@andyr.3176 Thank you for the feedback. That video will be re-edited and uploaded back to the channel at a later date. Apologies for the inconvenience. I agree that sometimes I am far too hard on myself...

[@andyr.3176]

@@ReservedInvestments Don't be too hard on yourself. Your videos are very good. It will take a very long time, until more people find them and share them. Remember: you are trying to cater to people who want content that is intellectual. In times like now, where videos get more views, the stupider the content is, it is hard to be on social media and be sophisticated. It takes a lot ot time. Just like with a good investment, patience will pay.

[@jedirun]

the gold and silver numismatic coin market will continue to thrive because the federal reserve will continue to buy treasury bonds and crank the digital funny money til the end of time ;)

[@ricardoblikman2676]

Do not worry about the travesty since the fact is that people who cannot select sources processes large amounts of information analyze it and draw conclusions contribute to less then 0.33% of all these views on those channels. They draw the same kind of people that buy Kirby vaccuum cleaners to resell :)

[@maertens29]

9.0 A+ is the bare minimum (for me) to even consider buying a DVD style game vs just buying an ungraded one. 8.0 on PS2 is quite bad...

[@ReservedInvestments]

Agreed!

[@trinitystupidity5458]

I do the opposite and stay away from the videos that focus on Pokemon, Legos, Funko, video games...