Sports card collecting

[kirbivore]

I remember senior yr of HS 94/95 during one of my multiple study halls I saw these younger kids playing some new card game called magic the gathering. If I only bought some packs back then and put them away unopened...

 

[SUFaninNJ]

I have the entire Topps NFL collection from either 1977 or 1978. It took me forever to find LC Greenwood to complete the set. I don't have any/many football cards after that. I remember selling a Walter Payton card for beer money back in grad school. I have a binder somewhere of my more valuable cards, though I don't think they're too valuable in the grand scheme of things. I had a bunch of Ozzie Smith rookie cards but they're off center. I collect baseball cards once in awhile now. I pulled an autographed Tatis Jr. rookie card, which I assume is my most valuable recent card. I ordered a box of unopened Upper Deck cards from Brandon Steiner's new venture and got a couple Griffey Jr rookie cards. A random Yankee autographed card came with the order. I was convinced that I was getting Luis Sojo, but got A-Rod instead.

 

[Scotch]

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on HBO last night had a very interesting story about sportscard collecting. I was absolutely obsessed with it as a kid in the early 90s. My favorite places in Syracuse were Hot Corner in Liverpool and George's on the Northside.

I just assumed that the hobby was extinct because kids were more interested in social media and illuminated screens, but apparently, the market for sports cards is absolutely insane right now. Over the past generation, sports cards have actually out-performed the S&P 500. They interviewed a high school kid who has made a few million dollars by age 17. There are Giannis and Luka cards, for instance, worth literally 5 or 6 figures. And then the holy grail Honus Wagner card is worth millions.

My most valuable card as a kid was a John Stockton rookie card worth $25 and I cared for it like it was the Hope Diamond. Unfortunately, because cards from my childhood era were so overproduced, none of them have much value.

Does anyone here have any particularly valuable sports cards?

Got back into it during COVID and it’s been a blast. And I also have that Stockton rookie!

 

[SUFaninNJ]

There's a great hobby shop about 10 minutes from me that I swing by on occasion. They just opened a microbrew in the adjoining plaza. Now that I think about it, maybe I'll head over there one last time before the school year starts.

 

[richmondcuse03]

There's a great, Syracuse-based business called TCGPlayer that focuses on the technology that powers and connects hobby gaming stores. They also run a marketplace that sells all the magic and Pokemon cards that have skyrocketed in value. They have an index of the values...stuff has been insane during pandemic. Business has grown rapidly too. Good local business.

 

[JDubbin]

Here’s an interesting story, I’m a sneakers guy myself, but I have a multi-million dollar business owner friend who dropped $190,000 on an entire card collection that he bought from an older guy who was feeling some pressure financially & from his wife to get out of the card business.

Walked into my friend’s office at his warehouse & he had cards everywhere, he had employees dedicated full time to sorting, listing online, etc. a bunch of the cards were graded 9+ & had many more to still get officially checked & graded. He hands me a stack of cards in cases… Wilt Chamberlain rookie card, Jerry West rookie, Larry Bird rookie, Magic Johnson rookie, had like 20+ of one specific Ken Griffey rookie card, etc. There cards like that spilling out of every nook & cranny, a stack of 30+ boxes of unopened complete sets of 1984 Topps baseball cards & so on. Current estimated worth of the collection - $3,000,000+… stunning

 

[tep624]

I was building the T206 set at one point, all PSA graded, all Piedmont back. I had the 4th or 5th highest graded set in the PSA registry at one point based on completeness. I got to the point where I had to start targeting Ty Cobb and Eddie Plank and decided I really didn’t want that much value in old card stock sitting in a closet

 

[orangenauburn]

FYI I collect old domestic and foreign coins if you ever had questions. Been doing so for about 10 yrs. All started with finding an old collection of quarters and pennies I had as a kid and then randomly finding a bag of WW2 era coins in a house we rented.

I'm just getting into old US currency

 

[Orangezoo]

I'm just getting into old US currency

Nice. It's an interesting hobby. I like looking for deals and estate sales where you can get lots vs all pre graded stuff. Plus it's an asset you can appraise. I tend to make sure I collect Silver currency as well just given it will always have some value as a precious metal too.

