My Analysis of Why the "Junk Wax Era" Matters for All Card Collectors- Yes, it STILL Matters!!
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- čas přidán 9. 03. 2023
- Whether you're a vintage card collector or a modern card collector, the Junk Wax Era matters. I anticipate the collectors from the Junk Wax Era having a major impact on Modern and Vintage cards for the next two to three decades. More than anything, the Junk Wax Era created tons of sports card collectors, and a lifelong love of collecting. That tidal wave of collectors is coming back to the hobby, and it's going to have ripple effects on Vintage and Modern cards.
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I enjoy junk wax. I started collecting around 1987/1988. I laughed when i saw that Todd Van Poppel card. I would go searching for Ben McDonald rookies in 1990. Similar to vintage, I am actually more impressed when I see junk wax cards rated a 10 versus ultra modern. There is so much "stuff" going on with ultra modern cards that flaws are hidden more easily. Seeing a 1986 Topps card (or anything with a lot of black), for example, in a 10 is really impressive to me.
Ben McDonald!!! Yes!! Rickie Jordan. Gregg Jeffries. Walt Weiss. The list goes on and on!! I agree about 10s...especially with black borders like the 85 Donruss or 86 Donruss. Junk Wax is a lot of fun. I totally agree.
This is such a great video! Not only is it insightful, but it’s so full of nostalgia. I was a kid in the 1980s. I collected cards then. Back then, the two absolute holy grails of cards for me were the 1973 Topps Mike Schmidt RC (my favorite player), and the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly RC. I couldn’t afford either as a kid. It’s only recently that I acquired them. You are SO right about junk wax collectors buying back their childhoods nowadays. I expect those cards are going to see a rise in demand. Thanks for the great video and for the awesome childhood memories these cards bring back :)
That means so much. Thank you. For me, the grail cards were the 86 Canseco Rated Rookie, 85 Topps Mark McGwire Olympic card, and the 84 Donruss Mattingly, as well. Oh, and an 83 Topps Tony Gwynn!! I have purchased the Canseco Gwynn, and McGwire in the past few months. The Mattingly is on my list!! So much fun.
For me it's 1951-1969 Mickey Mantle. Just 3 years ago I owned ZERO player Mantles. Now I have almost 20 of them! 1956, 1958-1969. LOVE this hobby!
@@boomerbreaks2133 That’s awesome!!
Nostalgia is a huge deal! Great analysis! 80s and early 90s cards have a simplistic charm to their designs.
Totally agree.
The junk wax era cards are some of my favorites along with 60s and 70s.
I like them too. And I have several. :-)
You are correct. I was 12 years old in 1982 and I collected cards. Now that I’m 53 and I can afford the cards I couldn’t afford back then, I have went back and bought all the cards you mentioned. I’m so stoked to now own a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson in a PSA 9.
Wow!! Awesome card!!
This video resonates with me so much. I think I'm about five years younger than you, so my baseball card collecting started in about 1993. By 2000, I was starting to drive and fell out of the hobby. Over the last few months, I have gotten back in to the hobby. I find myself not only gravitating toward graded vintage cards, but also the cards I couldn't afford of the stars from my youth. I've already acquired four of the cards from the lot at 5:50, with eyes on several more. Ripken, for example, was my favorite player as a kid, but I could never afford his RCs. I even went as "Cal Ripken after 10,000 consecutive games" one year for Halloween, which was an old man getup with a Ripken jersey. Now, I own three of his RCs in a format that barely existed when I started collecting, encapsulated and preserved for years to come. Nostalgia is real, and, combined with financial concepts of asset allocation and investing, there are definitely more people like me out there that are reliving our youthful pastime in ways we could not before.
That's so awesome. I have loved getting back into cards so much and it's so much fun to connect with others that have too. Your Cal Ripken costume sounds epic.
