present worth of the collection

[hoebob69]

Anyone got any ideas on how much their collection is worth? I hope to sit down and take an inventory of all the cards I have tomorrow and get a better idea of mine. It seems lately I've bought some cards only to discover I already have it. Guess that means I've got to many huh?.........just kidding i know there's no such thing!

[WillBBC]

I keep a running spreadsheet going. Problem is, I just got married. Planning the wedding/logistics/etc. cut into my spreadsheet time!

Yes, I'm a numbers nerd.

I use recent eBay averages and watchcount.com as my guides.

The sheet really helps when you're trying to work out a trade. Filter all cards between $75-120.00, etc/player/year/whatever you need.

It's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

[ALR-bishop]

Very true, but if you are holding a large collection you may need to at least know the general worth of it as a whole and by major components in order to decide if and how much insurance you should have on it....and how to document your estimation

[1952boyntoncollector]

For the most part...it probably going to sell for less than you think...unless all you have are top 20 cards purchased many years ago....its a hobby not an investment..

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Very true, but if you are holding a large collection you may need to at least know the general worth of it as a whole and by major components in order to decide if and how much insurance you should have on it....and how to document your estimation

Yes that may be true but not for cards after the 1990s

[ALR-bishop]

The major part of my collection is post war and pre 1994. There are some fairly expensive Topps non basic sets in the 80s...82 Blackless and 85 Minis come to mind, and a few others.

Post 94 I just collect Topps basic sets, any traded sets and the Heritage sets, and do not insure them. But people putting together recent full master Heritage sets would have to spend several thousand do so because of SSP variations and parallels.

And if you do a completed listing search of actual sales of post 90 Topps cards, and do it by highest price first, there are some folks spending some high dollars on specialized or "chase" cards. We can debate the wisdom of them doing it for long time value, but if someone has a bunch of those, insurance is at least a consideration.