| Sports Illustrated Blog #130 on our way to #200 – More Mag Collecting Options Welcome to my Sports Illustrated/TIME magazine blog – Your collector’s guide to the latest hobby updates and insight into what’s trending now. I have been reading with interest about the increasing difficulty in finding/procuring high grade, Sports Illustrated (major pub) covers on the open mag market. Wouldn’t we all like to just fall into finding those diamonds in the rough but like anything else of value, it might require some additional effort. Some folks stop at the low hanging fruit while others press on. This is about pressing on. While it is true many of the known, most desirable, highest valued covers are located in personal collections and have not yet come up for sale but, for the moment, let’s view that as a good thing. It is also true that many collectors fail to recognize or capitalize on the opportunities created by changes to the hobby landscape. Let’s consider that a good thing as well. Why? Most opportunities start with the word “NO”. First of all, never be disheartened when others perceive a road block – more times than not, that’s your opportunity and taking advantage just depends on how much effort you’re willing to devote. Consider a new direction. The graded mag market is just heating up with SI’s leading the charge. When you hear collectors complaining about high grade mag scarcity, what they’re really saying is “Sports Illustrated” is scarce. And that is true however, it’s a big world out there and there are many other pubs to which collectors will eventually gravitate. The graded magazine hobby will follow the evolution of the sports card hobby (believe or don’t) in that SI sales will positively influence off-brand pubs as TOPPS did for Donruss, Fleer, Upper Deck, Score, etc, etc, etc,. The opportunity is to recognize this pattern and take advantage before everyone else. The perception is that there is no pub in second place after SI, but in my opinion, that is a mistake. For example, SPORT magazine is generally accepted as the distant #2 pub behind SI for mag collectability. But, upon closer inspection, there are tons of SPORT issues that check all the boxes – esthetics, athlete, first cover, age, and condition and just like cards, they will follow, and in some cases, surpass SI’s lead. I chose to spotlight SPORT, but there are others too – Street & Smith, BASEBALL, Inside Sports, Dell and many more, including individual issues, commemoratives, and special reports. Over time, the enthusiasm with which collectors “jumped in” for SI, will repeat over and over toward these other pubs. Plus, what can be gleaned from the fact that whales aren’t selling? Whales aren’t selling because they believe in the future of the hobby and that’s a very good thing. Opportunity-wise, if you’re willing to press on a little bit more, now is a great time to be a graded mag collector. I hope you are enjoying the reads on the history of SI, SPORT, and BASEBALL magazines as well as an insight into relevant magazine collecting. Great collecting to you in our second century of blogs and best fortunes with Sports Illustrated/SPORT/BASEBALL magazines. For a complete review of previous blogs, please visit www.sportsillustrated98.com |
