tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post3334092741624228167..comments2024-03-26T01:25:08.843-07:00Comments on Getting Back into Baseball Cards....in Japan: Collecting in a World Where Nobody Cares About ConditionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-71010940506186447342019-06-03T16:39:38.054-07:002019-06-03T16:39:38.054-07:00I shop for BBM pack lots quite often and for moder...I shop for BBM pack lots quite often and for modern cards I of course want them in good condition, but the amount of sellers stringing up modern cards or pack lots in rubber bands is awful. passed on many lots because of itMikenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-54642960406531710512019-01-27T18:28:30.985-08:002019-01-27T18:28:30.985-08:00Hi Jay! Yeah, that "buying the holder" ...Hi Jay! Yeah, that "buying the holder" thing is just lost on me, I don't get the attraction. I have a few graded cards but those were ones I bought simply because they were a good price for the card in that grade and not because they were in a slab. I've cracked some of them out too, though some I keep in just because its more convenient to leave them there.<br /><br />If I was plunking down $1000 for cards then I'd be much more likely to appreciate the value of graded cards since they do at least protect you from the danger of sellers inflating the grades of their cards. But I'm not in that league!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-35314653829104348902019-01-25T07:00:29.731-08:002019-01-25T07:00:29.731-08:00Great blog post (as always) Sean. I, too, get very...Great blog post (as always) Sean. I, too, get very fatigued by the running commentary of graded cards, graded card collectors, those that "flip" cards, those that play "graded card roulette" (i.e. buy a graded card, crack it out of the case, and continue to re-submit until they get the grade they want, then sell it for much profit). Here's where I think card grading has gone off the rails, and no doubt it was started as a good intent to help the hobby (albeit mostly to make $$, which is not a bad thing). If you have two examples of the same card, and both are the same in grade in every way, and one is graded and the other is raw, the graded one will go for MUCH higher. In other words, even though the mantra on Net 54 is "buy the card, not the holder," you are actually buying the holder, as the holder itself has increased the perceived value of the card. <br /><br />I have owned three graded cards, all 1967 Kabaya-Leaf, and I quickly cracked them out of the cases and threw the cases away and put the cards into my Ultra Pro sheets in my binder. Baseball cards, like comic books, are meant to be held, looked at, and enjoyed.Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03034604857415072999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-44084963663970502162019-01-24T19:53:29.619-08:002019-01-24T19:53:29.619-08:00Yes, I love what you did with your Nagashima! Tha...Yes, I love what you did with your Nagashima! That was 1/5 of the entire number of that card that had been slabbed!<br /><br />I'm still on the hunt for one, you got an amazing deal on it!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-70721382620941659172019-01-24T19:52:17.405-08:002019-01-24T19:52:17.405-08:00Oh and yes, the set registry might have some appea...Oh and yes, the set registry might have some appeal down the road, but its the sort of thing where you need enough people to buy into their service in the first place for bragging rights to the #1 set in their registry to have any meaning. I could probably pretty easily have the #1 Calbee sets for almost any year now if I just submitted a few of my cards to them....but why would I if nobody here cares? Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-77825705846319810172019-01-24T19:50:21.415-08:002019-01-24T19:50:21.415-08:00I think the "fraud" was less fakes (whic...I think the "fraud" was less fakes (which are pretty rare for cards, autographs are a different story) and more with sellers exaggerating the condition of cards, which is way more common. <br /><br />This I think is where they'll face an uphill battle in Japan. Collectors in the US already cared about condition a lot when PSA showed up, so they were offering a service to people who already had a demand for it. As I state in the post collectors here aren't anywhere near as sensitive to condition, so if they are going to make their business work they'll have to try convincing collectors that this is something they should care about AND something they should pay PSA to provide a service for, which is a harder sell.<br /><br /><br />They might do well with the autograph authentication though, the market here is flooded with fakes. But getting experts is going to be a challenge, given that probably none of their US staff know how to read Japanese signatures.<br /><br />Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-8401225763103991122019-01-24T19:44:15.497-08:002019-01-24T19:44:15.497-08:00So far it doesn't seem they have had any impac...So far it doesn't seem they have had any impact given what is available on Yahoo Auctions, but they just started so it might be interesting to see how that changes in the next year or so. <br /><br />I really hope it doesn't have an effect on prices until AFTER I've finished my 75-76 Calbee set, but that could take years. <br /><br />I can imagine those 1973 Calbee Sumo cards would be a likely target for grading given how much they sell for.Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-13030793742730666262019-01-24T06:25:40.413-08:002019-01-24T06:25:40.413-08:00I don't grade cards and I'm not too concer...I don't grade cards and I'm not too concerned with condition for vintage cards. Ironically I think the only graded card I've ever bought was that 1973 Calbee Nagashima card. It was graded a 3 (VG). Inspired by you and your Baseball Card Liberation Front I freed it from its plastic prison.NPB Card Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01178497208404127283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-92201735716433825182019-01-24T01:04:39.477-08:002019-01-24T01:04:39.477-08:00One of the main reasons that PSA got into this bus...One of the main reasons that PSA got into this business back in the early 1990s, according to their advertisements in magazines, was to provide authentification and prevent fraud by fake cards. They stumbled upon the set registry and it really took off. I can’t imagine there are many fakes in Japan(i might be wrong, but hope I am right) so this untapped market they mention has to be almost exclusively set registry chasers. No doubt, it is addicting. Would be interesting to do an interview with Tony Aram. SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-57597673604907889052019-01-24T00:58:17.304-08:002019-01-24T00:58:17.304-08:00I’m fairly impartial to grading since it doesn’t a...I’m fairly impartial to grading since it doesn’t affect me as a Sumo Card/menko collector, but it will hit the Japanese baseball card hobby first. It’ll be interesting to see how that affects your set-collecting efforts. I’m not convinced it’ll be a good thing. Once these first rounds of graded cards get back into the Japanese market through PSA’s Tokyo Office, I’d be curious to see what you are seeing. Are there a lot of Japanese baseball card collectors in Japan do you think? Here is what PSA is saying...<br /><br />After researching, visiting and gauging the viability of the Japanese market, PSA officials determined that now presents the right time to make its formal entrance into the country. <br />With a population of more than 127 million people, Japan represents an incredibly untapped market for sports and non-sports collectors alike.<br />“Because the practice of authenticating and grading cards is just now gaining popularity in Japan, there is an enormous opportunity to attract new consumers and future hobbyists to the benefits of trading card grading,” said Aram.<br /><br />One thing they mention is the interest in gaming card grading which I hadn’t really thought of. <br />SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-40463153229187647102019-01-24T00:30:18.887-08:002019-01-24T00:30:18.887-08:00Just checked and found their new (since November) ...Just checked and found their new (since November) Japanese language site.<br /><br />And yup, despite being in Japanese their Calbee registry is almost empty and doesn't even have a full checklist (the 1973 for example only has 64 graded cards total and only lists about 25 or so cards in the checklist). <br /><br />At a minimum they need to get on that if they want to be taken seriously.<br />Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-61736734890719020022019-01-24T00:10:01.336-08:002019-01-24T00:10:01.336-08:00Ah, I was wondering how long it would take them to...Ah, I was wondering how long it would take them to invade these shores. Their population reports for Calbees were ridiculously low the last I checked (last year) and they didn't even have complete checklists for any set, so they really need to get their acts together if they want that to work. <br /><br />I'm not too sure how to feel about it. On the one hand, I'm not a graded card guy so I don't really care and will get annoyed if everyone starts snapping up the best cards to get graded, driving the price of them out of my reach. On the other, if that results in the prices of mid grade stuff going down, I'm OK with that! <br /><br />For the time being though I'll just enjoy strolling through YAJ listings without condition being mentioned anywhere!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-67824290220967946332019-01-23T23:21:30.894-08:002019-01-23T23:21:30.894-08:00We've all been (excuse the pun) conditioned to...We've all been (excuse the pun) conditioned to care about condition!Seanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13681778110046124243noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-83737157241943254892019-01-23T23:21:27.780-08:002019-01-23T23:21:27.780-08:00Nice write up! Interestingly, PSA opened a shop u...Nice write up! Interestingly, PSA opened a shop up in Japan to handle Japanese submissions by Japanese collectors so the language barrier can be overcome. Evidently they see an untapped market with Japanese collectors. I would not be surprised if you see a huge uptick in Japanese interest in graded cards as they get hooked and addicted to Set Registries. I’m with you though...i just want to collect and make sets and never look at the condition unless the card/menko is totally roached. It is refreshing collecting in Japan for sure SumoMenkoManhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17461389544030702085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4243926228844409495.post-67188611179261637722019-01-23T21:49:55.878-08:002019-01-23T21:49:55.878-08:00I wish I could convince myself that condition does...I wish I could convince myself that condition doesn't matter, because I'd save a ton of money. Unfortunately... it's deeply embedded into my collecting ways that it does matter.Fujihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00749100861086458307noreply@blogger.com