Just Wanted To Share This
 

Last October, my fiancee made a Facebook post about looking for cards for me (I do not have a Facebook; shocking for a 22 year old, I know). A guy's wife messaged her, and put her in contact with her husband, who I have conversed with off and on for a few months. He was pulling his cards from binders, and wanted me to come over to check out his collection and see what I wanted to buy. Wednesday night (1/4/17), my fiancee and I stopped over and he showed us his collection. He had two binders on the table in his basement. In one of them were a bunch of Indians autos on photos - Feller, Wynn, '95 Indians, etc. The other binder was full of Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and many many more HoFers' autos on photos. I attached a few of the photos. It was incredible. He also had a vintage baseball chess set, with the pieces being star players from throughout the years (Ruth, Musial, DiMaggio, Gehrig, Robinson, etc.). He showed me a display case for baseballs, 3/4 full of baseballs with autos like Mantle, Spahn, etc.

His card collection was incredible as well. Not much that would interest many on this board - tons of '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s RCs from all sports. Tons of value, but not a whole lot that interests me or many other vintage collectors. I ended up buying some Jim Thome's I didn't have, a Thome auto, some vintage Indians, and a Mike "Human Rain Delay" Hargrove bobblehead.

To top it off, he sold me 28 sports card binders (the padded ones), each binder full of Ultra Pro Platinum pages in VERY good condition. The pages area also pictured. I have no idea how many pages there are exactly, but I'm estimating around 4000. I got the binders and pages for $20 total. Unbelievable deal.

I wanted to share this because I don't get to see too many collections like this outside of National. The other reason being he is looking to sell most of his collection. He's looking to get those autos authenticated, and is seeking advice on the best, most economical way to do so. He also has tons of more-modern sets and star player cards. I know he'd like to keep his RCs, but I'm pretty sure everything else is up for grabs. What would be the best way for him to sell everything? Looking for some input.

Thanks y'all!

Awesome, I can imagine your excitement!

I love the picture of the mick with the ladies lol. Really nice deal on the supplies! I don't really collect autos anymore but I'd say his best bet would be to sell on eBay/here to maximize value over time or going the AH route if he wants to unload quicker.

To be able to go through these was truly an honor. I find great pleasure in little, simple things like this. To me, I was turning pages of history that not too many other people will ever get the chance to do.

Mick with the ladies gave me a good laugh.

The deal on the supplies is truly incredible when you break it down. Approximately 4000 pages (give or take) at $.20 a page (a box of 100 Ultra Pro Platinum pages is just under $20; about $.19 a page) is $800 of value. Granted they are used, but still in phenomenal condition. Even at $.10 a page, that's still $400 in pages that I got with 28 padded binders for $20. I hit the supplies lottery!

I don't know Mantle at all (just Ruth actually haha). But I've seen enough of them on here. Those Mantle's are not good, correct? At least the first one is not good, correct?

They look good to me but I'm far from an expert as well. I've had a few of his autos back in the day though. There's a bunch of Mantle collectors here that would provide insight.

Great story. I've had some great experiences with collectors in Ohio. There's certainly some die-hardship packed into the corners of the state.

Thanks for sharing!

David Luft

I'm not an expert, but I have seen a lot of Mantle autos and such. These look legit, plus his story was believable. His dad was a sports car salesman, and bought some of these off of a card/memorabilia shop owner that was shutting down; others in his collection he got in person. Back when he bought these, authenticating items wasn't as accessible as it is today, hence why they are not authentic. Looking at the rest of his collection, I fully believe everything in his collection to be real.

Ohio's weather sucks. But that's about it. Love this state. The corners, as you said, pack some collector's punch. Still trying to build my Ohio collector's network.

Maybe someday I'll get lucky enough to search someone's attic and find these...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/...er-bag-n530726

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/07/11/...in-ohio-attic/

Original collections are super fun to go through. If you have a quantity of autos to get LOA'd I would imagine one of the ABC authenticators would give a discount. Their space is heating up with competition. Ebay, or an auction house, is the likely venue to sell if they have no access to our BST :).

I don't know about what other signatures may be in the collection, but he should not waste money on authenticating the ones shown unfortunately, imo.

I can never figure out Mantle's auto, but the Aaron stood out right away as no good.

Great deal on the supplies though. The bad news is now you have to spend a ton of $ filling those binders with cards :D

Interesting...

The latter is really a bummer. Buying more cards really sucks. ;)

Post this over on the Autograph side and get some opinions.

Those 3 Mantle photos do not look like Mantle signed them....Unfortunately

jealous of your supply buy.

I am in the process of buying a live only sports card auction company that has been in business for over 30 years. One of the things we do well that the big auction houses can't is dedicating an entire auction to one collection.

EDIT: on the triple signed piece I did like the Williams, but I've never seen Mickey's first name look like that. We authenticate and/or guarantee all the autographs we sell at auction.

Thanks for the opinions guys. Let me ask this. I'm not an autograph person. However, is there a possibility that Mantle or whichever player signed whichever photo, signed it quickly or inconsistenly at times?

From all I've read, Mantle was pretty consistent. My first impression is that this looks a lot like the junk era forgeries. The Mantles are all similar and all look off. Check on the auto side for some expert opinions though.

What you are showing are all forgeries despite what "believable" story has been presented to you. You can post on the autograph side if you feel like you need more opinions. Sorry for the bad news

Not my autographs. I got the deal of a lifetime on supplies. They're his autos, or forged autos to deal with. Which is unfortunate.

I knew those Mantle's didn't look good!

not even close
 

hate it when that happens to so many people. They only find out when their stuff is to be sold - often in a time of hardship.

kyle
 

wow! any ruth autos???:confused:

Nope. And apparently these aren't even real autos, which really sucks for him. Disappointing for me a bit because I was so incredibly intrigued by the binder, but oh well.