 

[Orangezoo]

I was building the T206 set at one point, all PSA graded, all Piedmont back. I had the 4th or 5th highest graded set in the PSA registry at one point based on completeness. I got to the point where I had to start targeting Ty Cobb and Eddie Plank and decided I really didn’t want that much value in old card stock sitting in a closet

Wow. You win lol.

 

[stuckinbig11]

I wish I had my baseball cards from the early 60's. My older son has big tub full of early 90s cards, but they are likely not worth much.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

Yeah some of those unopened packs and boxes go for stupid money.

1986-87 Fleer Basketball Unopened Wax Pack Jordan RC Year PSA 8 NM-MT | eBay

Where is my invoice?. Invoices are sent every evening around 11 p.m. PT. Do you buy collections?. These costs are your responsibility.

www.ebay.com

Like a lot of kids I had full sets of cards from the late 60's/early 70's and didn't have the foresight to hold onto them.

But, speaking of unopened packs, I have some Garbage Pail kids unopened packs from the mid 80's. I've held onto them for almost 40 years and I still don't think they have appreciated yet.

 

[chugg21]

I was building the T206 set at one point, all PSA graded, all Piedmont back. I had the 4th or 5th highest graded set in the PSA registry at one point based on completeness. I got to the point where I had to start targeting Ty Cobb and Eddie Plank and decided I really didn’t want that much value in old card stock sitting in a closet

ummmm...please share the outcome. Did it buy you a condo in Cabo?

 

[richmondcuse03]

Like a lot of kids I had full sets of cards from the late 60's/early 70's and didn't have the foresight to hold onto them.

But, speaking of unopened packs, I have some Garbage Pail kids unopened packs from the mid 80's. I've held onto them for almost 40 years and I still don't think they have appreciated yet.

I was told by a buddy recently that some of the garbage pal kids are worth a ton now. If unopened, you may actually have more than you realize.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I was told by a buddy recently that some of the garbage pal kids are worth a ton now. If unopened, you may actually have more than you realize.

I wish I had an entire case. Lot Detail - 1985 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Unopened Series 1 Wax Box 48 Packs (BBCE)

 

[Cusefannotindc]

I remember senior yr of HS 94/95 during one of my multiple study halls I saw these younger kids playing some new card game called magic the gathering. If I only bought some packs back then and put them away unopened...

I played MTG for like a year around that time, then a few years ago looked up the value of old cards I had. Value is much more on playability than rarity in those out of print cards.

My biggest memory from that time was this old guy (almost certainly younger then than I am now) bragging about his Lord of the Pit signed by Glenn Danzig.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

I was building the T206 set at one point, all PSA graded, all Piedmont back. I had the 4th or 5th highest graded set in the PSA registry at one point based on completeness. I got to the point where I had to start targeting Ty Cobb and Eddie Plank and decided I really didn’t want that much value in old card stock sitting in a closet

I have no idea what your first two sent even mean.

 

[jncuse]

I have a number of rookie cards in the NHL From 1980-1987 before the overproduction era-- unfortunately I was tough on cards esepcially up to 1983 and not that kind to them up to 1990.

Most valuable is Patrick Roy (Decent Shape) is value at $400 per Beckett in great shape. Thinking I may try to sell it for $50.

Just took out my binder and Also have rookie cards that are valued at $15-$100 (if in good shape, and they are not) - Paul Coffey, Steve Yzerman, Cam Neely (3 of them), Al Macinnis, Paul Coffey, Doug Gilmour, Dale Hawerhcuk, Michel Goulet, Ron Francis, Scott Stevens, Chris Chelios

I also have about 15 Wayne Gretzky cards from the pre over production era, although most are "League Leader" Cards. Some also have the word "Jerk" I wrote on them as I was going through my Anti-Gretzky phase at the time. I also sold my second year Wayne Gretzky 1981 Hockey Card (either in 86 or 87) for either $5 or $10. Brilliant move! Although it is was also in sketchy shape like most of my cards from that year.

 

[Orangezoo]

I have no idea what your first two sent even mean.

Topps 206 are the tobacco cards rare and extremely valuable from the early 1900s. PSA 4/5 refers to appraisal/grading scores of the cards.