I started in 1989--LOVE Junk Wax!! Love the pics of the Chase Cards! Dawson for me!! Great story!! Now Im 43 and want to look at cards, sort cards, make videos about cards, do VRs about cards, would rather watch videos about cards than watch TVLOL! Did a TON of looking and sorting during COVID, and I have started looking/buying a little of vintage recently Aaron and Bench! Also picked up the Eddie Murray 78 and another copy of the Boggs 83 Topps! Thanks for sharing!
I think you and I have a lot in common. I stopped watching cable tv (only watch live sports now) because I just watch CZcams videos about sports cards. It's so much fun to be able to connect with others in the card community instead of watching some cheesy sitcom on tv. CZcams is a game changer!!
I remember buying the 1988/89 Pacific baseball legends cards and as a 10yr old kid I was so excited to get cards of the older legends of baseball like Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Johnny Bench, Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra, Harmon Killebrew and Ted Williams. The cards were really cool with the players old photo on the front and seeing them in the old school uniforms… they also had the interesting stories about the players on the back. I treated those cards like gold back then because they were all legends from back in the day. When I recently got all my old cards out of my closet to look through the thousands of cards I have those specific cards are the ones I remembered vividly and were the first ones I liked for out of all the junk wax era cards I had. To me those were my favorite ones.
I remember those, too!!
Fantastic analysis! I’m 51 and started collecting in earnest in 1982. Like you mentioned, at age 16 (1988) I stopped collecting only to pick it up during the early 2000s. Hope you’re right about the demand for junk wax increasing. Subbed!
Awesome. Really appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to watch and to comment!! It truly means a lot.
You’re spot on! I’m one of the collectors you’re describing here. There are many more!
I know!! And we've got a bunch of cool cards to buy in the very near future!! It's gonna be fun!!
Great video. Agree completely, thanks for sharing
Appreciate that Orlando. I'm still pumped for you for that awesome Minoso you picked up!!
I thought there was a bit of a spike in those cards in 2021-2022? From there, a lot of those collectors, myself included, have now increased the pool of vintage collectors buying those cards that felt completely untouchable as a kid.
I think the whole market took a deep breath about a year ago for a few months. But if you look at trends of most cards that aren't new stuff, the market seems to have stabilized.
My local childhood hangout card shop in Mira Mesa San Diego was the spot to be!!!!
The owner of that shop told me to collect errors misprints double-prints etc because 50 years from then they’d be the rarest cards!!!
Such great memories.
I started collecting again around 2016 (I stopped in my early teens) and went after my holy grail set when I collected; 1986 Fleer basketball. I had several RC’s from the set but was missing MJ and several other key RC’s. Glad I finished it before 2020 when prices jumped! Now I’ve been eyeing a few from the list you posted. Most notably that 83 Topps Gwynn. That was one I never got as a kid but wanted. Great video!
Appreciate it. I think there are so many of us in the same situation. I think the return of the junk waxers as adults is going to make a huge impact on this hobby for years to come.
I had the 83 Gwynn as kid. Certainly from a wax pack. I remember calling the card store, they told me it was worth $6, I was so excited.
@@renocool1558 I see the values of some of these RPA cards fresh from packs and think about when I was pulling cards from packs. If you were lucky, maybe you got one worth $10-20, not $10K-20K.
Wow homie g. I thought I was alone until I watched this… was almost in tears!!! Thought I was all alone until I watched this!!!!
Glad you enjoyed it my friend.
Thank you for this, feel like someone was reading my life. Also, very much agrer with your overall idea.
Appreciate that. Nostalgia is real.
I totally appreciate the time you dedicate to making these videos. They are informative and present the hobby in a light that is easy to follow. I'm old enough to have collected vintage years of the early 70s. I gave it up then started back in 1987. Chasing those most wanted cards at the time was crazy at times. Either collectors were hoarding or the cards were out of the budget range. I do have all of those cards you displayed accept the 1984 Fleer update Puckett and Clemens. They
Thanks for always being so positive and kind with your feedback. It makes me happy that others get enjoyment from them. They're a lot of fun to make, too.
