What To Do With Cards From the 80s and 90s?

[travrosty]

in 1989 i bought 50 ken griffey jr. donruss rated rookie cards from an ad in a magazine for about 2.5 dollars apiece, 125 dollars as i thought he might do something in the big leagues because his name and the fact he was getting some hype.

i thought i would get rich when his hof career ended and each card would be worth 5o-75 bucks or more.

they reached about 7 or 8 dollars at their peak, then fell back down to about 2.5 dollars again as there are millions of them out there.

A guy can hit over 600 homers and have a rookie card worthless. his upper deck rc, which went over 100, came crashing back to earth too.

I sold these 50 for a loss as I got about 125 dollars, but had to throw in a 89 UD set and a Griffey San Bernadino Spirit minor league set and a 1989 fleer set too. I couldn't give them away. I listed them about 10 times on ebay before I got one lonely bid. They made millions of these cards.

I remember the hobby publications back then had full page advertisements showing a kid holding a griffey rookie advertising "The Ken Griffey Jr. college fund"! They were pushing their card brand with Griffey leading the way. Insinuating that if you stocked up on their Griffey rookie cards when your kid was young, your kid would be in the catbird seat when it was time to go to college. Harvard, here we come!

college fund - Maybe if you plan on attending the college of hard knocks. Sad.

[zljones]

Originally Posted by travrosty

in 1989 i bought 50 ken griffey jr. donruss rated rookie cards from an ad in a magazine for about 2.5 dollars apiece, 125 dollars as i thought he might do something in the big leagues because his name and the fact he was getting some hype.

i thought i would get rich when his hof career ended and each card would be worth 5o-75 bucks or more.

they reached about 7 or 8 dollars at their peak, then fell back down to about 2.5 dollars again as there are millions of them out there.

A guy can hit over 600 homers and have a rookie card worthless. his upper deck rc, which went over 100, came crashing back to earth too.

I sold these 50 for a loss as I got about 125 dollars, but had to throw in a 89 UD set and a Griffey San Bernadino Spirit minor league set and a 1989 fleer set too. I couldn't give them away. I listed them about 10 times on ebay before I got one lonely bid. They made millions of these cards.

I remember the hobby publications back then had full page advertisements showing a kid holding a griffey rookie advertising "The Ken Griffey Jr. college fund"! They were pushing their card brand with Griffey leading the way. Insinuating that if you stocked up on their Griffey rookie cards when your kid was young, your kid would be in the catbird seat when it was time to go to college. Harvard, here we come!

college fund - Maybe if you plan on attending the college of hard knocks. Sad.

What shocks me is that the 89 UD Griffey still has some value despite being heavily produced in millions/billions. A PSA 9 still goes for $50 a piece, I know I had to shell out $50 when I bought mine last year.

[rdwyer]

I'm a teacher at an Elementary school in Long Beach, Ca. We're always looking for donations of any type of cards. We use them to motivate our students. Might be willing to pay shipping costs, if the cost is low. If you're local, I'll pick them up.

[Ejm1]

This may sound stupid but I have got in some bidding wars over unopened material from 1980-1984, those years are my childhood collecting prime and I think a small percentage of collectors my age (39) are looking back and wanting this stuff again. I'm not talking huge amounts of cash but some intrest is out there, at least for the early 80's.

[2dueces]

I gave mine to the kids hospital years ago. They love them!! Unfortunately it is the terminal ill ward but I cannot tell you how much joy you can bring to the kids there when they spread out thousands of cards looking for their favorite team. I'm not the teary eye guy but I was that day for more than one reason. Do something good with them.

[Buythatcard]

When I first started out in the selling business on eBay, I bought a huge lot of over 50,000 cards from the 80's to the late 90's. I thought that I would sell these cards individually and make a huge profit. Obviously, I didn't know too much about the business back then.
When I realized that these cards were not worth my time and effort, I decided to donate all the cards to the local hospital. I gave them to a friend of mine who was a doctor that worked with cancer patients who were children. He distributed the cards among the children. He told me that they kids all loved the cards.

I felt real good about doing that.

[Tomman1961]

I donated all my 1987+ cards to the Salvation Army.Could not sell an 800 count box of 1987 Topps for $2 at a garage sale. Not worth the bother. Donate. Maybe there is a tax write off? The value of a 1987 Topps common will book at 5cents? - is only a guess. Can you donate them and take a tax write off? May get you in trouble because I THINK the write off on donations is what the item is REALLY worth.
I liked what Ladder7 said-I did the same. I built an addition on my house in 1998. I put a 1987 Rose and 1987 Ryan in the walls for giggles.

[Tomman1961]

To-Buythatcard
I agree - donate. Being a cancer survivor at age 47 and having a neighbor with cancer at age 4.
Maybe that is the place to donate to. I just posted that mine went to Salvation Army. But maybe I should have done a children's hospital. And donate the stars with the commons.
Your post is the best I've seen. I hope many will read yours.
Thanks-Tom
Also-thank you to 2dueces who did the same-donate to a children's hospital

[Runscott]

I had a huge box full of miscellaneous cards from the '70s through the '90s - football and baseball. Gave them all to a friend who deals in '50s cards and hands stuff like mine out to kids for free at the shows. He ended up selling some of the good stuff and a 'surprise' check arrived by mail one day

Thanks Cy - you're a helluva good member of this hobby!