Hot vs. Cold Sets

After having taken the '07 year off and away from the hobby, I'm probably more out of touch with the current card market than I have been in a while. So maybe you guys can help bring me up to speed. What are the current "hot" sets and "not" sets?

A few initial observations is that the b&w photographic sets have really escalated in price over the past year or so. I can't believe what some m101-4/5's are selling for. Ditto for the E135's (Collins McCarthy).

What's going on in caramel - finally slowing down? How about tobacco and 19th century stuff?

agreed on the b&w photo sets you mentioned, I think Exhibits have also picked up in price.

caramels kinda depend on the set, e98's and e94's are still hot, yet e93's have definitely cooled from a year ago.

19th century still hot, and I see it getting even hotter for '08. I think overall tobacco has seemed to cool, especially in high grade.

I know Uzits and Red Hindus have escalated (just after I began collecting them again). The last SGC 10 Uzit common on eBay went for over a grand (I thought I overbid on it and was the third underbidder)!

Personally, I think the high-grade tobacco cards have cooled down - especially T206's mainly because of the number of trimmed examples in high grade holders. People are more cautious and paying less for these mostly out of fear of paying a ton of money for an altered card IMHO.

Last year, I sold my remaining horizontal and other E120's at substantial profits. The cards I had paid between $20 and $30 for the previous year, I sold for prices between $200 and $300. I have to agree with Ben on these - the B&W issues have increased over the past year in prices. I know in the E120's, the dramatic increases were mostly due to a handful of bidders who began collecting the set around the same time. I did notice that after these people had gotten certain cards, others, sold later, began to decrease (since these set collectors had their examples already).

Prices in general are soft, but there are a few issues that seem particularlly cold.

1. T206s (especially higher grades)
2. Old Judges
3. E93, E95

Other harder to find caramels like E94s and E104s seem to be holding up well.

The only cards I have tracked consistantly in the last year or so is Mid-Grade Common Back T206 Hofers in sgc50/psa4 grades and they have remained pretty consistant in the 150-250 range depending on the player and pose. Excluding the big names of course.

Also Lower tier T3 Hofers seem steady in the 1K range for PSA4's and 2K for Psa5's

I also made a nice profit on some Rare Back M101 Commons last year, but that can only be atributed to a lucky buy.

w572s are still cheap, so you guys them alone until I get what I want

I don't know how many people follow t205s but it seems to me that raw t205s are going for more than their graded counterparts. The only thing I can figure is that people are hoping to get a blind grader in hopes of making money on the flip. When it comes to cards that are in the 40/3 range, I'd rather spend the money on a slabbed card rather than take a chance on a raw card given current prices. There are just too many hidden flaws in t205s pull anything beyond a 4. I prefer raw cards, but I also don't want to overpay for a card, especially a common that is easy to find.

Jay

I've got some votes for cold sets:
1935 Goudey 4 on 1s with puzzle backs - interesting, but a bit complicated.
R312 Pastel Premiums - images not too crisp, but nice groups of players, for example Cochrane & Hartnett on the same card:




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