My favorite junk wax card is, still the Ken Griffey Jr 1989 Upper Deck RC. I remember there was a time we thought, it would be the card that would pay for college or even early retirement...lol. Maybe not so much, but it's such an iconic card, and one that put or put back the hobby of collecting sport cards on the map.
It's a beautiful card that has so much going for it.
These are my favorite cards! What got me out of collecting was the strike.
But you're back!! And that's all that matters now!!
Great video, can’t argue your facts.
Appreciate it. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment.
1987 is when I started to look at cards as something of value. I was in 8th grade history class and a good friend who sat next to me told me the 86 Donruss Canseco was worth $150. I couldn’t believe it. That was the game changer for better or worse. Before I looked at cards as something of value, it was a much simpler time. I didn’t look at condition, centering and grading was even around yet. I simply collected to complete every Topps Baseball set every spring/summer. Ignorance was truly bliss when it came to collecting back then.
Agreed. The first grail card I ever wanted was the Canseco Rated Rookie. Now I have one in a PSA 9 and another autographed from a show he signed at last year.
I remember always buying the Beckett magazine every few months to look up the prices of my cards when I was a kid. The one card that instantly stuck out to me and I was in shock at the listed value of it was the Shaquille O’Neal rookie card from Topps Stadium Club, the “Beam Team” card. I still have the card to this day… I remember almost selling it to the owner of this card store that was offering me $100 for it and at the time being a young teen in 1993 I’m almost took him up on his offer for the card. Glad I resisted the temptation of selling it back then. I have the card in a clear plastic cover and looks like it is still in mint condition… I think I need to get this card graded… hoping it is a 10.
I started collecting sports cards (baseball and football) in 1988 when I was 10 years old. I started collecting basketball cards in 1990 and hockey cards in 1992. I probably stopped collecting cards in 1994. I still have about 95% of my cards. Just last week I started to look through my cards and had a blast doing it. What peaked my interest again was a co-worker who is half my age and who into collecting cards and was showing off his cards so I went home that day and pulled many shoeboxes out of my closet and started going through them. I felt just like a kid again!
Also before collecting sports cards in 1998 I collected Garbage Pail Kids cards in 1984-1985. Unfortunately I don’t have any of those cards, I wish I still did though.
Your story sounds SO similar to mine!!
A lot of collectors that, began collecting in the height of junk wax era returned to hobby during the peak of the pandemic, myself being just one of many. Fortunately I think a lot of ''us'' will continue to be here, as it's fun collecting, and it gives good feelings, the nostalgia is real.
100% agree. And, as a result, I think a lot of our "grail" cards from the 80s will go up, as we've reentered the market and want to own our "dream" cards of our youth.
Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it
Another interesting video as usual. Played sports for many years but rarely bought any cards. Years later after my son was born in 1980,got an interest in the late 80s and the first card I bought with him was a 61 Aaron. He enjoyed it for a number of years until he got into high school but I kept collecting. Junk wax was big until I started to get drawn to the 50s-60s vintage cards of my childhood and that’s pretty much all I collect now but I will be starting to sell off most of my collection to help pay for grandson’s college education. I have enjoyed every minute of collecting all these cards over the years and making many friends along the way.
That's very cool of you to do that for your grandson. The friends made along the way is one of the best parts...no doubt about it.
@@MidLifeCards Thanks so much for the kind reply. I get to enjoy the hobby and he will get to reap the rewards. I am hoping as he gets older that I can interest him to get involved in the hobby as well.
You are 100% correct! I never owned an 89 UD Griffey until this last year. I now have two..lol looking at some of the junk wax makes me cringe but others I will always have in my collection.
That 89 Griffey was one of the first grail cards for so many of us.
@@MidLifeCards I never chased it back in the day cause I knew there were so many out there I could always pick one up cheap. Well, those 10's aren't so cheap anymore. (I don't own a 10)
@@jakestoe I still want one. And don’t need a 10. A 9’would be just fine for me.
