The importance of Beckett's Magazine for the card world

Beckett magazine played a crucial role in establishing and influencing the value of sports and trading cards, including Pokémon, during the 1990s. Before the internet and platforms like eBay, Beckett was one of the primary sources collectors used to assess the value of their raw cards. Here's how Beckett determined the value of cards during that era and its impact on the hobby:

1. Beckett's Role in Card Values

• Price Guide: Beckett published a monthly price guide for various trading card categories, including sports and non-sports cards. These price guides listed the current market values for individual cards based on different factors like set, condition, rarity, and player popularity.
• Authority: Beckett was seen as the authority in the industry. Most collectors, dealers, and shops relied heavily on the magazine to buy, sell, and trade cards. The values listed in Beckett essentially shaped the perceived market prices for both raw and graded cards.
• Influence: Since there was no internet or online marketplaces to verify real-time sales or demand, Beckett’s listed prices often became the de facto standard. This meant that what Beckett said a card was worth became the reference point for the entire hobby.

2. How Beckett Determined Card Values

Beckett determined card values by using several key factors, even in a pre-digital marketplace:

• Dealer Input: Beckett had strong relationships with card shops and dealers across the U.S. and Canada. They would collect sales data and insights from these dealers on what cards were selling for in the local and regional markets.
  • Dealers would report what they were paying to buy cards from customers and what they were selling them for in their shops. This gave Beckett an idea of demand and pricing in different regions.
• Card Shows and Conventions: Card shows were another critical venue for gathering data. Beckett representatives often attended these events, where dealers and collectors would buy, sell, and trade cards. Prices observed at these shows were used as benchmarks.
• Auction Houses: While not as common as today, some auctions (typically for rarer, high-end cards) were tracked to help set upper-end values for certain cards.
• Player Performance and Popularity: Much like the stock market, the performance of players in real life influenced card values. A strong season, winning a championship, or being a fan favorite could cause prices to rise. Beckett tracked these trends closely, especially for stars like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal.
• Scarcity and Demand: The scarcity of certain cards (like rookie cards or limited editions) and the demand from collectors also played a role in pricing. If certain cards were perceived to be hard to find, their value would be higher, even without extensive sales data.
• Condition: Beckett provided a basic understanding of how condition affected value, breaking down prices for cards in different conditions (e.g., Near Mint, Mint, etc.), although professional grading wasn’t as widespread as it is today.

3. Pricing Tiers in Beckett

• Low and High Values: Beckett typically provided two pricing tiers for each card: a low value and a high value. These weren’t tied to exact sales but rather a range that reflected what you could expect to pay or sell a card for depending on condition and market demand.
• Conditional Values: They also provided some guidance on how different levels of condition would affect the price, though this wasn’t as precise as the professional grading scales we have today. For example, a card in Mint condition could be valued at the high end, while a Near Mint card might be closer to the low end.

4. Challenges Without eBay or Online Sales

• Limited Data: Without online marketplaces like eBay, Beckett didn’t have the luxury of tracking real-time transactions. This made their pricing more static and less responsive to immediate trends or player performances. Instead, they relied heavily on reports from dealers and card shows, which could vary by region.
• Regional Variations: Card values could fluctuate depending on local demand. A popular player in one region might be worth more there, but Beckett had to generalize these values for a national audience.

5. Beckett’s Influence on the Market

• Self-Fulfilling Prices: Beckett’s prices often became self-fulfilling prophecies. If the magazine listed a card as being worth $50, collectors and dealers would trade at that price, even if there hadn’t been many actual transactions at that level. This meant that Beckett’s perceived value sometimes set the market rather than reflected it.
• Dealer Dependency: Many dealers, especially smaller shops, depended entirely on Beckett for pricing guidance. This meant the magazine had enormous influence over the market. If Beckett raised the value of a card, dealers would often adjust their prices accordingly.

6. Evolution with the Internet

• With the rise of eBay and other online platforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, collectors began to rely more on actual sales data from the internet. This shifted the pricing model from Beckett being the sole authority to eBay and other platforms becoming major influences in card pricing.
• Beckett still exists today, but its role has evolved to coexist with online pricing tools, auctions, and marketplaces.

Conclusion:

In the 1990s, Beckett magazine was the go-to source for card pricing, setting values based on input from dealers, card shows, and general market trends. Their values were often seen as the standard, even if not based on exact sales data. Without the internet, Beckett shaped the market through its price guides, but with the rise of online platforms, collectors gained access to real-time transaction data, reducing Beckett's singular influence.