New member intro, and a request for advice

[Frankbrent]

Greetings all,

Thought this might be the best place to solicit some expert opinions.

I'm (obviously) a noob here, but not to message boards in general, so I know that places like this are the best sources of info and (mostly) friendly advice. so here goes:

Outside of my early teens, I'm not a collector. However, my wife's late cousin most certainly was. When he passed away unexpectedly three years ago, among the possessions he left to my wife and I was an extensive baseball card collection. Based on recent perusal of some dealer sites (mostly Dean's), I'm aware of the potential value of this collection, and would be interested in selling it.

I've emailed someone at Dean's, who suggested I send them part of the collection for evaluation (none of the cards have been professionally graded). I'm hesitant to do so, for obvious reasons. I'd prefer to sell the entire collection at once, as opposed to piecemeal, even though I could probably get more for some of the more valuable individual cards. Unfortunately I don't have the time or resources to dedicate to such a project. Also, a portion of the collection was damaged when the climate controlled mini warehouse we were storing them in flooded (I dried the individual cards out, but they warped, and in the process I had to take them out of their meticulously organized folders - yeah, I'm still sick about all that )

Any way, tl;dr version - I'm looking to sell a large and very valuable vintage collection, and am asking y'all for help - any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

[clydepepper]

You may want to take a few pics and post them...I'm sure you will get some 'qualified' responses.

Good Luck

[JollyElm]

There are a lot of knowledgeable people here, but first things first. Why don't you provide some essential information to get things started. Give us a breakdown of the collection. What years is it comprised of? What types of stars does it include, etc., etc? And very, very importantly, post a bunch of photos or scans to let us know what you have.

Good luck.

[mrvster]

congradulations btw on the collection.....

as Darren said, take pics....

post them here.....heck, you might sell the whole damn thing here! lol...

if not, ebay them, or send them to an auction house....we will give you the best advice....




btw....look for a t206 wagner, a 52 mantle, some Baltimore news ruth's, a few joe jax ect... it will be like hitting a mini lottery evertime

[swarmee]

There are multiple companies who read/post on this board like JustCollect and InvestinBaseball. Call them up. If the value of the group is over $10K, they may come to you directly.

[swarmee]

Didn't even notice you were in Pensacola; if you need help appraising it and determining what to send in for grading or to sell directly, send me a PM.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Frankbrent

Greetings all,

Thought this might be the best place to solicit some expert opinions.

I'm (obviously) a noob here, but not to message boards in general, so I know that places like this are the best sources of info and (mostly) friendly advice. so here goes:

Outside of my early teens, I'm not a collector. However, my wife's late cousin most certainly was. When he passed away unexpectedly three years ago, among the possessions he left to my wife and I was an extensive baseball card collection. Based on recent perusal of some dealer sites (mostly Dean's), I'm aware of the potential value of this collection, and would be interested in selling it.

I've emailed someone at Dean's, who suggested I send them part of the collection for evaluation (none of the cards have been professionally graded). I'm hesitant to do so, for obvious reasons. I'd prefer to sell the entire collection at once, as opposed to piecemeal, even though I could probably get more for some of the more valuable individual cards. Unfortunately I don't have the time or resources to dedicate to such a project. Also, a portion of the collection was damaged when the climate controlled mini warehouse we were storing them in flooded (I dried the individual cards out, but they warped, and in the process I had to take them out of their meticulously organized folders - yeah, I'm still sick about all that )

Any way, tl;dr version - I'm looking to sell a large and very valuable vintage collection, and am asking y'all for help - any suggestions/recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!

2 thing to the OP. Dean's Cards are highly overpriced and you will get a very small % of their prices for your cards. The other is take John up on his amazing offer.

Originally Posted by swarmee

Didn't even notice you were in Pensacola; if you need help appraising it and determining what to send in for grading or to sell directly, send me a PM.

[Jobu]

You know, Ben, they don't let just anyone live in Niceville.

I agree that you should avoid Dean's, post a little bit about what you have, and see if any one of the many respected dealers or collectors on this site would be interested - you will get good advice here and might get a a few good offers too.

Originally Posted by bnorth

The other is take John up on his amazing offer.

[mikemb]

I agree with the other posts. You will get honest advice and guidance from the members here.

Be careful about using certain sellers for sale prices as a guide to the worth of your cards. The only price that matters is the price paid. For example, on Dean's Cards, if you look on Ebay at the completed listings, there are 201,187 items. If you look at the items sold, it is only 1,732. Now I realize that the completed listings have some items listed multiple times over the period, but still, they are selling a very, very small percentage of their listed items. In other words, no one is buying at their for sale prices.

