Selling a card collection | FerrariChat

Selling a card collection

Discussion in 'Sports' started by Texas Forever, Jun 4, 2016.

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  1. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Apr 28, 2003
    75,396
    Texas!
    I inherited a card collection from my son. There must be at least four or five copy-paper size boxes of all kinds of cards. It's not a good memory, but he spent at least $7,000 on the cards. I realize they are probably worth a lot less than that, but he did obsess over them, so who knows how much they are worth?

    I need to get rid of them; but if I take them to a dealer, I'm sure I'll get ripped off. He did put together a couple of three-ring binders, so maybe I should start there. I suppose there are web sites where I can look up the values, yes?

    But if I do figure out the value, how should I sell them? Ebay? Should I sell them one-by-one, or by the pound or what?

    I dunno. I might throw them in the trash. Too many bad memories.
     
  2. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
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    Ian Anderson
    Firstly, I'm sorry I can be of no help in answering your Q.

    However, it sounds like you may have something of real value there - it may be bad memories, but if he obsessed over 'em that much, he probably got some good values over time - they be worth *way* more than you think.

    I certainly don't know, but can't you take them for a valuation at an auction house? No obligation either way, but a 'reasonably' honest opinion?

    Good luck, don't burn 'em!
    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  3. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Thanks for the feedback. I'm still considering my options.
     
  4. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Six Time F1 World Champ
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  5. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    Dec 1, 2000
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    what kinds of sports cards? anything like Magic The Gathering cards?

    I haven't collected in 20+ years, but still have my old baseball and hockey card collections. About 15 years ago I played Magic The Gathering and still have all those cards.

    what years did he collect from? I think the only people that really made good money on cards were ones that purchased before 1990's, especially those that had cards from pre-1970's (kind of like Ferraris). from the 1990's on there were more card companies, higher runs, and they introduced collectibility artificially with special edition cards.

    what to do with the collection? I don't know, the sentimental value and headache to get the most from collection might outweigh the proceeds.

    selling in bulk to collector or card shop will get you dimes on the dollar. to maximize proceeds you would need to go through each card divide between common, semi-rare, and rare. Common cards just sell in bulk boxes, semi-rare sell in small lots, and the rare cards you can shop around best price online, auctions, shops, shows, or collectors. Really rare cards you should get graded by someone like Beckett. A 9 or 10 graded card could bring 5-10x what a 7 or 8 graded card might.

    When I was in high school I was major collector and knew more than all these guys with collections from the 50's and 60's, when they were reading about value of cards in Forbes and Wall Street Journal they started reaching out to me and I brokered their collections for 25% commission. It was somewhat difficult job for me pre-internet and being in a small Kansas town.
     
  6. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #6 Texas Forever, Jun 7, 2016
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
  7. rob lay

    rob lay Administrator
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    might be fun to buy a Beckett (or online these days) and start looking up cards one by one from binder. you'll figure out shortly if the cards in there are like $1-5 each or some more valuable. I really didn't understand the sports card market in the 90-00's. back in my day it was easy, just had 3 card companies and no special editions. rookie cards always worth the most except some error cards. 90-00's they had special "lottery" type cards special numbered 1 of whatever and sometimes even pieces of players jersey etc.
     
  8. TexasF355F1

    TexasF355F1 Six Time F1 World Champ
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    He said they weren't good memories for him though, so I don't think he would have fun doing that.

    Because of how you feel, you may want to go through and find some of the stuff that may be of real value and then dump the rest on a reseller. The binder stuff may have been more sentimental value as opposed to actual value.

    In all honesty, unless there are some really really valuable items in there I'd be surprised if you could get over $1K even selling individually.
     
  9. dm_n_stuff

    dm_n_stuff Four Time F1 World Champ
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    I have a guy up north who does this for a living. Popped him an email yesterday, and hopefully, once he gets done playing at Disney in a couple days, we'll get these out of Dale's hands and into his for a careful evaluation.

    D
     
  10. Fast_ian

    Fast_ian Two Time F1 World Champ

    Sep 25, 2006
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    I like the sound of that!

    Gotta love Fchat..... :)

    Solves the 'problem' in a (somewhat at least ;)) trusted fashion.

    Looking forward to updates. Only one or two need to be in the super rare category, & all the others become bonuses.....

    Good luck,
    Cheers,
    Ian
     
  11. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Apr 28, 2003
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    Yep, you got that right. Not any good memories at all, not at all. It's time for it to go.

    And, Dave, I really appreciate it.
     
  12. Gilles27

    Gilles27 F1 World Champ

    Mar 16, 2002
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    I've been doing a little research on cards lately for my own collection. PSA has a good price guide on its site (below), but if you decide to grade any cards Becketts is much less expensive. I met with a local card shop owner and got some good advice from him, happy to discuss offline if you'd like.

    Trading Card Values - PSA SMR Price Guide
     

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