Football and Baseball Cards

ageecee

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guy has some baseball and football cards from the late 1980's to 2013. Said he has thousands and he wants $800 for the collection. What do you think the collection is worth? Im thinking he has a couple thousand he said hes been collecting for years. He said he has all players.
 

airportis

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doubt its worth $800 to be honest.

1st of all he definitely will know what he has and how much its worth. it isnt very hard to figure out.

would really need pictures and a detailed list to know what exactly its worth, and it could certainly be a lot less than $800.

having "thousands" of cards tells me it is a ton of absolute shit thatll be more of a pain in the ass to resell because the type of shit I am talking about will be wanted by next to nobody.
 

SQUARECROW2002

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It really depends more on the Card Company. When the boys were young we collected everything but back then in the late 80's and early 90's. There just was not as many companies and brands and you could collect most everything. The other problem is when the boom hit, all the companies went nuts and there are tons of cards out there for most of the years. That drove down the prices.

We used them in card shows, and eventually as the boys got older. We sold all the Jordan, Bonds, Sosa, and etc for a new stove, fridge, living room set and then all of the kids into thier first vehicle. I just do not think for the most part that opportunity is there anymore.

My strongest suggestion is to get as good of info as to what brands of cards, and the sports and then see if he has the windows where the stud players of today would include thier rookie cards. That is where the money is. Once some of that info is in your hands. Go to the local card shop, or Barnes and Nobles and get the Beckett Magazines for each of the major 3 sports and start to
file thru the years of info as to what the sets of cards or individual cards are valued at.

Then remember if you have a good find, you will still take a big hit when trying to move them on the markets as shop owners and collectors will drive you down to a point of that they can turn the card for profit reasons. Unless you want them to collect for a long time, which is another matter entirely. Just some of the things you need to think about or plan for.

Yes it was good to buy all that stuff in a barter type enviroement, but trust me did keep just enough of them that I have
now given to my 30 year old kids as to remember a time we had, and to share with the grand-kids as well. Can be a lot of fun.

Also remember if you have a spouse if it is a lot of cards, storage, care, and sorting all become issues. My wife was really glad to see the last 12 monster boxes go back then. LOL

Hope this helps a little

SQUARE
 

TAZ

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I collected cards from the mid 70's to the mid 90's, as mentioned above the last time it was profitable was the mid 90's. In general, all of the common cards, guys you don't recognize, are worth a fraction of a cent. For example 1987 or 1988 topps complete sets (~800 cards) can be had for $10 to $15, that includes the star players so about 700 of them are worth $1 or $2 in total. Outside of rookie cards of hall of famers or future hall of famers look for insert cards. Cards with game worn materials or game used bats, if those are recognized names and there are dozens of them it could be $800, if not pass in my opinion. If you guys do sit down with a beckett and look up the prices of some cards, if you expect to turn the cards over to a dealer for $$$, expect about 20% of the book value - something to keep in mind.
 

airportis

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I collected cards from the mid 70's to the mid 90's, as mentioned above the last time it was profitable was the mid 90's. In general, all of the common cards, guys you don't recognize, are worth a fraction of a cent. For example 1987 or 1988 topps complete sets (~800 cards) can be had for $10 to $15, that includes the star players so about 700 of them are worth $1 or $2 in total. Outside of rookie cards of hall of famers or future hall of famers look for insert cards. Cards with game worn materials or game used bats, if those are recognized names and there are dozens of them it could be $800, if not pass in my opinion. If you guys do sit down with a beckett and look up the prices of some cards, if you expect to turn the cards over to a dealer for $$$, expect about 20% of the book value - something to keep in mind.


good info here. IMO, the guy will know what he has and if he is saying he has thousands of cards, it is most likely a big majority of cards worth a cent, if that.

youll want to see exactly what he has and youll want to see a lot of autographs and game used stuff. there are good deals to be had but most people know what they have, especially if theyve spent all this time collecting.

as far as the book value goes you can pretty much throw that out the window. nobody and I mean nobody is going to pay you the prices it says in the book. eBay determines the market value if youre selling the stuff online and if you sell it to a card shop you should be expecting an extremely low offer. a shop will pay you a fraction of what its worth because they have to move the stuff themselves and know what goes into it all. ebay fees, shipping, etc., etc., etc.
 