 

[tep624]

ummmm...please share the outcome. Did it buy you a condo in Cabo?

I did end up selling it off, but I took pictures of it all and still have those. I think I had about 35% of the set at the time, all graded.

What got me onto that was I had purchased a membership to PSA (getting Mickey mantles and stuff like that graded that I had) and as part of the membership I got a free coffee table book about the T206 collection. The book is great, really well put together and has back stories on all the players. So that was the spark and from there I just decided to start collecting it.

I just started an investment portfolio with the proceeds though lol. Nothing too exciting. But it was fun buying up the loose cards and getting them graded and seeing how the results would come up.

I would warn anyone though if you’re going to collect vintage cards, you have to have a very good eye when dealing with ungraded cards because it’s very common for people to alter them by trimming the edges to make them look like they are in better condition. But trimming basically ruins the value if you attempt to get it graded.

 

[Orangezoo]

I did end up selling it off, but I took pictures of it all and still have those. I think I had about 35% of the set at the time, all graded.

What got me onto that was I had purchased a membership to PSA (getting Mickey mantles and stuff like that graded that I had) and as part of the membership I got a free coffee table book about the T206 collection. The book is great, really well put together and has back stories on all the players. So that was the spark and from there I just decided to start collecting it.

I just started an investment portfolio with the proceeds though lol. Nothing too exciting. But it was fun buying up the loose cards and getting them graded and seeing how the results would come up.

I would warn anyone though if you’re going to collect vintage cards, you have to have a very good eye when dealing with ungraded cards because it’s very common for people to alter them buy trimming the edges to make them look like they are in better condition. But trimming basically ruins the value if you attempt to get it graded.

Great point on trimming. I've even seen it for more modern cards especially those that are oddly shaped or not standard size for the brand.

 

[tep624]

Topps 206 are the tobacco cards rare and extremely valuable from the early 1900s. PSA 4/5 refers to appraisal/grading scores of the cards.

The original T206 aren’t made by Topps. I think they were made by one of the tobacco companies. Because they’re so old, my set averaged I think PSA 4-4.5 but I had cards in the 5-7 range too. Finding T206 cards over a PSA 7 is literally impossible and a richer man’s game than I’ll ever be able to play lol.

 

[GooseMutt]

Something else cool l have but I doubt there is much of a demand/market for them.

I was a Marketing Manager for a Fortune 500 actually (top 10) and my area was Silicon Valley and surrounding communities. We had season tickets for the Niners, Warriors, Sharks, Giants and A’s.

As I was the top dog in this area I got the majority of all the games (excluding those cherry picked by my boss). I failed to give away or attend many games these tickets and I accumulate a bunch over a 5 year span(91-96).

these are complete unused tickets most of which have players or other team related images on them. Really nice tickets.

I took a portion of my favorites and had them framed and they now are on a wall in my pool room.

 

[MSOrange]

My dad and I collected cards during the 1980s boom. We have complete sets for Topps, Fleer and Donruss for about 10 years starting in 1981. My dad would buy a set for me to put into plastic sheets to look at and then would usually buy at least one extra for the investment. He and I have different personalities so I would drive him crazy when I would look at the cards while we were putting them in plastic sheets. He was always telling me I could do that later after we got done

We probably have a hundred thousand cards in the closet at their house now.

My favorite player growing up was Reggie Jackson. I have all of his major issue cards (Topps, Fleer Donruss) for his entire career in plastic cases. His rookie card is my most valuable card. At one time, it was about $800. I have lost track what it's worth is now, but I would never consider selling any of my Reggie cards.

I still buy a few packs each year just to see what they look like. Personally, I really enjoy the stories about the old cards and people finding lost treasures.

 

[tep624]

Great point on trimming. I've even seen it for more modern cards especially those that are oddly shaped or not standard size for the brand.

And Trimming isn't necessarily awful, I mean if you have a card that's a misprint and has extra stock, you can trim it to the correct dimensions and it doesn't ruin the value or anything as long as you do it right. That's really how the card should have come out of the pack anyway. It's the knuckleheads that take vintage 3-5's and try to make them into 6-8's and trim them to the wrong dimensions that is pretty shady and annoying.