I really appreciate this video. 😊 I’d love you to shine a light on this eras minor league cards. In my opinion this is a sleeping giant for these collectors coming back in that aren’t aware - demand is high for these players and this is where supply is low! Keep up the great work!
Appreciate that. I don't have a ton of knowledge on minor league cards from that era to be honest. But I can take a look at it.
It will blow your mind once you look into the pop reports. Look at 1977 Rickey, Cal Ripken, Ryne sandberg 1980, griffey San bernadino platinum/Bellingham, John elway baseball card, Randy Johnson/Smoltz/maddux, puckett, gwynn Hawaii - it will BLOW your mind! 👀
Not to mention for nostalgia look at Canseco/Gooden/Strawberry/Sosa/mattingly etc… such sick cards to collect if you have nostalgia from this era!
very cool. my childhood years were the late 70s. started collecting in 79. I wanted the schmidt rookie and bench rookie.
I have a complete set of 1979 Topps. So much fun buying up all those cards from when we were kids.
Seeing those palettes of cards at Costco (in 1989, as I recall) should have sent me a stronger message than it did. Lol
So true. Literally PALLOTS. Costco and "Price Club"...remember those?
@@MidLifeCardsYES, I believe it was Price Club and not Costco at the time. My friends dad bought us both a box of '89 Topps and we spent that night opening packs. Never occurred to me that this should have been a warning sign. We just thought it was the coolest thing.
Sorry happy fingers. I wanted to finish by saying, Many of those cards are considered junk but I still enjoy the look of that Greg Jefferies 1989 Topps card. Thanks for another great video.
Agreed. There's something about that Gregg Jefferies that brings back fun memories
Good stuff
Thanks so much.
Thats the time period i was a collector and been thinking of starting up again. I only have a lunch box full. It wasn't about value or scarcity for me. I just wanted my favorite players. Majority of the cards I still have in that lunch box are for anything mint or in sleeves. I only have 1 graded card the Jr. Upper deck Rookie Grade 8.
There are so many ways to collect...and nostalgia is certainly a big part of it!!
I'm PROUD to say the junk wax era was when I cut my teeth and started collecting seriously. Now, coming back from so long ago, I enjoy it... No shame.. Sure I love old stuff just like I always will! I can admit and will own my era. The memories means more than a arbitrary number of value.
I picked up a couple of junk wax era cards at a show this weekend. I still love them.
Great video! I am right in the demographic you were referencing and when I started collecting again in 2018, I almost bought exclusively 80's and 90's cards from my childhood. There is a PSA registry "Top 100 Cards of the 80's by Mike Payne" that I have had a great time with if anybody is interested.
Awesome!! I think it's so awesome that people have gotten back into the hobby. I bought an 83 Topps Tony Gwynn, an 85 Topps McGwire, an 85 Donruss Clemens, and others...just in the past couple of months. I love it.
@@MidLifeCards Yeah, the 85 Topps Mcgwire is the first card I got when I returned to the hobby. Love it!
Maybe already mentioned in another comment, but I think the 1994-95 baseball strike also contributed to some leaving or decreasing activity in the hobby.
Great point.
1984 Fleer Update Dwight Gooden May as well have been a T206 Wagner to me. It was untouchable. Not anymore!
Yes!!! Exactly!!
You described me perfectly
Awesome!!
You are right, again
Appreciate it. I just think the Junk Waxers are just getting started again, and it's going to be a boom.
I've been collecting junk wax stuff off and on for a few years now. The prices of those cards, at least on ebay, have definitely been going up recently.
Interesting. Up over the last couple of months or years?
@MidLifeCards it's hard to say. A couple of years ago, I feel like you could get Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas and Mark Mcgwire rookie cards for a dime a dozen (those are the kinds of cards i like to buy anyway). And some people on ebay do still sell them pretty cheap, but more and more often, the prices are going up and it's getting harder to find the cheaper ones. Also, I usually only buy them in lots, like 3 or maybe 10 cards at a time - those are the prices I'm mostly referring to.