Mike

[The-Cardfather]

Originally Posted by Frankbrent

Also, a portion of the collection was damaged when the climate controlled mini warehouse we were storing them in flooded

Sorry to hear about your loss due to flood damage.

But you may be able to recoup some of your losses if the self-storage unit was insured. Did your wife's cousin ever have his collection appraised? If he did (and the cards were insured), you should then have the cards professionally appraised again and file a claim for the loss (what they were worth minus what they're now worth).

Just an idea.

[EvilKing00]

Scan some cards and post them

[Leon]

Originally Posted by EvilKing00

Scan some cards and post them

+1 ...Would love to see some of them!!

[Frankbrent]

Originally Posted by The Cardfather

But you may be able to recoup some of your losses if the self-storage unit was insured. Did your wife's cousin ever have his collection appraised? If he did (and the cards were insured), you should then have the cards professionally appraised again and file a claim for the loss (what they were worth minus what they're now worth).

Sadly, he hadn't had them appraised. As for insurance, while our homeowner's policy would have covered any damage at our miniwarehouse due to fire, theft, hurricanes, etc, the one type of loss it specifically WOULDN'T cover was flood or water-related damage. Which at the time didn't seem like even a remote possibility, as the nearest water to the storage place was a retention pond some 150 yards away...but then how often do you get 26 inches of rain in 8 hours...

[edjs]

Without knowing what type of cards they are, some types of cards are soaked in water regularly to remove things like excess paper glued to the back. Then they are dried by placing them between something like paper towels and and placed between large, flat, heavy items so they dry flat. Check some of the threads about soaking cards, maybe you can get them flat again, depending on type. Not advocating doing this, as a lot of people frown on the practice, but usually if you are willing to sell them as soaked, others may not care. Again, check the type for being okay to soak, and ask people on how to do it, so you get it right.

[Jeff_cvc]

Frank,

We are all intrigued by your story, but no one can help you assess your cards if we can't see them. Not only can some very knowledgeable members here tell you pretty much what you have, but the rest of us love vintage cards and are biting at the bit to see any "new" find. With that said, SHOW US SOME CARDS! Please...

[Frankbrent]

Originally Posted by Jeff_cvc

Frank,

We are all intrigued by your story, but no one can help you assess your cards if we can't see them. Not only can some very knowledgeable members here tell you pretty much what you have, but the rest of us love vintage cards and are biting at the bit to see any "new" find. With that said, SHOW US SOME CARDS! Please...

Well, since ya said "please"...

These are sample pages from complete sets, save for the Play Balls - still have to go through those to see what's there and what's not.

[ullmandds]

how far back do the sets go? most cards look mid grade. it's the big name rookies in top grade that will command the really big bucks!!!! 52 topps mantle? 54 topps aaron? 55 topps clemente?

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

how far back do the sets go? most cards look mid grade. it's the big name rookies in top grade that will command the really big bucks!!!! 52 topps mantle? 54 topps aaron? 55 topps clemente?

man you are asking a lot for big name rookies and Top grade.......... the man got all these cards for free.....i would be happy with the haul he appeared to get.... what he has looks great to me and for him.. even if he doesnt have a mint rookie mantle or rookie aaron in TOP grade

[ullmandds]

Originally Posted by 1952boyntoncollector

manyou are asking a lot for big name rookies and Top grade.......... the man got all these cards for free.....i would be happy with the haul he appeared to get.... what he has looks great to me and for him.. even if he doesnt have a mint rookie mantle or rookie aaron in TOP grade

obviously you misinterpreted my response as I'm just trying to help assess value. I'd be head over heels had I come upon such a collection too. Stop being such a douchbag!

[redalpha7]

Did you file a claim with the storage company ? They must have insurance that may get you some money back

[1952boyntoncollector]

Originally Posted by ullmandds

obviously you misinterpreted my response as I'm just trying to help assess value. I'd be head over heels had I come upon such a collection too. Stop being such a douchbag!

Im going to assume he doesnt have a rookie 1952 Topps Mantle in top condition as he was able to find the net54 website and has at least some knowledge to search the net. I think we all are here trying to help assess his value on the cards he actually has.

No need to name call. Now if he does have that Mantle in top condition, then i stand corrected. Im going to take a wild guess and assume he has none of the 3 cards you listed let alone in 'top' condition.

Probably better to see if he has a rookie brooks robinson or a later 50s /60s HOF rookie..