BuckwheatJWN

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Most likely the guy has "cherry picked" what good cards he had and got rid of them elsewhere. DON'T BUY THEM. You'll get pretty frustrated wasting your time getting them in order and trying to resell them. All the serious collectors have the cards from those eras which are worth anything. No new collectors are entering the hobby. I still set up at a couple shows and all you see is middle aged men who are looking for something cheap from pre-1975 or just to come to bullshit and reminisce. The ship has sailed on card collecting for now and probably forever. Those under 35 grew up in a "throwaway society" Most collectible will be worthless in another 20 years.
 
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picksmentor

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Dang I miss trading.. I remember a few times when I was younger getting 1/1 and selling them back to the card shop for so much.
 

jr11

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My dad has about or did book value around 30-40K in cards. Who knows what it is now. Was his hobby. All documented, and insured. He has them in all in safety deposit boxes. I told him a decade or more to get rid of them. Not sure what he can or will do but that industry is dead to me it appears. The steriod era killed his stock, as he had like 50 Barry Bonds rookies and so on.
 

The Joker

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guy has some baseball and football cards from the late 1980's to 2013. Said he has thousands and he wants $800 for the collection. What do you think the collection is worth? Im thinking he has a couple thousand he said hes been collecting for years. He said he has all players.

Why would you want them?
 

Keyser Soze

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There's still a reasonably strong market on e-Bay for pre-80's stuff, but as always condition is king. I have a few sets ('67, '71 and '72) that I continually upgrade when the card come available. I got beat out on a '72 Hank Aaron In Action card about a month ago, but apparently I wasn't the only other interested party as the winner paid $315 for it. It wasn't even graded, but it was centered and that is a difficult card to find centered in that set. .........But I digress. The stuff from the 80's and especially the 90's and onward are only good for coasters and kindling unfortunately. Once things begin to get sold as collectors items they have already jumped the shark. I had a card shop in '88 and closed it just about a year later when 103 companies jumped into the market and completely ruined it for me and the hobby itself. I still get a kick out of occasionally finding somebody else that has some of the older stuff at home as well and we can still work out some trades for stuff each other needs. But it is definitely a dying hobby, but the same could be said for stamp collecting, yet there are still valuable items out there, but as with any other commodity it's all about supply and demand...........guns and butter.
 

BuckwheatJWN

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Halloween is coming. I give them out to the kids. Every year I'm having a more difficult time finding players who the kids (or even some parents) know. I look for those who became coaches, broadcasters, politicians, actors, or in some cases recent criminals in the news. LOL
 

Mr. Poon

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I'm going to take the thousands of commons I have from collecting baseball cards in the 80's and early 90's and turn them into my bar top in the man cave. Figure that is as good of a use as any for them. Need to get those Spike Owens out and let them see the light I guess.
 

PaSprint

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I'm going to take the thousands of commons I have from collecting baseball cards in the 80's and early 90's and turn them into my bar top in the man cave. Figure that is as good of a use as any for them. Need to get those Spike Owens out and let them see the light I guess.

I must say Poonster... that's a helluva idea. I like it. I have a shitload of em from the late 70s early 80s and that would be cool as shit.
 

smurphy

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There is still a decent market for pre 80's and post early 90's. Lots of modern stuff is good because they limited the numbers, added autographs, pieces of jerseys etc. Vintage will always have a market because of scarcity and condition. It's that glut from mid 80's to early 90's that's so horrible. But even in those years there are some gems (rare Emmitt Smith, Michael Jordan, Jeter, Favre, etc) - they just usually don't show up in collections.
 

Mr. Poon

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There is still a decent market for pre 80's and post early 90's. Lots of modern stuff is good because they limited the numbers, added autographs, pieces of jerseys etc. Vintage will always have a market because of scarcity and condition. It's that glut from mid 80's to early 90's that's so horrible. But even in those years there are some gems (rare Emmitt Smith, Michael Jordan, Jeter, Favre, etc) - they just usually don't show up in collections.