No doubt that GenX will rule the hobby for the next 20 years, the same way the Boomers have ruled in the past 25 years.
Mickey Mantle overtook Honus Wagner as the most popular card because the boomers grew up with him. They changed the narrative as Mantle is royalty in this hobby. We will do the same as the 86 Fleer Jordan, 89 Upper Deck Griffey, 79 O-Pee-Chee, 80 Topps Henderson, Gretzky and 81 Topps Montana, 86 Topps Rice, 89 Score Barry Sanders, etc will be the defining cards of what will eventually be called the modern vintage era. All these cards in high grades dispel the myth of the junk wax era as they are all valuable and expensive. And the difference between them and vintage, is they are still affordable in a PSA 7, 8 or 9. Vintage is expensive so a lot of people just don’t enter that market. The 80’s and 90’s is the best of both worlds for any collector whether it’s high end, mid end or low end.
I have a bunch of the cards you listed, and all the guys are age are buying them back up. It's a great list.
Exactly
@@MidLifeCards I feel it’s the best era of cards because you have such a diversity of grades/prices to pick from. Many people get out-priced by vintage (even in low grades) and many people feel that ultra modern is also too expensive because you’re playing roulette on a unproven player. For example, you can buy a 1980 Topps Rickey Henderson PSA 9 for $2,000 if you want a low pop high end card. You can buy the PSA 8 for $300 and still get a near mint iconic card. Or a PSA 7 (which is still a nice card) for $125. You can’t get that range with vintage or ultra modern.
Of course. Look at the players.. These cards tell stories...Jose Canseco pitching, 93 finest, Nolan conditioning w/ a football, ... good valuable insight.
A card that tells a story is always awesome. Good point.
Not only did they print a ton of cards in the 80's and 90's, but they are all mostly in perfect condition as far as centering and sharp corners because card companies made sure of that with advanced technology. Lets face it. Pre 1970's Topps and other companies were sloppy in their printing at times but that makes those rare centered cards from the era that much more valuable. Today, you can't brag you have a PSA 10 Mike Trout because a million other collectors have them too. One of the most fun, rewarding and satisfying parts of the hobby is finding a good conditioned vintage card. With modern cards, they all look amazing. TOO amazing. That thrill is gone.
I agree.
It’s supposed to be fun kids stuff, not a diversified stock portfolio
That's true.
The junk wax era was during my twenties. I purchased a lot of packs while chasing different inserts and favorite players. Although I was always interested in vintage cards I could not afford them. Now I am over 50 and just reentered the hobby. My focus is now hall of fame players.
Exactly. One of the points I was trying to make is that Junk Waxers like us love cards, but now that we have money, we want to buy the stuff we couldn't afford in the past. Pumped for you to be picking up HOF players!!
Back in late 1987, I had a binder of 1977-1987 cards, most were Jose Canseco, Will Clark, Dwight Gooden, Clemens, Jackson, etc. Id look through them and fantasize about "one day" owning the older 50s 60s cards, especially rookies. I quit in 1995, got back in 2014. I NEVER thought in a million years I'd EVER get a 60s or 50s Mickey Mantle or all those great rookies of 1952-1980. Now here I am with over 400, yes 400 1952-1980 HOFers and rookies. It's mind boggling to almost complete a fantasy I had when I was just a kid collecting, to a 50 year old man with a non-wealthy income acquiring all these awesome cards in just 9 years. I love the 80s, but man, those vintage cards look and feel so good.
I get it. I collect vintage stuff too. But, the return of so many Junk Wax era collectors, buying up their dream cards as kids vintage stuff like me and you are doing, is so good for the strength of the hobby.
still not convinced that the value can ever rise though. you can still buy junk wax packs for .25-.50 and griffey rc's were printed by the warehouse fulls...
