I have a baseball card collection, along with other items too, that I am interested in possibly selling does anyone have a suggestion as to the best avenue? TIA
Baseball card collection ?
- Thread starter sctarheel30
- Start date
I have a story that you may find interesting.
During the first summer of COVId when everyone was trying to find activities to occupy their time, I broke out my collection and went through them with my two sons. Over the next 2 years, we organized my cards (roughly 6000) into sports (football, basketball, baseball, etc.) and then into teams of each and we put them in plastic holders in notebooks. Just about 3-4 months ago, we took them to a collector. We spent approximately 2 hours just perusing our inventory. At the end, he chose 4 cards and was going to offer us about $30. That's it. That's all. And one of the cards was a Michael Jordan rookie. We ended up selling 3 for about $15 and keeping the Jordan card.
But it was a major disappointment. It turns out, I have some good cards. They just aren't in good enough shape for a collector to want them. The guy told us that basically if the card has been handled at all, it's going to be far less desirable. And if it has any blemishes at all - just the slightest fraying at the corner or water mark or anything - it's basically worthless to a collector. I had two very old and somewhat rare pieces - one of Hank Aaron and one of Mickey Mantle. But because they had not been under plastic throughout the years, he was going to offer me a couple bucks for each. I was thinking each may have been worth a couple hundred dollars. He said that had they been in mint condition, they probably would be. Just...damn.
Also, something for you to know, depending on the era of the bulk of your cards, it may not even be worth it. From the mid 80s to the late 90s, so many cards, of all sports, were produced and flooded the market. So cards from that era are so plentiful that they're basically worthless, which many of my cards were from that time. Maybe 60%-70%. The others were probably from the mid to late 70s but again, just not in good enough shape.
Lastly, I have a couple dozen Star Wars trading cards. He really liked these and said that they can fetch a good amount with Star Wars collectors. But again, mine just weren't in the kind shape that collectors want. And the thing is, I actually thought they were in pretty good shape. No real noticeable blemishes to the average eye. But these guys don't have average eyes and they spot the smallest of blemishes.
Good luck but I have a feeling you're going to end up being disappointed by the return.
During the first summer of COVId when everyone was trying to find activities to occupy their time, I broke out my collection and went through them with my two sons. Over the next 2 years, we organized my cards (roughly 6000) into sports (football, basketball, baseball, etc.) and then into teams of each and we put them in plastic holders in notebooks. Just about 3-4 months ago, we took them to a collector. We spent approximately 2 hours just perusing our inventory. At the end, he chose 4 cards and was going to offer us about $30. That's it. That's all. And one of the cards was a Michael Jordan rookie. We ended up selling 3 for about $15 and keeping the Jordan card.
But it was a major disappointment. It turns out, I have some good cards. They just aren't in good enough shape for a collector to want them. The guy told us that basically if the card has been handled at all, it's going to be far less desirable. And if it has any blemishes at all - just the slightest fraying at the corner or water mark or anything - it's basically worthless to a collector. I had two very old and somewhat rare pieces - one of Hank Aaron and one of Mickey Mantle. But because they had not been under plastic throughout the years, he was going to offer me a couple bucks for each. I was thinking each may have been worth a couple hundred dollars. He said that had they been in mint condition, they probably would be. Just...damn.
Also, something for you to know, depending on the era of the bulk of your cards, it may not even be worth it. From the mid 80s to the late 90s, so many cards, of all sports, were produced and flooded the market. So cards from that era are so plentiful that they're basically worthless, which many of my cards were from that time. Maybe 60%-70%. The others were probably from the mid to late 70s but again, just not in good enough shape.
Lastly, I have a couple dozen Star Wars trading cards. He really liked these and said that they can fetch a good amount with Star Wars collectors. But again, mine just weren't in the kind shape that collectors want. And the thing is, I actually thought they were in pretty good shape. No real noticeable blemishes to the average eye. But these guys don't have average eyes and they spot the smallest of blemishes.
Good luck but I have a feeling you're going to end up being disappointed by the return.
Interesting story. I'm in a spot where my mom is selling the home I grew up in and I still have a huge card collection in the basement from the late 80s/early 90s and was wondering their value.
That said, I feel like that guy may be screwing you? Jordan rookies have value and mint condition Mantle and Aaron cards have to be worth something.
Did you get a 2nd opinion on it? I know around me they still have collectors shows where you can bring them to people in the business.
I haven't gotten a second opinion yet. I plan to although I'd be lying if I said that initial meeting didn't take the steam out of my sons and me.
I don't feel like he was screwing us at all. He was very forthright with us and I just felt like he was being straight. Gut feeling but I live in a small community and everybody knows everybody and it doesn't behoove people here to screw someone else over as everybody always finds out and it comes back to bite them in the ass.
Like I said, none of my cards were in mint. That's probably the biggest takeaway. But let me be clear - I thought some were close to mint. That's the thing though. They weren't. Real "mint" means they have barely been handled out of the pack. Packs don't have to be unopened for something to be mint but it basically had to be taken out of the pack and immediately put under plastic and not handled again. The slightest bend on a corner ruins any chance at "mint". They can still be in "good" shape but the value decreases significantly.
It was quite a lesson for me.
I used to collect cards as a kid as well. I was one of those people who would almost immediately put it under plastic. Ended up losing the book in a move though. I doubt there was anything in there that would have gotten me much of anything, but it would have been fun to take it somewhere and get it looked at and find out if I was able to keep them in mint condition all of those years.
@gunslingerdick, even though you didn't get what you wanted, I would still make sure to keep those things as mint as possible. As we continue to move to the paperless and NFT age, those things could end up being a lot more valuable to your grandchildren.
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