Hey all, a quick new member intro... A couple of days ago, I dug back into my collection of ~6000 cards and am now trying to figure out what to do with them.
I am guessing like many here.... when I was 9 and first really got into collecting, I painstakingly put together my first set Topps 1980 through lots of bubblegum packs. I later figured out asking for a full set every Christmas was easier
. So from 1981-1986 I got full Topps sets that have never seen the light of day. Some of the top rookie cards from that era look NM/M if not better, but I don't have the training to really evaluate them.
While I did try and get some earlier cards from the 1970's, I think the best I did was a random assortment of over 100+ NM/M from 1975 that I randomly bought from the one and only card show I ever was able to get my dad to take me to. Beside those, I have a random assortment of other cards from the pre-1980's era that focused on my favorite stars and teams at the time.... Rice, Yaz, Brett, Palmer, Fisk etc.
BUT... this is where things get interesting. In 1982, I traded $30 worth of fireworks with a neighbor buddy of mine who had a paper grocery bag full of vintage cards some very random that I am trying to research. In this bag were cards like
- 1953 some Bowman Cards color and B/W
- 1955 Kaline
- 1955 Topps Double Header Cards with Williams, Banks among others
- 1957 Frank Robinson RC , Clemente, Snider, Koufax, Bunning RC
- 1958 Clemente
- 1959 Mays, Musial, Koufax, NL Hitting Kings etc. Baseball Thrills Mantle Hits for Crown, Mays Catch etc.
- 1960 Fleer Foxx
- 1960 Yastremski RC
- 1961 Fleer Baseball Greats Cobb
- 1966 Mays, Mantle, Palmer
- 1968 Seaver (4 of them), Carew, Ryan RC
After the trade I put many of these cards into sleeves and binders because I figured no matter what, they will eventually be worth more than the $30 worth of fireworks
In looking at them, I am guessing most of the real old ones are Fair/Good and the more recent vintage cards might be Good/Very Good.... but again, I don't have an eye of a trained collector. Many cards might not be worth much at all because of the condition, I don't know.... but I do have a hunch that some might have more value than I think.
So if I were to sell my entire collection.... what would be the best approach to do so? I am putting together a spreadsheet of the standout cards, so at least I know what I have. Should I take them to a "local" shop which is 45mins away? What do you guys think? Anyhow, thanks in advance for any advice... and looking forward to learning more about some of the cards I have and some of the knowledge shared on this forum!