And that is what my collection is comprised of. Been awhile since I've looked, but I think my most valuable baseball card maybe an MJ autographed Upper Deck when he had his baseball diversion.
 

smurphy

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And that is what my collection is comprised of. Been awhile since I've looked, but I think my most valuable baseball card maybe an MJ autographed Upper Deck when he had his baseball diversion.

That might have some value. See if you can track it down on ebay.
 

airportis

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And that is what my collection is comprised of. Been awhile since I've looked, but I think my most valuable baseball card maybe an MJ autographed Upper Deck when he had his baseball diversion.

MJ autographs were really tough back in the day but the market has started to get saturated with them.

the shitty thing now is these companies have licensing deals with the leagues.

for example, until just recently, Upper Deck could only make hockey cards because they didnt have any licensing for baseball, basketball, or football. Years ago they made all 3 products but then lost out on an exclusive licensing deal.

Topps has a monopoly on baseball cards. Anyone else who makes baseball cards can't use logos or anything, so you get a card with some guy in a blank jersey that just says Atlanta or something for the team. no team names, logos, etc.

Upper Deck makes a football product but with no NFL license the players on the cards are pictured in their college uniforms. Same with their NBA product. And to combine the shitiness, they have exclusive deals with LeBron James and Michael Jordan. So you arent going to find autographs of those guys in any other product. You are only going to get cards of them in their College/High School uniform which are considerably less desirable.

A Michael Jordan autograph card with him pictured on the Bulls is worth considerably more than one of him pictured in a UNC jersey.

I think just recently Upper Deck got the go ahead to make a baseball product. Not full blown logos and everything else but they can use "player likeliness". They got a license from the MLBPA which means they can use player names and likeliness I believe but they cant use the team logos and such.

This is an example of a baseball card from one of the companies, Panini, that doesnt have a license with MLB and can only use player likeliness. It is still worth like 500-800 bucks but some people just dont like the way it looks with no logos or anything.

Trout.jpg
 

LuvThemDogs

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I ran into a guy who has a card shop and he told me the Jordan rookie card is still fetching top dollar. He said a #10 grade mint card recently sold for $100K. That's pretty cool because I have that whole set with his rookie card in mint condition. I paid $500 for the set back in the 90's. It's the only thing I have worth a damn. I still like the Cal Ripken Jr "fuckstick" card. I laugh every time I see it....
 

airportis

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I ran into a guy who has a card shop and he told me the Jordan rookie card is still fetching top dollar. He said a #10 grade mint card recently sold for $100K. That's pretty cool because I have that whole set with his rookie card in mint condition. I paid $500 for the set back in the 90's. It's the only thing I have worth a damn. I still like the Cal Ripken Jr "fuckstick" card. I laugh every time I see it....


a gem mint grade is incredibly difficult. not only is the condition of all the corners, etc. highly scrutinised, but the surface is also looked at very closely as is the centering of the card. most of the cards made back in the day are very seldom perfectly centered. even now it is not always the case. it also depends on what grading company awards the grade.

I am not sure what that guy was talking about, but this is a MJ rookie with an incredibly tough grade.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-87-Fle...82935920?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item4177cf1b70

you will very seldom see a card graded higher than BGS 9.5

they do award 10's occasionally but it is by far the toughest grade to attain. a BGS 10 and a 10 from another company like PSA are not the same.

a BGS 9.5 is incredibly good for that card.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1986-Fleer-...69031303?pt=US_Basketball&hash=item51b16c8987

this is the MJ rookie with a PSA 10, which is also a very good grade. PSA 10 and BGS 9.5 are typically seen as the same, but obviously a 10 on an older card is a bit different.

there is a reason this card would have been sent to PSA and not BGS.

this is about as good as it gets for an MJ rookie. I imagine if there is one out there, a BGS 10 would sell for slightly more but couldnt see it topping 20k.

am thinking perhaps the guy meant 10k and not 100k.

either way, you made a great investment at 500 bucks. whenever you do decide to sell, it would probably behoove you to take a good look at the MJ and maybe get it graded because it could be the difference between hundreds and thousands of dollars.
 
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