Pricing for Vintage Cards Question
 

Hello, I've been getting more into vintage cards again as my Dad has started collecting the cards from his youth and already has a few 50's sets together. My collection over the past could of years has been mostly modern where pricing is basically guided by Ebay. We have tried to do the same with the vintage cards along with pricing from SMR as we have a PSA membership. I noticed a lot of people use VCP to justify their pricing in BST section.

My question is what is the more accepted assessment of values for cards? SMR seems relatively in line with Ebay but also seems off when it comes to more popular players and cards (undervalues) and maybe overvalues others. I checked out the VCP website and it looks interesting but a bit expensive compared to just using Ebay or SMR. I like that it takes into account auction house pricing. Is SMR a decent guide to go by or should we pay the money to try VCP? Also does VCP have a few that looks at all prices for the cards in a set based on checklist like SMR does? Thanks!

Hope to see you get to into collecting vintage.

Nothing beats actual prices. VCP gives several years worth of pricing as well as images so you can see if the card was good or bad for the grade.

EBay is great but only goes back a couple of months. Depending on the vintage card you are looking at, there may not have been any EBay sales.

SMR may not be worthless, as it gives a good basic idea, but the devil is in the details with it. As you said, too high on some, too low on others versus actual sales.

Tom C

Some of the prices listed on SMR are pretty accurate, but others have no connection to the real world. SMR's Cracker Jack prices are especially laughable across the board.

SMR lists most 1915 Cracker Jack Hall of Famers at $30-35 and commons at $12-14 in PSA 1. That is not even close to real world market value. I would love to buy some Cracker Jack cards of Christy Mathewson at $225, Honus Wagner at $250, Ty Cobb at $650 and Shoeless Joe Jackson at $1,650.

Thank you both and your feedback makes sense. Do either of you know if VCP has a checklist view for the cards in a set and values next to it?

With respect to the cost of VCP, you can purchase a 24-hour subscription for $3.99 and "binge" your research into a short period.

Do either of you know if VCP has a checklist view for the cards in a set and values next to it?

I'm not sure I do this the most efficient way but I do this by adding the set to "My Collection" and specifying the grade, e.g., PSA 8. It provides a complete set list, each card's recent price in the specified grade, and the total VCP value.

You can also do this without using the My Collection feature by inputting the Grader, Grade, Price Type, and Show All. It returns the set with individual prices. Neither output I described will print or export very efficiently (that I've been able to figure out).

Very helpful, thank you! Maybe I will start with the 24 hour binge.

+1--you absolutely nailed it, Tom.

May your collecting be an enormous positive in your life,

Larry

A few years ago I looked through a Vintage Baseball Guide put out by Beckett. It gave pricing based on actual (reported) sales and was very accurate. I think they are doing something similar soon (if not now). They will be one of the speakers at the Net54baseball dinner so maybe we will hear more then.

And one other thing, any guide needs to be taken with a grain of salt until the card in question can be seen. There are huge price differences in same grade cards based on overall appeal (especially centering).

At least things have come along way from the days when price guides were fueled by transactions at a couple of New York Shows. I always imagine some kid in Arizona in 1970, pricing a Willie Mays based on what it sold for at a New York Show.