It felt like 1960s all over again

[billyb]

Hi All,
My name is Bill, I usually hang around the memorabilia, pre war, area, so I am new to most of you old 50s and 60 collectors.
My neighbors brother came over today and knowing I collect baseball cards and memorabilia, he handed me a plastic bag with cards inside. What do I have , he asked? These cards still had the 1960s rubber bands around the stacks. Geez!
The first thing I did was get him a trading card box to keep them in and then I started to take the rubber bands off and go through what he had.
This was a typical collection from the 60s, just like mine used to be. Cards were not in good shape, and the collection was not geared toward any certain year, or company, though most were Topps. They were not organized at all. I quickly spotted a Mantle, so I got some plastic holders for him, and began to spread out the collection, trying to keep the cards of interest, in one corner.
Besides the typical Topps, mostly middle to latter sixties, there were some earlier sixties and some latter fifties as well, even some 1972 Topps ( which I like).
A fair amount of Post cereal cards were there, 1963 Fleer, Some older Bowman, a few 1967 star trek cards, and Monkees cards were scattered inside.
The more I handled them, they were just like the cards my parents threw away. Nostalgia was starting to set in. My wallet kept kicking my in the keester saying, what the heck are you waiting for. Make an offer.
But my collection I have passed on to my son, so I just deal in memorabilia, or old photos any more. But this was tempting.
Look close and you see all the bad corners and creases, but that was how my old collection used to be, handled, not with care, as I use to flip cards, shuffle them from time to time, to create my own teams.
Yep, it felt like the sixties again, it felt good.
So I gave him the bad news stating, no he is not rich. He then asked, "what should I do with them"?
Oh my God, the apple is touching my nose, so tempting.
What would you do?
Sorry the pics were so blurry, camera has been acting up and Macro keeps kicking itself off.

196990

196991

196992

196993

196994

196995

[swarmee]

Nice little collection. Great lot to send in to COMC during their upcoming National submission special if your friend is looking to sell them.

[1963Topps Set]

This is a nice collection to build upon. Buying - gold, selling - crap. Good luck!

[billyb]

I took the photos and still had half a box full to go through, as you can see the opened box. It has been about 30 years since I went through a collection that still had rubber bands on them.
A few of the cards in the piles had a zig zag cut through them, rendering them totally unvaluable, as I was told, his brother put these cards on their bikes. But if you look at the cards as evidence as what happened to many of the 60s cards, it has a collectors value, to those who research and record about the loss of cards from the 60s. By the way, they weren't yankee fans as one of the cards was a Berra. Ouch!

[almostdone]

I love lots like this. If it was me and he didn't have any real attachment to them I would make an offer on them and just enjoy going down memory lane. Flip through them again, read the backs, put them in order by year, team or whatever. The lot probably wouldn't cost you more than $100 bucks or so and the entertainment value is greater than that. Even if you got board with them you could probably sell them here in a heartbeat for what you paid or use them in a trade flip foe what you really collect.
Every time someone approaches me with a lot like this I end up with a box full of 92 Score or 88 Topps.
Have fun and recollect your youth. That's what the main drive is for most of us anyway in collecting.

Keep us posted on what goes on with it.
Drew

[KCRfan1]

To coat tail a bit off Drew, you could buy the cards yourself and even pass them on to your son. As Drew said, you should be able to buy the cards at a very reasonable price and your entertainment value will be worth more than you pay for them.

[mrmopar]

I'd probably direct the guy to do his own research online (ebay, COMC, etc) and then he could probably make a few bucks if he was interested in putting in the work.

Someone mentioned thinking the lot wouldn't cost much more than around $100 but from what I can see from the scan, that seems low to me, but I don't really buy much in the way of vintage cards these days. I can see the 60 Mantle, 60 Multiplayer w/Mantle, 57 Mays, 61 Clements, 58 Multiplayer w/ Mantle, 59 Banks, 60 Aaron, 71 Munson and 59 Kaline and 57 Spahn. That is probably the best of the best, but perhaps there is more value in there still…

[billyb]

I took condition in mind and checked on about 30 of the best cards, with the 71 Munson the best condition of the lot and valued it at a little over $100, the rest were about another $300 or so. But there were many semi stars that could bring in a couple of dollars each. I also did not check for any variations in the Post cards.
But I would give the whole collection a fair value of about $600 to maybe $700.
Again, any variations or the surprised value in star Trek cards could raise that value a touch more.
The Mantle has a crease which hurt its value a lot, as well as the Mantle and Aaron.
The best conditioned cards seem to be the 1972 Topps and the 1963 Fleer cards. But a Nr mint they are not.
I have took some advise from you all, I really thank you for it all. Because I do not want to offend the man with a low ball offer, I just advised him to sell off the stars a few at a time, and what is left, then he can lump the rest together to obtain his best value. Maybe if he comes back and knowning what the value is and the offer is right, I can take them off his hands.
I showed him the PSA site of grading and value, and he will be able to assess the value himself.
But keep the responses coming in, I appreciate each and every one of them.
Kinda makes me want to keep a few beaters around a wrap a rubber band around them...........LOL

Thanks to all,

Bill

[campyfan39]

Very cool post thanks for sharing!
I would say about 500 is a good price for the lot. If he looks at psa prices he will need a TON of educating. I would steer him to ebay

[1963Topps Set]

Actually, he should toss you a few freebies for your services. There was a guy on my mail route who showed me a shoe box jammed with cards 1967 - 1972. They were his son's, but he didn't want them. There was some nice stars, including a 1967 Topps Clemente. I did not want to insult him with a quick or low offer, so I told him to shop the cards around, but give me first refusal. He finally came back to me and gave the box to me. I, in turn, got him a gift card to a really nice restaurant so he and his wife could have a night out.

[billyb]

Tom,
Good story. It is good to hear that many of you don't really want to low ball anyone. I have always said the guys on this site are the tops in the business (no pun meant). Very class act.


Bill