I hear you. The cards from the early 90s will struggle to ever be worth all that much. But, there are some that will have some value. The cards from the early 80s are much different than the early 90s. I have a video coming out next week that goes deep into the supply and demand of cards, and spends some time focusing on the junk wax era cards.
I’ve only bought junk wax stuff for months. It’s gonna pop very soon
Interesting. Tho the supply of cards in that era is relatively huge. Thats the countervailing force on prices. We’ll see!
Agreed. I have a detailed video on the supply and demand of all types of cards that should post the middle of next week.
This explains to me the price disparity between 1968 Ryan and Bench RC's. I'm one of these junk era wax 80's kids but I don't buy those cards since I know how overproduced that they were. Only the Tiffany's, Fleer Glossy, Desert Shield etc were somewhat more limited. I have strictly focused on baseball vintage, and I have noticed the premium Nolan Ryan cards get in general, but it makes more sense now when you factor in the base of buyers that were kids from the 80's that remember Ryan still dominant and breaking records in the 80's into the early 90's. Johnny Bench, Yaz and maybe 50-60's players were really shells of themselves by the 80's and or retired in the early to mid 80's. Guys like Niekro, Sutton, Seaver, Carlton were beyond past their primes if we remember them at all playing in the 80's but Ryan was still going strong. Also the premium for Pete Rose also makes sense since many of us remember him breaking Ty Cobb hit record. It fact I saw him in the series before against in Cubs at Wrigley in Sept 1985. I think that it was only a few hits away from tying and then breaking the record.
Appreciate that. I've got a video coming out next week about the supply and demand of sports cards, and I talk about the Tiffany type cards and why they do have so much more value and potential than base cards from the junk wax era.
Vintage sports shack agrees... it's coming.
Awesome!! I'll be ready for it!! So will you!! :-)
Tiffany cards from topps and bowman are the way to go. I’ve been buying them. Also some opc. The base sets just have too many out to make a huge impact.
There are definitely a group of people buying the Tiffany and OPC cards from the junk wax era. I think that's a smart move.
I don't hate or even dislike JW era cards. I started collecting in 1985, and bought HUNDREDS of packs in 1987. They are fun, but my only complaint is there are WAY too many of them around. I'd love it if 20-30% of the 20 BILLION cards produced between 1986-1992 would disappear.
That made me LOL. I get it. Supply and Demand is a real thing...and it's very much at work.
YOU MAKE SOME AWESOME VIDEOS! AS LISTENED TO YOU SAY A 1987 TOPPS OZZIE SMITH IS WORTH $.020 WAS NOT TELLING THE ENTIRE STORY. A PSA 10 GRADED OZZIE SMITH IS WORTH ABOUT $40.00. I THINK YOU SHOULD HAVE FOCUSED ON GRADED CARDS, ALL RAW ARE NOT VERY DESIRABLE BY COLLECTORS
Appreciate the kind words. I agree about the non graded cards. That's why I included cards being graded in the video. Grading cards increases demand and increases the value. I started with raw cards on purpose for that exact reason.
Todd Van Poppel and Brien Taylor 🤦🏾♂️😂
Exactly!!
What a great video, I totally agree
Glad you enjoyed it!!
Welcome to yapcity
LOL.
1.5x speed recommended
lol
Hey man, I couldn’t do it any better, but it’s actually crazy how polished and tight it is when sped up a bit. As a listener makes it a bit easier to digest. But great content man, loved the video I learned a lot.
Tbh junk wax made childhood very depressing until pokemon cards came in to save the day I find it funny people think jimmy Kramer's will be worth something what's that you havnt heard of him that's cause junk wax cards were over produced so much they got players no one knows now charizard is a card we all know he a jynx everyone knows and pokemon cards do what junk wax never did that's make a limited and rotation for each season just saying
I appreciate your input and respect your passion for TCG cards.
You must be confused
The average income is about 55k
I didn't make that chart up. It was pulled from a major news publication. Also, that isn't the average income, it's the median income.