Posted: 4/21/2012 5:22:10 PM EDT
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I have a shitload of baseball cards from the 80's, most being in excellent condition. What's the best way to
find out if I have anything worth a damn? Is there a website I can enter them into that shows prices or create a spreadsheet? |
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A buddy of mine has complete sets dating back to 1951. When he moved a few years back, the state farm agent spent nearly 3 months at his new house doing inventory. He wouldn't tell me the net worth at the time of appraisal, but the policy covers the $$$ in the 7 digits.
So yes they are still worth some money, but they have to be old, in excellent condition, rare, or complete sets. |
| Most any baseball card made after the 70's is worth just about nothing. Same with comic books. There are some exceptions though. One being a Alex Rodriguez rookie card made by Upper Deck in 1994. http://gmagrading.com/1994-sp-alex-rodriguez-rookie-card-15/ |
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Quoted: Bottom fell out of that market in about 2003. I'm hoping it comes back as I have about 10,000 cards. Ya'll want'em  Yep. I collected basketball cards as a kid in the late '80s-mid '90s. I had a couple of cards that were "worth" over $100 according to Beckett back then. They're now worth a couple of dollars at most. |
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So glad I got out of baseball cards and comic books long ago. Made a killing with the comic books. The baseball cards, I made out okay on. I did have 2 Bo Jackson black and white rookie cards that I got decent money for. A bunch of others that worth decent money.
But the comics.  Geez, I made serious money on those.
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Quoted:
A buddy of mine has complete sets dating back to 1951. When he moved a few years back, the state farm agent spent nearly 3 months at his new house doing inventory. He wouldn't tell me the net worth at the time of appraisal, but the policy covers the $$$ in the 7 digits. So yes they are still worth some money, but they have to be old, in excellent condition, rare, or complete sets. Vintage cards are where it's at! I was a "collector" up until the mid 90's, then realized that I needed to concentrate on the older stuff, I had some nice rookie cards of all the stars, including Mantle, Robinson, Aaron, etc, but wanted to start completing sets from the 50's through 75, it took me nearly 10 years to complete that task, as I was a stickler for condition, wanting to make sure the grading was as close on all the cards. I was also fortunate enough back in the 80's to have a friend of my grandparents who owned a local chain of Sports Cards shops, get me started in the Tobacco cards, of course I don't have the Wagner card, but I've got several other rare cards. When I started to complete the sets from the 50-70's, I decided it was purely for investment as I knew from first hand knowledge how the market was so sketchy, and the newer cards weren't going to be worth the paper they were printed on. I primarily collected Football and Baseball as those were the two sports I played and enjoyed watching, but did dabble in Basketball and Hockey but not as extensively. At one time, large portion of my collection were wax boxes and cases, sealed and unsearched and I could verify this as I was purchasing them directly from Candy Distributors. I did however sell/trade most of those to complete my "vintage" collection, and to buy some autographed footballs/baseballs, and jerseys for my personal non investment collection. |
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The four horsemen of the baseball card apocalypse:
1) the strike; demand took a dump 2) steroids asterisks added to so many records; demand took a dump 3) my generation (born 1980) grew up hearing about how dad would have been rich if only he saved his cards, so we all bought plastic slip covers, or binders, or 3 pound screw-together lucite blocks to protect our not-so-rare-anymore rarities; supply went through the roof 4) ebay invented, suddenly instead of looking for two and a half years for that one card that completes the collection and finding it at the end of a three hour drive to a shop in another state, it's two and a half minutes and you find thirty of them offered next day aired to your door; supply went through the roof I've still got a Mark McGwire Olympic team card that lost something like 90-95% of it's value from its peak around the home run derby. 
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I have a Nolan Ryan rookie card I bough when I was a kid.
And I have a Mickey Mantle rookie card that I found in my Dad's stuff. I assume the Mantle card is worth something. There are a handful of others in my Dad's old stuff. Yaz, Killebrew, Foxx. I love reading about the old baseball players. Makes me feel nostalgic for how the game used to be. |
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Quoted:
I have a Nolan Ryan rookie card I bough when I was a kid. And I have a Mickey Mantle rookie card that I found in my Dad's stuff. I assume the Mantle card is worth something. There are a handful of others in my Dad's old stuff. Yaz, Killebrew, Foxx. I love reading about the old baseball players. Makes me feel nostalgic for how the game used to be. If the Mantle you are referring to is the 1952 Topps, one graded PSA 8 sold for $100,000. Even lower graded ones will fetch a good amount. My Dad still had his collection from when he collected, 1952 to 1954. He was a few cards short of a complete set of 1953 Topps, which I helped him find plus got him the 53 Mantle to finish the set. They were in great shape and are solid PSA 7-9's throughout. But, they are still only worth what someone will pay. |
Hey, this just sold for $1.2 million the other day........ http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/story/18705438/honus-wagner-card-sells-for-12-million-at-auction |
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Quoted:
If you grew up in the 50's and 60's and kept em you would be sitting on money. My step-father told me he had a ton of baseball cards in the attic of his parents house from when he was a kid in the late 50's-early 60's. He went and got them and we sat down with a Beckett about twenty years ago. His cards then were worth ten's of thousands then, I wonder what they are worth now... |
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Out of my 10k cards most of them are 80's and 90's
I do have a few hundred Nolan Rayn cards and a few hundred Cal Rypkin cause I figured they would be worth somthing some day. I do have a 58 Warren Spann all star, a 68 Uker and a 76 Terry Bradshaw. I got into buying them as an adult because I gave a hefty trash bag full of cards to a younger cousin when I was 18 and moved out of moms house. Little shit sold them for $3000 a few years later so I figured why not buy some up and hang on to them. |
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My parents are downsizing with retirement and I recently ended up re inheriting my baseball card collection. I had just about every card from 1986 through 1992 or so and after research ended up just tossing them. Demand collapsed when people figured out there were millions of these cards floating around in pristine condition. Kids aren't in to collecting anymore and interest in Baseball in general is greatly diminished from the 80s. There aren't any card shops in the strip mall anymore or anything like that where you could offload a sizable lot. I found a few places online, but when you factor in shipping it would have been a wash.
