I got to thinking about a National Public Radio news report, back in December. It was about the $1000 bagel in New York City. The reports mentions that within the city there also exists a $10K Martini and a $25K Sundae and not to be left out, the Westin New York at Times Square serves, with 24 hours notice, a $1000 bagel. According to the Westin's chef, it is made of a plain bagel, Mascarpone cheese, a wine jelly, the so rare and so expensive white truffles, and what seals the deal at $1K; Edible gold. Yep, there it is the 100,000 penny bagel. So what happens when the $1000 bagel goes stale?
Yes, I know it's a bagel, made of yeasted wheat dough that has been boiled then baked. Real simple. However, it does go stale. So what do you do with $1,000 investment of bread that no one wants to eat? Can you recover your investment by selling the $1,000 Penicillin mold? Good Luck.
Seriously, though what happens when you invest in something (remember baseball cards?) and then something occurs to cause the investment to go stale. What then?
Alright, let's take a look at a 1985 Topps #181 Roger Clemens (RC - Rookie Card) Graded in NM - Near Mint or Better condition which has gone from a high of $16.00 (08/11/2007) to a low of $5.50 (02/11/2008). Talk about flying a lead balloon (and it continues to drop). So all those kids, back in the 1980s and 1990s, that were going to cash-in when the Rocket went Hall of Fame are now left holding a shoe box full of cards that are fast growing stale.
Considering recent revelations about Human Growth Hormones, Needles, Trainers, and Hearings things don't look so good for the Rocket and neither does it for those kids, now adults, with stacks of Clemens Rookie Cards.
Unfortunately, bagels cannot become unstale but with rookie cards that's a different story. Remember Pete Rose / Charlie Hustle's 1963 Topps #537 (RC - Rookie Card) which has been hovering around the $400 to $350 range for some time now and everyone knows the troubles Rose has had.
In the end, what does this have to do with bagels? Well, let's just file this under "what seems like a good thing today might not be so good tomorrow", so hold on to those cards a little longer but throw that moldy bagel away.
tags: Dave Guerra, NPR, The Rocket, Pete Rose, $1000 Bagel, Westin Times Square, Baseball Cards, Rookie Cards
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