I hung on to my cards from the 50's -60's and certain select ones after that like hall of fame rookie cards and signed cards, but everything else ended up in the dumpster. |
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Quoted:
I have a shitload of baseball cards from the 80's, most being in excellent condition. What's the best way to find out if I have anything worth a damn? Is there a website I can enter them into that shows prices or create a spreadsheet? Your not gonna get anything for 80's baseball cards. Sorry. They were mass produced and are not worth the paper they are printed on. Vintage = Money I'm talking 50's on back. That said...Prospecting is a new trend that for the last couple of years people will pay SICK amounts of money for. Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome autos are what people go after. Like right now the hot prospects like Eric Hosmer, Bryce Harper and Brett Lawrie are fetching big bucks. I like to rip open a random pack or two once in awhile. I pulled a Eric Hosmer chrome auto from a $4 pack. It can be worth it. 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-BOWMAN-CHROME-ERIC-HOSMER-RED-REFRACTOR-AUTOGRAPH-4-5-AUTO-/180865485749?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item2a1c6c4bb5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Massive-2010-2011-Bryce-Harper-RC-lot-93-cards-7-autos-4-600-BV-READ-/230777125550?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item35bb637aae |
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Since clicking on this thread I went and got out my old cards....most were from about '88-'96.
If you want to invest, buy some stocks. Looking at these cards and remembering who my hero's were as a 9 year old is worth more than what these cards were worth new. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
I have a shitload of baseball cards from the 80's, most being in excellent condition. What's the best way to find out if I have anything worth a damn? Is there a website I can enter them into that shows prices or create a spreadsheet? Your not gonna get anything for 80's baseball cards. Sorry. They were mass produced and are not worth the paper they are printed on. Vintage = Money I'm talking 50's on back. That said...Prospecting is a new trend that for the last couple of years people will pay SICK amounts of money for. Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome autos are what people go after. Like right now the hot prospects like Eric Hosmer, Bryce Harper and Brett Lawrie are fetching big bucks. I like to rip open a random pack or two once in awhile. I pulled a Eric Hosmer chrome auto from a $4 pack. It can be worth it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-BOWMAN-CHROME-ERIC-HOSMER-RED-REFRACTOR-AUTOGRAPH-4-5-AUTO-/180865485749?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item2a1c6c4bb5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Massive-2010-2011-Bryce-Harper-RC-lot-93-cards-7-autos-4-600-BV-READ-/230777125550?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item35bb637aae Very cool. You're avatar looks strangely familiar. Aviator right? |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
I have a shitload of baseball cards from the 80's, most being in excellent condition. What's the best way to find out if I have anything worth a damn? Is there a website I can enter them into that shows prices or create a spreadsheet? Your not gonna get anything for 80's baseball cards. Sorry. They were mass produced and are not worth the paper they are printed on. Vintage = Money I'm talking 50's on back. That said...Prospecting is a new trend that for the last couple of years people will pay SICK amounts of money for. Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome autos are what people go after. Like right now the hot prospects like Eric Hosmer, Bryce Harper and Brett Lawrie are fetching big bucks. I like to rip open a random pack or two once in awhile. I pulled a Eric Hosmer chrome auto from a $4 pack. It can be worth it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2011-BOWMAN-CHROME-ERIC-HOSMER-RED-REFRACTOR-AUTOGRAPH-4-5-AUTO-/180865485749?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item2a1c6c4bb5
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Massive-2010-2011-Bryce-Harper-RC-lot-93-cards-7-autos-4-600-BV-READ-/230777125550?pt=US_Baseball&hash=item35bb637aae Very cool. You're avatar looks strangely familiar. Aviator right? This is arfcom man....everything is familiar.
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probably worthless. my step brother had a bunch probably 20k cards i believe he tossed most of them. the card companies flooded the market in the 80's onward, with reprints and 3 sets a year and shit. edit as you can see the only cards worth the money are 1 of less then 10 limited edition. |
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Quoted: If you grew up in the 50's and 60's and kept em you would be sitting on money. My uncle did. He had it all- Mantle, Gehrig, Mays. Everything. Fast forward 40 years to his house remodel. Some shitbird found and walked away with 'em. Legendary collection, gone.
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